Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555 film restoration criticised over alleged AI use

Daft Punk fans are expressing their disappointment at the alleged use of AI in the remastered version of the duo’s anime film Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

The 4K remaster of Daft Punk & Leiji Matsumoto’s film is set to be screened in cinemas worldwide for one night only next month, but following the release of the official trailer yesterday (13th November), fans have criticised what they believe to be the use of AI to ‘upscale’ the original graphics.

“Even watching this trailer on a small phone, you can immediately tell AI was used,” one user wrote on Reddit. “The crowd scenes in particular are a dead giveaway. It looks so bad, there’s no way I’d spend money to see this in a theatre where the imperfections are going to be giant.”

Another commenter called the remaster a “lazy cash grab”, pointing out how some of the details and intricacies of the original film – created by the late manga and anime legend Leiji Matsumoto and Toei Animation and directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi – have been smoothed out during the remastering process.

One user on YouTube commented: “The whole point of the movie is how companies and labels take the credit of artists to make profit and you guys are using ai to do the same”

Another simply remarked: “I guess this “remaster” is not Human After All…”

Interstella 5555, which tells the story of a band’s abduction by alien militants, was originally released in May 2003 as a visual companion to the duo’s sophomore album ‘Discovery’, which served as the official soundtrack. 

As the original film was animated digitally, it’s likely that many of the animation elements no longer exist and could not have be re-rendered without recreating them from scratch. Fans have suggested that, in order to save time and money during remastering, the film was run through a machine-learning AI to improve the resolution, but, in doing so, produced imperfect results. 

One user on Instagram suggested they would have been “thrilled” to see the original 480p version in theatres. Another noted that “obviously it would have [been] wonderful if they re-animated everything by hand, but everybody saying that it’s atrocious is over-reacting.”

DJ Mag has reached out to representatives for Daft Punk and the Interstella 5555 remaster for clarification regarding the alleged use of AI. You can check out the official remastered trailer below. 

In line with the film’s return to theatres, Daft Punk will be releasing a limited number of ‘Discovery: Interstella 5555 Edition’ albums containing the original Japanese edition artwork, stickers and a Daft Club card, which became collectors’ items around the original release.

The group have also launched a limited-edition Interstella 5555 merch run with t-shirts, hoodies, and turntable slipmats. It also includes limited vinyl and CD editions of ‘Discovery’ packaged with Interstella 5555 artwork. View the full collection here.

The one night only global screening of Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem will take place on 12th December 2024 in 800+ cinemas in 40+ countries. Tickets went on sale on 13th November. More information can be found at interstella5555film.com.

For more on Daft Punk’s active post-split presence, Ben Cardew recently examined the enduring brand and its seemingly unending content ecosystem in this recent in-depth feature.