Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Best Since Akria & Ghost in the Shell
Review: FINALLY, an advancement in animation and a solid plot to go with it. My other favorites: Akria & Ghost in the Shell are anime shows that demonstrate solid story with detailed animation - to judge others. FF is a great mixture of detail, computer animation, and a unique story of a piece of a war ridden dead planet striking the Earth and unleashing a confused alien world on all living creatures. I can not see anything to knock this animation feature about...unless you simply do not like science fiction films or a paranoid actor thinking a simulated person might get your next job in the future! Don't knock this as alot more of the "special effects" today are being done this way. Animation has always centered around actors...or some people just want to see complete animation. Actors will always have a job.

Well I have to complain about one thing - its technical and some may have noticed this in the story. The spirits were revealed or seen through the use of "bio-charged" particles revealing their alien presence and form. I have watched the film twice + and the Waste Land scene and final attack on the crater shows the spirits with no help from "charging" them with some sort of bio-particle. You might say the cannon charged the entire crater but the Waste Land is a complete miss! Pretty picky huh :0) Well, I was glad to see the aliens as thats a big part of the movie. Enjoy the show, it is spectacular!

Recommend to audiences who like special effects and full animation films. Teens on up will like this show, plenty of blasting and a nice underlying story for those wanting something to think about. Visually astonishing...I am almost afraid to see what is in store for us in the future! You might just be an active character in the movie.

Rating:
Summary: The worst movie i've ever seen
Review: I don't think this movie should have been called Final Fantasy because it was nothing like it. i was very excited when it came out, but after i saw it i was very disapointed. I heard there is another Final Fantasy movie coming out but it's actually the sequel to Final Fantasy seven. Hopefully that one will be much better than this one is and actually have something to do with Final Fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: The most underrated film of the decade thus far
Review: In July of 2001, this movie was ignored or misunderstood when it was released in theaters.

In September of 2001, a terrible, historical event occurred.

In the history of cinema, I can't think of a movie that is more relevant with everything that has happened in the world in the past few years.

One simply has to look through the facade (an alien sci-fi action movie) to see what makes this an instant classic.

(The 4 stars are for the quality of the DVD, not for the movie)

Rating:
Summary: Almost...
Review: "Final Fantasy" is quite the technical achievement, and a very intriguing movie to watch. It plays to me like an Americanized anime complete with a male lead that looks like Ben Affleck (though with the voice of Alec Baldwin). It's an enjoyable viewing experience despite some iffy dialogue and some slow spots.

But does the DVD live up to the film, breaking barriers and being a technological wonder? Well, not quite. Sure, there are plenty of extras here, but they're not that useful. Many of them simply involve looking at animatics or storyboards, something that seems pointless when you're dealing with an animated movie. It's animated, the whole thing is "drawn." Why do we need to see storyboards?

Anyways, there's also the documentary, which seems lacking in many areas (not the least of which being the absolutely awful music that plays throughout it). There's almost no focus on the voice talent, and you never really get a sense of how this movie is made; it's a bunch of talking heads. Of course, this DVD comes on the heels of the outstanding "Phantom Menace" package, so I guess anything will seem lame by comparison.

Then there's this editing feature, where you can shuffle a scene to your own liking. I couldn't understand how to do it, I don't know about you. When your DVD feature needs and instruction book, it's not a good feature, if you ask me.

Then there's the picture quality, which I must say is rather lacking considering it's been taken directly from the digital source material. This is a grainy, sometimes downright dirty looking transfer that is outshined by many released culled from film prints.

But, again, it is a technical marvel, a feast for the eyes, as they say. Just try to get it on sale.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: Whether you love final fantasy games, or you've never heard of them before, this movie is great for you. It is amazing what computers have been able to do. The animations are so lifelike that at points you actually might begin to think that the people are real, and not just computer programs. Even if the plot was horrible, the movie would be worth watching just to see the advancements in computer technology. The plot is so intriguing, and the voice talents let you relate to the movie more because they are people most of us have heard of and not just random actors. It may not be Oscar quality, but for any sci-fi fan, it's definately a must-see.

Rating:
Summary: Please read this
Review: The thing is people who say this is not really final fantasy have clearly never played ff7 or do not understand what final fantasy is. For those of you who do not understand let me explain, First of all it shared some similar themes with ff7, you know with the fact that the whole earth is alive; thus it is a final fantasy, second it gave you an unbelievable world full of surreal thoughts and dreams; thus it is a final fantasy, and third just because it doesn't have a roman numeral doesn't mean it's not a final fantasy; thus it's final fantasy.
A lot of people seemed to have something against the story, which I think I know why, It's the gaia thing isn't it? you could get The Force, but you can't grasp the fact that the earths alive. Ok bottem line: if you like great adventures and new worlds by almeans by this, but if you never liked new ideas nor seemed intrested in imaganitive things then steer clear.
NOTE: this doesn't have anything to do with former final fantasys main story lines just some of the principles which i mentioned above.


