Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

For a movie based on a video game, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was very good. Next to such atrocities as Tomb Raider and Street Fighter, it positively shines, and when compared to the complete gibberish known as the Super Mario Bros. Movie...

Having said that, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within could have been A Lot Better.

If you paid attention to the Final Fantasy games, to any of the hype surrounding the movie, or to the CGI industry in general, you already know the computer animation for this movie is far-and-away the best ever done. Back when Square first started producing the movie in 1998, they were progressing at a rate of about one second of film PER DAY, because of the immense quality of the graphics, and none of that quality was lost as technology caught up and time passed. The backdops are jaw-dropping and the CGI actors look more real than some actual actors. Really simply, Square declared itself the current king of CGI animation. Pixar, Dreamworks, move over--the studio that cut its teeth on PlayStation games is in the house.

Unfortunately, having been a fan of the Final Fantasy games since it first sprouted on the original Nintendo, I'm a little jaded towards visual grandeur. And when you take that away, there isn't much left.

The plot is pretty standard--Earth is a wasteland; most of Terra's population has been wiped out by the unexpected invasion of mostly-invisible aliens called Phantoms. The remaining Earthlings struggle to survive. Aki Ross (the main character) and Dr. Cid (there's been a character named Cid in EVERY Final Fantasy production since 1991) have isolated eight Earthborn Spirits--not ghosts, but tangible lifeforms; one of them is a plant, and don't ask me how the plant has a spirit--that, if combined, can wipe the Phantoms off the planet entirely. With the help of Captain Grey Edwards and his crack band of soldiers, the Deep Eyes (Final Fantasy also has a knack for weird names--I mean, who came up with 'Premium Heart'?), Aki sets off to find, capture and use those eight Spirits. And then finally there's General Hein, a megalomaniac fellow who's just trying to blow everything up using a a very large gun.

No problem there. Anyone who plays Final Fantasy is used to Fetch Quests (in which the main characters perform a service to a ruler, generally retrieving a stolen object of enormous power, in return for help from that ruler). What I want to complain about are the characters themselves.

They are FLAT.

A lot of them die, and we don't miss them except that they don't speak any more lines. Grey and Aki (male and female lead) don't really evolve over the course of the story--and Cid is just there to provide technobabble. Oh, and by the way, there's almost no 'fantasy' elements in this movie, with the sole exception of the Spirits.

My two favorite games in the Final Fantasy series are numbers Eight and Ten. They are my favorites because they have unique, interesting, convincing characters. True, most Final Fantasy games take 40 hours or more to play, giving the writers a lot of time to flesh the characters out, but generally within the first five minutes of being introduced to a character (sometimes within the first few SECONDS, as with Zell and Kimahri) you know most or all there is to know about them--they are already convincing, already realized in the player's mind. Square's GOOD at doing that sort of thing.

If Square had bothered to invent r

Fmovies: First of all,I would like to point out,that I haven't played any of the "Final Fantasy" games,so I don't know how much this movie follows them.On it's own however the movie is very well made and it's much,much better than a lot of other video game based films like "Street Fighter" or "Super Mario Brothers".

A lot of people complain that the characters are less-then-riveting.In my opinion,that is not the case.I mean,Captain Edwards' squad members were kinda flat,but the other characters were alright.Our protagonist- Aki was very well developed.At first glance General Hein seemed like a stereotypical bad guy,but we get an explanation as to why he is taking such radical measures.

Again,I don't know if the plot has anything to do with the video games,but it was,in opinion,very original and well thought-out.Some may think it's your cliché "aliens have taken over the world and the survivors must fight back with what little they have" plot,but that is not the case.The movie has both fantasy elements(the "spirits")and sci- fi elements(the technology).Sure,you have seen that in other movies,like the force in "Star Wars" and so on,but the idea they went with here is completely different.

"Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within" is most famous for it's animation-and I can see why.This is the first movie to actually use CGI to create genuine looking human beings.It's still good,even by today's standards.The visuals and music work together to create some very amazing and powerful scenes,especially in the ending.

"Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within" is a truly amazing movie.I strongly recommend it.

It's not very usual that a movie based on a game turns out to be a stunning movie. But Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, however, is just that. The incredibly realistic characters and beautifully rendered backdrops in this movie make it a fascinating work of CGI. Unfortunately, its story falls short of anything but a rather boring Sci-Fi plot, which I'm sure is what caused it to be such a failure in the box-office.

