Without a feature animation studio system in Europe, Delaporte had to assemble a crew from scratch.

Unlike America, Europe does not have any feature animation complexes like Disney, Pixar or DreamWorks, where hundreds of 3D artists are at work on a regular basis. So, bringing a crew together large enough to complete a 3D animated feature was no easy task and meant bringing in artists from all across Europe. So, how did Delaporte go about assembling a crew?

“Virginie Guilminot, who took on the job as assistant director, helped me assemble a heterogeneous crew. We went for talent and motivation more than people's experience. The hard core was made up of artists with a videogame background, chosen for their varied skills, and their readiness to respond to the craziest challenges.” For many, however, it was a case of on-the-job training. “Another group joined composed of computer graphics designers fresh out of art school, along with experienced professionals from the audiovisual business. It took a while for us all to use the same language, and for me to learn to make myself understood by everyone. But the passion we all felt for this project smoothed over whatever differences we had, and the movie was enriched by each person's experience.”

Visually, Kaena: The Prophecy is a very enriching experience. Anyone who sees it will no doubt recognize it's visual similitude to Japanese anime. Neither the animation nor the story resembles the commercial animation that American studios like Disney and DreamWorks produce on a regular basis. And that may prove a huge hurdle for the film to climb at the box office. While his visual style may be decidedly Japanese, Delaporte's imagery is purely European but often lacks the required emotional involvement to draw us into his many thematic layers.

Like French live-action directors, Delaporte has layered his film with a confluence of opposing themes: life versus death, growth versus decay, youth versus age, the individual versus society and personal ideology versus organized religion. All of these revolve around the central theme of Kaena's coming of age, where she must choose between her carefree existence and responsibility toward her people. Indeed, Kaena's evolution as well as the evolution of Axis serves as an allegory for our own evolution on Earth.

Delaporte saw the story of Kaena as an allegory for the evolution of Earth. The young rebel represents human nature fighting against the technocratic Vecarians.

“It is the planet Earth,” Delaporte states, “and Astrid is the Moon. In fact, the villagers are the first earthlings. That's something I only realized when we were mid-production! There are lots of things, which don't occur to you at first, and then later seem so very obvious. Once I did see that, I reinforced that angle. I even added another scene at the end. But generally speaking, the idea that the first humans were born of vegetation and a computer was a concept that appealed to me. I liked putting the Selenites, who represent the natural, spontaneous, intuitive side of human nature, opposite the Vecarians, who represent technology and another form of intelligence.”

Although Kaena: The Prophecy is rather long on themes, it is, at the same time, short on story, which is the crux of the problem. This is essentially a 50-minute story that has been extended to 85 minutes. That additional half-hour is understandably heavy on visual effects while giving us very little in the way of structure and tension to sustain our interest. When the plot seems to hit a dead-end and the story starts to lag, Delaporte uses his CG-artistry to fill up the space.

He fashions visual gimmicks like the Sharkens, flying carnivores, who sometimes hunt with their little ones, using their long, powerful tongues to attack their prey and penetrate the thick foliage. The Marauder is another ferocious predator, who lives in the lower cloud covering of Axis and prevents the villagers from venturing beyond the clouds. For comic relief, there are the worms of Axis. Opaz has learned to make them evolve by giving them an exoskeleton, and they have become his allies. But none of these are interwoven into the fabric of the story in a suspenseful or revealing way.

To Delaporte's credit, while some of the material seems self-indulgent, it is nonetheless visually appealing. I suppose, it's far better that a film has a self-indulgent director with a creative visual style than one that does not. No doubt Delaporte will someday be a marvelous filmmaker once he raises his storytelling to the same level as his CG artistry.