The Looking Planet is a truly magnificent piece of animation. The imaginative rendering of a slightly different take on “intelligent design”, director Eric Law Anderson has given animation fans and creators a film that raises the bar to grand heights. The environments are colorful, deeply wrought and instantly transport the viewer into a magical realm. Anderson’s vision for the birth of our universe is both familiar and fantastic, while giving the cosmic engineers a comic whimsy and a very human touch.
The story follows young Lufo, a cosmic engineer who has been relegated to ring formation duty, a task he apparently dislikes. The 14 billion year old adolescent is chastised by his mother and is a seeming source of paternal disdain for his senior engineer father. Without giving too much away, young Lufo stumbles across a little piece of information that will transform his hum-drum job into a source of inspiration. Emboldened, he embarks on a bit of creative improvisation with our humble solar system and gives us all a tremendous gift in the process. The Looking Planet took Anderson three years to make and the care is obvious in every frame. From the rich textures, the wonderfully expressive characters and a grand setting befitting Zeus himself, this animated treasure is a delight to view. If this film doesn’t spark your imagination, you just might not have one.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 