"Rock & Rule" was Nelvana's first animated feature film, and it was the first Canadian animated feature to be produced in English ("Le Village enchanté", a 1956 production from Quebec, was the country's first, overall). The movie began production in 1978 as a children's film entitled ""Drats!". Nelvana used $8 million dollars to finance and produce the film." The premise remained the same, centring on a post-apocalyptic rock band composed of fuzzy mutant creatures who evolved from rats after the human race was wiped out. However, instead of wiring her to the soundboard, Mok transformed Angel into a guitar, and literally played her to summon the beast. The crew felt that it would be easier to animate cartoony characters but, as the film evolved, they gradually became more humanistic, and Hollywood acquaintances encouraged them to skew the tone towards an older audience.