Over the summer, many great movies came out to help us kill time, relax and enjoy ourselves, or just to hang out with friends.

“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” was one of the many blockbusters that hit theaters during the summer. Directed by Luc Besson, the move is about partners Major Valerian (played by Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (played by Cara Delevingne) are tasked to save Alpha, the city of a thousand planets, from an unknown enemy threating to wipe out all of what Alpha has accomplished in thousands of years.

The movie is actually based off a graphic novel written by Pierre Christian and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mezieres that was released in 1971.

Now, I’m a massive sci-fi movie fan. I love staring at the effects of things we may never see, I love imagining the worlds that are far beyond our comprehension, and I love seeing what futuristic technologies await in every movie.

“Valerian” was no exception.

From the first trailer I saw, I knew it was a must-see movie. The animation was incredible, and fit the bill as the perfect movie for me. I was hyped about it for the whole summer until it came out in theaters.

Even in the weeks before, the reviews looked pretty good for “Valerian.” The director, Besson, said in an interview that he had dreamed his whole life of directing the movie, and this year his dream had come true. Some reviews started calling “Valerian” the next “Avatar” (the blue people one, not “The Last Airbender”). The animation just by the trailers seemed easily comparable to Avatar.

My thoughts on the movie: I felt it was a little too long, and whereas the action scenes were cool, it did feel a little dragged out. It is worth noting that the original book was only 48 pages, so trying to stretch out the details to make the movie last over an hour does seem reasonable. Personally, I never read the book, so I cannot really say if the stretch was over exaggerated.

The animation was absolutely incredible, and would make up for the exaggerated plot. The effects, from Valerian walking on air to spaceships crashing through the sky, were absolutely remarkable. I would say that it is comparable to “Avatar,” but the quality of the animation wasn’t quite the same level.

Overall, the “Valerian” is definitely on the list of movies that should be seen at least once if you like sci-fi movies. It isn’t the greatest one ever made, but it is enough content and animation to soothe the sci-fi within everyone.