Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Ploydsge just watch it!

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Sean Lamberger Surrealist French animated sci-fi from the hand of Moebius, one of underground comics' most revered figures. Plodding but beautiful, it's generally best appreciated as an idea showcase and not necessarily a coherent story. Like a lot of his works, it's often inaccessible and tangential, more concerned with spotlighting the intrinsic weirdness of alien life than with shuffling the plot along. That slow, nonplussed tempo can be confusing, especially as a rescue party takes their time to splash about in a swimming pool and enjoy drinks while their quarry, a stranded young boy, fights nature alone on an uncharted planet. None of the cast, universally blasé and dull, seems overly concerned or motivated to chase their fates, and that irreparably wounds the big picture. Even the artwork, upon which many earlier Moebius works have hung their hats, seems rushed and incomplete. It does capture the general tone of the old master's trademarked style, but none of his precision or smooth, elegant linework. An interesting experiment either way, but not one I'm in a rush to revisit.

siderite I accidentally found this film, on YouTube to top it all, and was amazed how nice it was. The animation is in the French style of animation from the early 80's, so not fantastic, but the imagination and weirdness of it all more than compensate.I think what I loved most about the film was the European feel of the plot. Characters are weird, each with their own quirks, not just bad or good, while the events are really imaginative. The planets, the creatures, the kind of interactions, all wonderful.Bottom line: a gem that I had no idea existed, it will probably make me watch other Laloux movies, even if originally I just wanted to see the drawings of Moebius. At just 80 minutes, it would be a shame to not have seen it once.

Charles Herold (cherold) Looking through the reviews of this movie I see rave after rave, and the descriptions they have of this, as "mature" and "intelligent," had me wondering if I was watching the same film they'd seen. My best guess is that most of these reviewers first saw this movie as children, because I just find it hard to imagine adults could be so impressed if they didn't have fond early memories of it.This appears to be Laloux's attempt to make something closer to a kid's movie. It features a child, and it lacks the nudity of his other two features. The episodic story follows some space travelers as they work their way through a series of adventures in an attempt to rescue a young boy.Laloux's character design was always weak - his humanoids generally look like those of a cheap Saturday Morning cartoon from the 1970s, but he was good at creating stunning alien landscapes full of strange creatures. This movie has some pretty landscapes, but little of the strangeness of his other films (outside of the winged people featured in the film's poster). There are some interesting ideas here and there, such as the weird telepathic creatures who experience unpleasant thoughts as bad smells, but overall this is disappointingly mediocre.

itamarscomix Designed by the great graphic novelist Jean Giraud - AKA Moebius – Time Masters is a fascinating piece of animated sci-fi from France, that is well recommended for lovers of the genre and of the artist. Though the animation looks somewhat primitive by today's standards – though not for 1982, it looks quite better than any American cartoon of the time save Disney's, and don't forget that it wasn't a corporate effort like G.I. Joe or Transformers but an independent film with limited budget – but quickly enough you can learn the look past the rather bulky movements and simplistic faces of the characters and find yourself amazed at Moebius' amazing, seemingly endless imagination and creativity. The film is directed mainly at younger viewers – so it's not as liberated and wild as his more independent comics work or his contributions to Heavy Metal magazine – but his incredibly original vision is all there, in the out-of-this-world designs for the landscapes, the structures and the alien characters. Every minute of the film is a complete innovation in terms of design.Plot-wise, there's not that much to be said for it; it's an intelligent but simplistic sci-fi story with a nice twist ending, which will, I think, appeal mainly to younger viewers. The characters are mostly simplistic and cartoonish, and largely unconvincing. These are the only reasons why I couldn't give Time Masters full marks; but these flaws take very little away from the pleasure of this film. As long as it focuses on the child character Piel, who is largely unaware of what goes on in the larger picture and is therefore touching and interesting, and not on the flat characters of Jaffar (good and brave for the sake of goodness and bravery), Matton (bad and greedy for the sake of badness and greediness) and the other adults; then it manages to be beautiful and gripping. And when any of the alien races are on screen, be they cute and cuddly or bizarre and frightening, you won't be able to look away. Time Masters is essential viewing for any lover of Moebius' work, and is well recommended for fans of science-fiction and of classic animation, and will surely become a treasured favorite for any of these.