Rating: 
Summary: Great
Review: This movie could have been a lot better if it had followed the traditions of Final Fantasy completely. If I were making this movie I would have made the lead characters a lot younger (late teen years to early adult), the lead male character would have a sword, and Aki would be a summoner. Also, at least one character wouldn't be human. Just because this is a futuristic movie why do they all have to use guns? It's Final FANTASY. The setting of this movie could be compared to Final Fantasy 7 and even the ending seemed to mimmic it. It doesn't bother me that this movie was set on Earth just as long as they don't do it again. I don't ever again want to see Aki Ross in a Final Fantasy movie and I don't ever again want to see the same style of realistic animation. I thought the animation and Aki were great but all Final Fantasies have totally different characters and different looks to them. Compare Cloud, Squall, and Zidane together. They all have totally different looks. Not just a different hairstyle stuck on the same head. So the next Final Fantasy should have a more anime look to it. Maybe deformed characters like in Final Fantasy 9. Over all I loved this movie's story and, as any Final Fantasy fan will tell you, it's all about the story. It had great back up characters although Neil's jokes were stupid and annoying. One thing I like most about this movie is the ending isn't set out to please everybody and make them all warm and happy inside. I wont give the details away, it could be happier but the writer chose to go with another path. I think Lara Fabian's song at the end is absolutely beautiful and fits the movie perfectly. It should win the Oscar. So I'll say this is the best video game movie I have ever seen with Tomb Raider coming in a close second.
Rating: 
Summary: Visually magnificent...and...er....
Review: Stunning animation (check out the detail on Aki's hair)is let down by a plot which is conceptually uninspired and some irritatingly predictable characterisation - e.g stereotypically psychotic villain who is determined not to listen to the voice of reason and who wants to destroy the aliens with a huge gun. Despite the revolutionary appearance of the film there is nothing else in it which you won't have seen in a million other Sci-Fi movies.
Rating:
Summary: FLASHES AND LOUD BOOMS GALORE!
Review: There were only 2 things that i didn't like about the movie. 1: The score wasn't composed by nobuo uematsu. 2: I'm liking Elliot Goldenthal's score waaaaay too much (sorry Nobuo).I thought this was a great movie. The story was good, but what made it great was the visuals. I mean, this is a movie that is worth the 6 dollar ticket just to see a muted version of it. I've heard lots of people put down this movie because "it had nothing to do with the game(s)!" but that's obvious because it's by Square Pictures (the guys who made the cutscenes for the games) not Square Soft. Or that's what I've heard, anyways. Watch it now.
Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to the critics
Review: I just have to say that this is a truly amazing film - the best I've seen in a very long time. I have read numerous reviews, criticising the dialogue, the plot, even the animation. It makes me really sad to think that this film is running at a loss - the animation makes everything I've seen before look third rate, and the plot is thought provoking - much deeper than the majority of Sci Fi films. There's never a dull moment, and so much attention to detail I could watch it many times without tiring of it. I really can't understand the hostile reaction from the critics - the film is a work of art, but they seem determined to want to pull it apart. For this reason I'd urge anybody to see it for themselves before making judgement - and at the cinema if possible, because the small screen just won't do it justice.
Rating: 
Summary: Superb Animation, but the storyline.........