The Spirits Within follows a young scientist named Aki Ross, who shares a belief with her colleague Dr. Sid that with the collection of 7 spirits they can stop an invading alien race and save the earth. Being a fan of the video game series of the same name, I remember getting pretty excited for this movie when it first came out. After seeing it for the first time, I could not figure out why in the world they would call this movie "Final Fantasy". Aside from a few subtle references to characters and themes from the video game series, it does not contain enough blatant similarities to possess the Final Fantasy title, and I feel like this should have been a more important goal in directing this movie. It was a great choice to have done this movie in CGI rather than in live-action, as one of the most captivating things about the Final Fantasy series are its fantastic cinematic scenes. To have a whole movie based on the quality of an epic Final Fantasy cinematic really shows the hard work that goes into creating all of these scenes. Every model in the movie displays a high level of detail from the main characters to the ships that they fly in. The freckles on Ross's face allow for intense close-ups. The subtle movements of their facial structures make them more interesting to look at. It's an art form that was very well presented in this film. In fact, this was the first full CGI film to feature fully realistic characters, modeled to look like real actors. The fact that it is a computer generated movie allows more freedom to conduct scenes and also set camera angles in places that would be impossible to get if it were shot in real life.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within portrays a mastery of computer generated imagery for its time. It's a fine tribute to the wonderful cinematics of the Final Fantasy series. But it doesn't possess a very original plot line, which doesn't even portray enough references to be called Final Fantasy, and should have just been another Sci-fi called "The Spirits Within".

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within fmovies. I've waited for this one for quite a while, as have most of Square's fans. There is a lot riding on this film, including the future direction of CG in movies, the proud heritage of a name brand, and the chance to release a worthwhile movie during a string of bad summer flicks. So, does Final Fantasy live up to it's hype?

Mostly.

First, the bad. No, it has nothing to do with the games other than name, but then the majority of the storylines of the games had nothing to do with each other, either. The plot is not necessarily original, with marauding aliens nearly vanquishing humanity while a desperate band of outsiders hold the key to winning (tired sci-fi, to be sure) and even the animation has it's faults, mostly with the mouth movements and a few emotions lacking, as the eyes and lips, and even hair had detail but no-one's cheeks or throats moved, giving the characters a bit of a puppetry feel at times. The movement of humans in CG is still not quite fluid, but getting much better. Also, the movie slows down considerably during the last twenty or thirty minutes, which is perhaps necessary for the plot, but the change in pace was notable, even with the awe that the movie's end was aspiring too.

But enough nit-picking.

The Good. The imagery in this movie is startling, imaginative, complex, even awesome at times. It's amazing that while the machines, vehicles, and mechanics in the movie are so realistic and detailed, so too are the organic forms such as the alien presence (sometimes seemingly more fluidly animated than the humans!) and the incredible landscapes. It is obvious how much imagination went in to so many aspects of this movie. The soundtrack, while not exceptional, is very complimentary and captures the dark feel with the fast action and triumphant climaxes. The characters were distinct, like-able, and voiced very well (even if the digital mouths don't quite match up most of the time). The emotional scenes, while certainly not perfect and a bit awkward, should be given grand credit for achieving the level they do convey. If you let yourself go, it's not impossible to be entranced by all that this movie actually manages to pull off. If nothing else, then the effects alone are worth seeing, if the somewhat hokey spiritual elements of the plot turn you off. (If you consider the Force to be hokey, don't bother.)

The Surprising. Well, I was a bit put off by the simplistic way the characters would look at each situation and then spell it out to the audience, though there is more to the plot than casual sci-fi fare. Because of this, the dialogue was a bit goofy at times, but at least it usually fit the characters. But every good thing you've heard about the quality of the CG work in this movie is true- it really is a site to behold, if nothing else than for the effects. As I mentioned earlier, if you consider how much this movie is trying to do, it's amazing that it pulled off everything nearly as well as it does.

So, I think that most will be pleased, some will critique it heavily on the negatives and not be as impressed, but the bottom line is that it is definitely worth seeing. Quality work in most areas, even story and screenplay in my opinion (though that's certainly the most debatable point.) I left the theater without being disappointed, something I cannot say for the majority of cinema fare.

Just to clear up a couple of points:-

a) This is a FILM, not a computer game. b) CGI people don't look or move exactly like real people. That stated, Aki Ross is still a more convincing character than ANYONE played by Keanu Reeves.

Final Fantasy is misnamed; there's little about the story that is "final", nor is it especially fantastic, but what it IS is a pretty decent mystical-science fiction (no, NOT "sci-fi" space opera) yarn. Possibly owing to the real inability to successfully portray facial expressions in the CGI characters, the mood throughout is sombre and hard... so rather more like real life than your average Hollywood space-opera swashbuckler. Frankly, because this story actually tries to make a POINT, it probably disappoints the type of viewer who would like a film like "Aliens". The overriding message is simply that brute force is no use without understanding, and that's a timeless message that many cultures would do well to think about.

And, of course, this film is just BEAUTIFUL. Probably best watched while tripping on acid, if the truth be told.

7/10 and a future classic, as far as I'm concerned. This film will be remembered long after things like "Starship Troopers" have been forgotten.

This film is a dream come true for any science fiction fan. Unfortunately, this film was not as popular as it truly deserved to be. It shows how powerful the media can be when it comes to squelching a foreign (in this case Japanese) film. It is by far the best computer animation ever to be shown. If only the American computer animators could be this good! I was really sorry they took the film out of the theaters so soon... before the general public had a chance to really enjoy this film on the wide screen.