Daft Punk get animated.

Techno-pop space opera, Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, is not just anime, it's retro anime. But it achieves more than novelty status by virtue of it being a pet project of French musical outfit Daft Punk.

Japanese animation has long been part of Western popular culture – a large number of cartoon series on TV on the last 25 years have been created in Japan. For a generation of British kids, the first key experience in this area was 1978's Battle Of The Planets. It was a re-cut, re-dubbed, reworked version of a Japanese series called Gatchaman, the rights to which were bought by an American entrepreneur. For the Daft Punk boys, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, their notable childhood anime memory was 1982's Albator 84.

Daft Punk exploited a strong Japanese-French co-production culture (1981's Ulysses is another example) when developing Interstella 5555. They even went to Leiji Matsumoto, creator of Albator 84 and a veteran of the anime industry. (An established manga creator since the late 60s, his biggest anime hits are Galaxy Express 999 and Space Cruiser Yamato.) Although the iconic Matsumoto is only credited as a supervisor (the director is Kazuhisa Takenouchi), his style is stamped all over the film.

Built around the music of Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery, Interstella 5555 is a unique endeavour. The story concerns an extraterrestrial pop group kidnapped by a mysterious music mogul, who brainwashes and exploits them on Earth. The narrative is surprisingly effective. However, the film's also a glorious piece of animation, the visuals ranging from kitsch to psychedelic and providing an intoxicating adjunct to the tunes. Discovery might be a cool album, but Interstellar 5555 makes it much more – especially for fans with fond memories of 80s Japanimation.

Daniel Etherington (audio interview by Skye Sherwin) 24 October 03

Interstella 5555, on selected release 24 October 03.