Rating

A+

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Excellent animation
  • Excellent music
  • Story needs no dialogue
Cons
  • Some of the music is repetitive

Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto's Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (DVD)

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Summary

Daft Punk proves that stories can be told without words...

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Description

When I first saw the first segment of this amazing "movie album" a couple years of ago, I immediately loved it. I then heard there were four segments, but I could never find any of them. It was a pleasant surprise when I found this available for purchase on Amazon.com, and I immediately ordered it. I had been a fan of Matsumoto's work for many, many years, so seeing his artistic skill being set to equally great music (Daft Punk's Discovery album) was pure heaven.

The story follows four members of a popular band on an unknown planet out in the cosmos. As they are rocking away, they are suddenly kidnapped by masked commandos and whisked away to another planet through a mysterious intergalactic portal, thanks to the machinations of an evil record company executive. He changes their skin color (since they start off blue), removes their memories (storing them on some sort of data disc), and turns them into the CrescenDolls. They are an immediate hit.

The story continues as they climb the charts, but I don't want to ruin the experience for anyone. Suffice it to say that you won't regret watching this one. It's top-notch entertainment, and you'll find yourself wanting to watch Interstella 5555 multiple times.

According to the DVD, Daft Punk and Matsumoto worked very closely while producing this movie album, and it certainly shows. The music and the animation work in such harmony that they become one, each needing the other to present the story. The quality of the transfer is first rate, and the audio is crystal clear. The extras on the DVD are not organized very well as the menus were poorly designed. If you hunt around long enough though, you'll find out some interesting things about the band and Matsumoto. Even those who are not fans of Japanese animation will enjoy this experience. It's unlike any other movie you've ever seen.

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