Rating:
Summary: It's not a true Final Fantasy movie...
Review: Being one of those that played every Final Fantasy game that I could get my hands on, I constantly debated on how I should describe the movie and it's use of the Final Fantasy name. And I concluded that this movie, name and all, is not a true Final Fantasy movie. I state this because of the fact Squaresoft had a history of doing the "let's call this Final Fantasy" game, especially when they were working with Nintendo of America.

Mind you, that in my own opinion, this is more of a "Final Fantasy presents" kind of feature. I also believe that if they introcuded it as such, the movie would be given a better rating by myself, and be considered a better movie by most other fans of the franchise. Because they have a visually beautiful movie that has nothing to do with the Final Fantasy mythos, yet have not learned that they should have just made it a "Final Fantasy presents" feature.

So if you want Final Fantasy, then I recommend Legend of the Crystal (which is only on VHS) and Final Fantasy: Unlimited. Both are either copyrighted by Squaresoft or Square Enix (Spirit Within is not), and both contain the same Final Fantasy mythos that will keep you interested until, that is, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children comes out. Because this is not one of those series, and is only worth watching if you want to see how visually beautiful it is, or have not seen any movies that has this movie's kind of plot.

Rating:
Summary: should have stick with the original games' stories...
Review: Because of this unsuccessful movie, Squaresoft went bankrupt and was bought/merged to become Square Enix.

I find that Squaresoft should have stick with the original stories of the games. If the games are huge success since the 1st one, they should have stick with the same idea. The 1st Final Fantasy movie should have been on the 1st game.

The whole CG animation was well done, but the story didn't attracted the people. It should have been set in a medieval fantasy instead of in an Earth's future.

Now, the new management at Square Enix understand the public and will release a movie sequel to Final Fantasy VII's game on DVD: Final Fantasy VII Advent Children. It has been a huge success released in ultra tight selected theatres.

Rating:
Summary: Why?
Review: This has nothing to do with Final Fantasy. Better off getting the Japanimation DVDs.. I mean, there are no Chocobos or familiar background music in the movie or anything.. I wasted some HARDCORE cash on this one at the movie theater. I give it 2 stars because yeah, the graphics rock. What can I say? But as far as being worthy enough to bear the title of Final Fantasy, hah. Try again buddy...

Rating:
Summary: Let me explain!
Review: All right, I bet a lot of you people wonder why so many people hate this movie. Well, obviously you're not a Final Fantasy video game fan. Now here's something you should know: EVERY SINGLE FF GAME, WITH THE EXCEPTION IF X AND X-2, HAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORYLINES AND CHARACTERS THAN THE OTHERS. There are a lot of certain kiddies who would have you believe that every FF game has Cloud(from Final Fantasy VII, considered by many to be the best, so if you wanna try a FF game you might wanna try FF7, but if you can't stand old-school graphics go for FFX(10)). Anyway, if you thought the real problem with this movie was the fact that it had completely new characters, you thought wrong. So what is the problem with this movie? Well, let me ask you a question. What kind of game do you think Spirits Within is based on? If I didn't know better, I would say "First Person Shooter(FPS)",as in DOOM, Halo, Counter Strike. And that's where the problem lies: by watching this movie, you would never know that it is in fact, based on a Japanese style (also known as Console Style) Role Playing Game(RPG)! Where are all the spells? The summons? The potions and items? Many will say the problem is the sci-fi theme, but look at Final Fantasy VII! It was sci-fi, and yet all the low-tech aspects of any FF game such as swords and potions were not lost! The signature elements of every FF game were not to be found in this movie! Not even the Chocobos(bird like creature) or Moogles which are in every FF game were to be found in this movie! In the movie you see people gunning down hordes of alien creatures quick as lightning! Not so in the games! Fighting battles are a long and drawn out affair in the games, and are often tedious! Finally, let me mention the next attempt at movies(direct to DVD this time) by Square: it is basically a sequel to FF7 and is called Advent Children. And quite frankly, looking at the trailers for it, makes me think that this movie as well will not EXACTLY have the typical FF things that I have mentioned in it. However, you should realize the difference: FF: Spirits Within was a completely original story having nothing to do with the games' stories. This means that by slapping the FF name on it, that this movie is supposed to represent Final Fantasy in another aspect besides story, in other words: GAMEPLAY. Advent Children however, is merely a spin-off of FF7, in other words, it carries on the same story, so regardless of whether the movie feels like the game, it matters not. This being said, I THOUGHT FF:SPIRITS WITHIN WAS A FINE MOVIE, AND THAT'S COMING FROM A HARDCORE(played the old as well as the new)FF FAN! Also, I'm sure Advent Children will be great! So now you know why all the REAL FF fans didn't like this movie. But hey, scratch out the first two words of the title and it's all good. :) By the way this took me like an hour to write :)