Rating: 
Summary: The VHS version should be enough.
Review: If we talk about the movie, it's the kind of movie you have to see a couple of times.
But talking about the DVD the story is completly different. I rented this DVD mainly because of the extras, but I think it was a steal. All you get to see is a bunch of animatics, animatics and more animatics. Even the "outtakes" are animatics. You won't learn anything from the extras even if you know too much about animation and compositing since there are no "documentaries" at all, just a lot of images with some background music.
If you want the DVD because of the movie, then get it. DVD quality is far better than VHS quality, you can do whatever you want with the Disc Two, since it's basically useless.
Rating: 
Summary: Final Fantasy movie
Review: The problem with turning video games into movies is that you will always fail. If you try to make the movies too much like the games they suck, but if you distance yourself too far from the game you lose your audience.
But neither of these was the main problem with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
To be honest, it was a decent movie. The innovation of the movie and how it was made was beyond anything seen to date. The problem was that the movie did not have a specific target audience.Little kids didn't want to see this movie. The plot was too complicated for them and the concept of phantoms was completely worthless for their minds. Besides, it had a PG-13 rating.
Most adults have never even heard of "Final Fantasy." Why would they want to see a movie based on an obscure video game?
The typical teenager doesn't want to see the movie. A CGI sci-fi "horror" movie doesn't appeal to mass tastes.
So who's left to watch?
Us. And there's not many of us. (That doesn't include those people who though it was a bad movie)
The movie that took over four years to make, spending millions of dollars with their unbelievably detailed universe and character concepts (has anyone here seen the "making of" section on the DVD?) ended up making less money than "Atlantis," which was a miserable movie and was certainly a step down from the traditional Disney quality.
So the world goes.
Now, aside from the spectacular failure of Final Fantasy, here comes the actual review! The CGI was great. The whole concept of spirits and phantoms was great. The characters looked great. (Dr. Sid's wrinkly forehead and veins scared me) The phantoms looked great. The plot was somewhat lacking, but it was pretty decent. It was original.
BUT...
The actual character development was pretty bad. The dialog was simple and even the "soul-searching" conversation was thin. The side characters, Neal, Jane, and Ryan were badly made. Neal's "jokes" were pitiful and stupid. (Admit it!) And I didn't understand General Hein's character at all. He was just a paper-thin cookie-cutter model of the perfect "ignorant-human-traitor-bad-guy." Yeah, we know that his wife and kid died, but still! During the attempted suicide scene a bit of character showed through, but it wasn't enough to make me believe in him. He was too vicious, even for having lost his wife and daughter.
The best part of the movie, I thought, was how it corresponded to a real RPG. At the beginning we have Aki going down into Old New York to retrieve a weed. Like many RPG's, the first mission/level/quest doesn't explain much. The detailed story comes afterwards. You can imagine "extract the sixth spirit" as a quest during any video game, and the whole part with "wait for Aki to pull the weed out of the ground while enemies are closing in" can be found in many games. From then on, each action sequence has "enemies," and a "boss character," much like and RPG. The wasteland scene had a giant flying snake/fish thing for an enemy and General Hein's troopers for a boss. The escape from New York scene had multiple phantoms as enemies and the "Meta" class (the big fat phantom with too many legs and tentacles) was the boss.
The whole concept of the phantoms was really cool, since you can see through them to their bones and brains and organs and whatnot. There are some holes in the plot concerning the phantoms; such as why are the alien spirits gifted with the special powers to eat human spirits. Is it because they have no bodies? An alien who is killed in a big explosion when his planet blew up is just as dead as a human who dies of old age. Why, then, do the alien spirits have freaky powers? Is it because the Gaia (Earth or otherwise) has to spawn a certain number of spirits and if there are no bodies to house these new spirits then they become loose wanderers? What happens when a human is born far from Earth? And so on. (But we'll ignore those)
All in all, I gave the movie four stars since the characters were so bad. You awakened me from my thousand-year slumber.
I will eat your soul.
-Or-
Fool!
I will break thy arm
And throw thee into thy britches.
Rating: 
Summary: Must-have demo disc for your home theater sound system
Review: A definite must "demo" DVD for your home theatre. The soundtrack exercises all 5.1 channels to their fullest. Lots of surround information, your subwoofer needs deep bass extension to 20Hz for this film! On disc 2 "Aki's Dream" sequence edits together all of her dreams into one segment that is perfect for showing off your system. Visually, this is stunning CGI and it portends a cinematic future where films move further and further into virtual staging.
Rating:
Summary: This had nothing to do with John Lennon!
Review: Oh, wait...that's "Double Fantasy". All kidding aside, this is one of the best films of the year, and the DVD is sensational. Like "Dark City" and "Blade Runner", this commercial flop will enjoy cult status for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie
Review: After reading some of the reviews here at amazon... I got a little discouraged about watching FF. Even tho the graphics looked spectacular. At the end I just bought the movie on DVD to see how good it was... and I have to say.. not as bad as I thought. Even tho the acting was pretty bad.. and the script has some flaws... it's still a pretty good movie. I guess the thing the flim will be remembered by it's spectacular graphics. Plus on DVD the Dolby Digital 5.1 track is fantastic... gives the movie some BIG bass sound. Still after the movie's falws and acting... I give it 5 stars cause of the amazing graphics. If you like a good animated Sci-Fi flick... I guess this is the one for you.
