''The Rain Children'' (french: Les Enfants de la pluie) is a 2003 French and South Korean animated

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by Philippe Leclerc. The plot is loosely inspired by

Serge Brussolo Serge Brussolo (born 31 May 1951) is a French fiction author. Biography Born in Paris, Brussolo had a tormented childhood. He studied letters and psychology and wrote his first texts very early, finding inspiration in his misery and disturbed fa ...

's novel ''A l'image du dragon''.

Plot

Since the Great Sundering, the world has been divided into two parts : the land of fire, a vast desert inhabited by the people of the Pyross, and the land of water, inhabited by the Hydross. The Pyross have red skin, and stocky, muscular features; water burns their flesh and rain is lethal to them. They use sunstones (shining crystals) as both money and energy source. During the rainy season, they stay locked in their city of stone and cannot get out; they protect themselves from the rain and from the wild water dragons who wander into Pyross territory during the rainy season. The Hydross, on the other hand, have curvy features and blue or turquoise skin, and water is vital to them. In summer, the Hydross turn into stone statues and are thus vulnerable, while the Pyross can get out and venture into Hydross territory to destroy as many Hydross statues as they can before the rainy season starts again. The two people know very little about one another, and they cannot even touch one another, as the contact of Hydross skin burns the Pyross, and vice versa. Peace between Hydross and Pyross seems impossible, but two young people, a Pyross named Skan and a young Hydross, Kallisto, meet one another in improbable circumstances and try desperately to stop the eternal war.

Production

The setting and synopsis of the film were freely adapted from

's novel ''À l'image du dragon'', with a slightly lighter tone. The characters, backgrounds and general looks of the film were conceived by French illustrator and comic author

Caza Caza (), the pseudonym of Philippe Cazaumayou (; born 14 November 1941), is a French comics artist. Biography At 18, Cazaumayou started a career in advertising which lasted for ten years, but in 1970 he entered the field of bandes dessinées, ...

. The original soundtrack was composed by

Didier Lockwood Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French violinist. He played in the French rock band Magma in the 1970s, and was known for his use of electric amplification and his experimentation with different sounds on the electri ...

. The film was presented at the

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

in 2003.

Release

The DVD is distributed by MK2 Diffusion. It includes the original French version and an English dub.

External links

* 2003 films 2003 animated films 2000s French animated films 2000s fantasy adventure films Films based on fantasy novels Films based on French novels French animated fantasy films 2000s French-language films South Korean animated fantasy films French fantasy adventure films South Korean fantasy adventure films 2000s French films 2000s South Korean films {{2000s-France-film-stub