Fantastic Planet

Fantastic Planet [La Planète sauvage].
1973 Argos Films.
Vocal Talent for American version: Cynthia Adler, Barry Bostwick, Mark Gruner, Nora Heflin, Marvin Miller, Monika Ramirez, Hal Smith, Olan Soule, Janet Waldo (all uncredited)
Music: Alain Goraguer
Director: René Laloux
Amazon.com listing (currently out of stock).

In a surreal futuristic world, two races occupy the planet: "Oms", which are human beings taken from Earth during a post-apocalyptic period of time, and "Draags", who are 39-foot-tall blue skinned giants with huge red eyes. Some of the Oms are domesticated as pets, but others are considered wild animals and are periodically exterminated. One of the Oms is kept by a Draag named Tiva, who names him Terr. She found him after three other Draag children have accidentally killed his mother. Terr is outfitted with a collar that can physically drag him back from mischief, and his relationship with Tiva develops. He begins eavesdropping on her educational lessons provided by a headset, acquiring Draag knowledge.

After Terr grows to adulthood, he decides to leave Tiva and her family, taking the headset with him. Before his collar brings him back home, he is rescued by a wild female Om, who brings him and the headset to her tribe that lives in a tree in a walled park. The leader ("Mighty One") is impressed by Terr's ability to interpret Draag script, but the tribe's Wizard is not, and challenges Terr to combat. Terr wins the fight with the Wizard's champion. We then learn how the Oms have adapted to life on the Draags' homeworld, including a confrontation with a rival tribe of Oms.

The park is due to be "de-Omised", and Terr decides to take this information to the bandit tribe, only to be captured. He is let go when he is proven correct about the extermination process. The park is gassed, and many Oms perish, but a good number survive and manage to escape the park. Two passing Draags witness this, and one starts stepping on the Oms. The Oms retaliate and kill one of the Draags, at the cost of Mighty One's life. The Draags redouble their efforts to exterminate the Oms, while the survivors make their way to an old rocket depot. The Oms use the abandoned technologies to temporarily protect themselves, and then, use rockets to travel to the orbiting Fantastic Planet, where they have decided to relocate to, thinking it would be free of Draag influence. The Fantastic Planet is occupied by headless statues that the Draags use to facilitate "nuptial rites" between them and other races. The Oms begin destroying the statues when they are threatened by them. A compromise is reached between both species to keep them from destroying one another, and the Oms construct their own satellite, named after Terr.

Recommended film, chock full of creepy European animation.