Rating:
Summary: Something New
Review: Blade Runner suffered the same mixed reviews and lack of revenue as this dark and brilliant sci-fi did. In time, I believe it will be seen as a ground breaking and prophetic classic. The themes of apocolypse and disease are not too far from the reality that surrounds us now. It is a lot less macho than the Matrix, a film that I like, and this may have kept the boys away when it was released theatricaly. An intelligent Byzantine plot line keeps you guessing what is going to happen next. The animation is breathtaking, especially the hair (if you've seen it you will understand this).
Rating: 
Summary: Good story, computer characters lack warmth...
Review: I did enjoy watching this movie. The storyline was actually quite absorbing and original. I think I was expecting a recycled sc-fi plot, but was pleasantly surprised that the story was well constructed and kept my attention throughout the film. My only gripe is that I was unable to sympathize with any of the characters because of their plasticity. Even non-computer animated characters have gotten my sympathy (in the case of some anime, even my tears). I was awed by the animation and I admire the new technology...but still, not even the excellant actors providing the voices for the characters were able to choke even the slightest bit of emotion from me, and I'm a real weeper. So, the story was great, the animation was fabulous, but I think live actors placed against all of that lovely animation would have made this movie one to watch again and again. As it is, I say one viewing was enough.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing like the games
Review: note: If you are unfamilar with the Final Fantasy video games or are an FF fanatic it will make no difference, this movie is nothing lke any of the FF games. I'm guessing they only used the Final Fantasy license to sell this movie better. The Spirits within is the most advanced movie in terms of visuals, but Caveman could have thought up a better plot. The only reason to see the movie is the incredible computer animation, You almost forget that this is not live action. The only other things good about the movie is the word to mouth translation between the actors and the computer animated characters are right on target. The acting does a good job bringing the characters to life with voices by actors such as Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, and Hironobu Sakaguchi. Onfortunately the plot will put you to sleep, and the original thrill of the animation will ware off. The two other people that I saw this movie with agreed that it was boring pointless and stupid. I have no idea why Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up. I'd only reccomend to rent it just to see the the computer animation.
Rating:
Summary: CGI still falls short
Review: I just watched Final Fantasy and it seems to me the creators were, limited by the medium (duh!). We couldn't make the emotional connections because little was rendered; the creators seem relunctant or unable to push the emotions through the CGI faces. Anyone who has seen traditional hand-drawn Japanese anime knows the lack of emotive expression is not a generic trait; they can shovel those at you in the spades. It looks like the creators (rightly or wrongly) set themselves a technical objective (i.e. realistic portrayal of humans), and then found they had to tone down the emotive range in order not to expose the CGI shortfalls. Square is to be applauded for pushing the frontier but it is clear that we are still some way short. Most of the time, it's the lip movements, wooden faces and overly smoothed gestures that gave the game away. Like other reviewers before, I would to love see a FF sequel in a few years time, the same team given another chance to have a stab at it. P.S. The computers had an easier time with the guys (Dr Sid, the Council President modeled on Kofi Annan etc) with their stubbled faces and short hair, then with the women with their more delicate translucent skin and flowing tressess (having said that, Aki's hair looked absolutely fabulous! - she could be in the next shampoo commercial). Is this a collory to real life where our women folk are generally more complex creatures?
Rating:
Summary: Though not without flaws, it's still a good film.
Review: "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is the kind of movie that people with either love or hate. It is also considered as a testament to the idea that some films only belong on DVD and not in movie theaters. But while opinions are very mixed about this film, I really enjoyed it, despite its obvious flaws. The most noticable aspect of "Spirits Within" would undoubtedly be its graphics, and it's probably what this film will be remembered for. The visuals are amazing and stunning, and the characters are absolutely gorgeous, although they do sometimes move a little unnaturally. It was reported that the designers created Aki last so they could use all their experience on her, and it really shows. As Dash of TechTV said, "she's worth every megabyte." Speaking of characters, "Final Fantasy" game veterans might notice that some of the characters resemble characters from the games. Aki somewhat resembles Rinoa from "FFVIII", General Hein looks eerily like Seifer from "FFVIII", and the black soldier could be a double for Barret from "FFVII". But that's just me... The story is where the trouble starts. Many have complained that the plot is cliched, stale, and unoriginal, but that's not how I feel about it. While I must admit the story isn't terribly original, it's still an interesting story. It is a little confusing at first, especially at the end, but if you pay attention you will understand it. Some people have also complained that the movie has nothing to do with the games, but I disagree. The movie isn't based upon a particular "FF" game, but it does contain a key element: the Gaia. One of the binding links between all the "FF" games is a unifying force or power that holds the world together, and it's this element that makes sure "Spirits Within" isn't using the "FF" name as a crutch. The voice acting is another trouble spot. I will admit that Ming-na (Aki) sometimes faltered into a bland and forced mode of acting, as did Donald Sutherland (Doctor Sid), which made me cringe occasionally. But I will also say that James Woods gave an almost solid performance as General Heim and made him my favorite character of the movie. The rest of the voice actors were so-so, alternating between good and not-so-good. All in all, the voice-acting wasn't terrible, but they definately could've improved it. One minor note: occasionally, the voices did speak out of synch with the lips. It doesn't degrade the movie at all, but you can't help but notice it. To put it simply, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" isn't for everyone. Some people love simplistic and occasionally cliched sci-fi storylines, while others loathe them and want something original. While this movie does break new ground for computer graphics, it unfortunately falls short in terms of execution. I can't reccommend it to anyone because the appeal of this movie is very difficult to pin down; you will just have to see it for yourself.
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