Winds of Change (movie)

Based on the poetic work "The Metamorphoses" by classical Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso ("Ovid").

Like Little Nemo, Winds of Change was a collaborative effort between Japan and America.

This 108 minute feature film consists of approximately 140,000 cels, more than almost all other Japanese animated films up to that point and afterward as well.

Sanrio built an animation studio for their traveling animators at Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. For three years, over 170 Hollywood animators worked on the film.

This was the first full-length 70mm animated film.

Sanrio intended for the film to be an orchestral pop rock-inspired version of Fantasia with original music by Joan Baez, Mick Jagger, and the Pointer Sisters.

During its initial release, "Metamorphoses" was critically panned. The soundtrack failed to synchronize with the images. Having the same characters reprise different roles with no dialogue throughout the myths confused audiences.

After "Metamorphoses" was quickly pulled from theaters in 1978, the film was re-released a year later in 1979 as "Winds of Change". The edited version was reduced from 89 minutes to 82 minutes, the myths were rearranged in a different order, the male protagonist was named Wondermaker, the new disco score was better tailored to the story compared to the original rock score, and Peter Ustinov was cast as narrator. Although the protagonists retained their Greek names, the Greek deities were addressed with their Roman names.