The 4K restoration of René Laloux’s 1987 French animated film Gandahar is being released in New York before a wider US rollout, restoring the uncut original rather than the edited English-language version previously distributed as Light Years. IGN views it as a welcome return to an era of unusually imaginative adult animation, praising its surreal world and ideas despite finding its human characters comparatively unengaging.

Set in an apparently utopian society threatened by black, robot-like “Men of Metal”, the film follows Sylvain as he investigates attacks that turn people to stone and confronts dangers extending 1,000 years into the future. Its story considers genetic experimentation, ultimate weapons and their long-term consequences; Janus Films’ restoration retains the French dialogue and measured pace, which the review considers better suited to the film than the 1988 English dub.