Ama and the Mysterious Crystal

Ama and the Mysterious Crystal is a 1997 American animated fantasy adventure film produced by Universal Feature Animation. The first feature film from the studio, as well as the first entry in the Universal Animated Features canon, it was directed by Michael Wildshill from a screenplay by Len Blum, Jonathan Roberts, and John August, and stars the voices of Christina Ricci, Hank Azaria, and Patrick Stewart. The film follows Ama (Ricci), a young girl who visits a mysterious island known as Crystopia, where she finds out that the ruthless sorcerer Lordous (Stewart) plans to place a spell that captures crystals from the island, causing various Crystopian people to become elderly. One of them gives Ama a powerful magic crystal that prompts her to save the island and defeat Lordous.

Development of Ama and the Mysterious Crystal began in 1993, when Wildshill conceived its original plot. It was Universal Pictures' first animated film to be produced at its in-house feature animation studio, which was formed by a team of former Gingo Animation employees led by Wildshill. Ama and the Mysterious Crystal was originally released on September 26, 1997 to generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice acting, and story, and earned over $324 million worldwide on its $44 million budget; in recent years, the film has amassed a cult following. A direct-to-video sequel titled Ama II: Return to Crystopia was released in 2000.