The fundamental musical duo Daft Punk can be officially retiredbut his legacy is eternal. This is especially true for the year 2001. Discovery, their second studio album, which gave us great hits like “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Now, along with a reissue of the album, Daft Punk’s groundbreaking anime Interestella 5555 returns to theaters for one night.

Released to support Discovery in 2003, Interstella 5555: The 5history of the 5system 5ecret 5tar Serves as a stunning visualizer of the iconic album. Daft Punk chose Toei Animation (the Japanese studio behind shows like sailor moon, dragon balland one piece) to create an hour-long dialogue-free space opera that follows the members of an extraterrestrial pop band as they are abducted by an Earth military force and transformed into a humanoid group called the Crescendolls. Songs of Discovery soundtracked his exploitation and eventual escape, while footage supervised by the legendary Leiji Matsumoto would appear in a handful of music videos of the era.

The film is a holy grail for EDM lovers and old-school anime fans alike, as its physical editions have become extremely rare. Interestella 5555 was released on DVD in the 2010s and was briefly available on Blu-ray, but both editions have been out of print for years. Having the film return to the big screen 21 years after its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival is certainly a treat for fans, but its December 13 re-release comes with a major caveat.

Daft Punk mocked the “remastered” version of Interestella 5555 on social media, but the film’s new look has given fans pause. Based on the somewhat wacky teaser footage, it seems Interestella It was updated with the help of AI, not completely remastered. Matsumoto’s images are known for their delicate details, but many of the complexities that made the film what it was have been clumsily smoothed over.

Although Daft Punk has not confirmed the true source of the remaster, its announcement quickly generated negative reactions. An AI upgrade is not the smartest move even in the best of circumstances, but given the message from interstellar, where individual artistry prevails over corporate cut-outs, it feels especially distasteful here. The film may still be worth seeing on the big screen, but it’s a shame that it lost some of its magic on the way back to theaters.