Review: The animation is superb! Sometimes the movement of the character may be slidely slower (compare to normal human movement) but to create such an animation, I have to solute to all the animators. I think the only sag back is the way the story are being "present". The storyline is okay especially the dream of Aki, but other than that I can't really tell much of a difference between the storyline for FF and other sci-fi movie. I was quite bored watching FF after about an hour just because of the storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: FF: Princess Mononoke meets The Fifth Element
Review: As I embark on writing this review, I've just come back from seeing the film, so the details remain fresh in my mind. OK. What's my advice to those of you who haven't seen it and are looking for an opinion? If you haven't seen the critically acclaimed Japanese anime film "Princess Mononoke", which came out in 1999, you might feel pretty happy after you see FF:TSW because the goods this CGI laden flick has to offer bears a huge resemblance to the former; they're really two of an ilk to me. The lethal antagonist of the film (not to give too much away I'll put it ambiguously) turns out to be "an inexorable force of destruction", and you can conjecture what that means (think of what it was that sought to put life to a cessation in The 5th Element and you're on the right track)... Despite the near-impeccable CGI treatment you see in the film, there's really nothing more you should expect other than cheesy dialogue and a blatantly vacant script. I stongly suspect that during the film's development, the producers wanted a we'll-play-it-safe type of Summer blockbuster, hence the deprevation of ground-breaking visuals. Regardless, FF:TSW remains a nice piece of eye-candy that delivers solid entertainment. P.S. (since I used to be an avid Counter-Strike gamer) When "the other female character" shouted "fire in the whole" midway through the movie, man, did I get a kick out of that (only hardcore CS players should fathom what I'm referring to)! Then again, who cares? :-)
Rating:
Summary: Not worth it...
Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within has NOTHING to do with the game of the same name, except the name and the creators. The "ghosts" idea is interesting, but that's just about it. The characters are pretty flat, and dialogue is quite boring. The characters also don't react very...humanly to one another. I found the locations of the film to be beautiful, even the the characters don't act...human. Oh, sure, their hair will wave, their lips and mouth move, and they spent some time rendering those eyelashes, but the movement of the people just doesn't feel human. Also, I never really saw any emotion. I heard it in the voices, but the bodies onscreen never portrayed an emotion. The faces remained basically the same throughout the whole film. The direction is mixed. I felt less like I was watching a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster, what it was supposed to be, and more like I was watching a cutscene from a game. In the end, Final Fantasy does present some pretty imagery, but the predictable story, the tiresome dialogue and the flat characters bring this movie down.
Rating:
Summary: I guess it's not really fair...
Review: I guess it's not really fair, comparing this movie with the Final Fantasy games- because in order for this movie to reach the same heights that the games reach, it would have to pretty much be the best movie in the world. It wasn't. It wasn't a bad movie- the CGI effects were spectacular. But, as you're watching, you get the feeling that the effects were the only things that were focused on. The script is acceptable, as is the story, but once again, it is nothing like what we have come to expect from the Final Fantasy games. Naturally, the storyline and characters could not be delved into as deeply as they are in a forty+ hour game, but one would have hoped that the hour and a half long movie would have been as exciting and thought-provoking as the games were. Do not get me wrong; this is NOT a bad movie. As I watched it, marveling over the effects and trying to feel as involved as I did in the games, I was enjoying myself throughly. I hated the villian, I loved Aki, however un-fleshed out she might be, and I was pretty involved in the Gaia-esque storyline. (Although I did find it rather reminiscent of recent Final Fantasy games) But then the movie ended, and I was still sitting there, still waiting to be wowed, still wondering what was going to happen next. All in all, I felt disappointed that it didn't deliver like I thought it would. But as I said, maybe it's not fair comparing it to the games. If you have some spare time and are interested in the whole fantasy thing (although I would say that this is certainly more of a sci-fi theme) go for it, Absolutely. It'll engage you while it's on, and, who knows? Maybe you'll like the ending better than I. Note to all hardcore Final Fantasy gamers: Perhaps a Sephiroth type figure would have helped, ne? Nothing can beat the characters of FFVII....
Rating: 
Summary: Derivative, silly, sluggish
Review: Maybe if the plot wasn't some chaotic mess of utterly ridiculous New Age/Eastern garbage. Maybe if the "human" characters were not grossly inexpressive lumps of plasticine. Maybe if the villian wasn't some two-dimensional White man dressed up like a Gestapo agent. Maybe if the the dialogue wasn't crushingly banal, consisting of strings of cliches, punctuated by the kind of ..., juvenile verbal jokes that proliferate in similar live-action pictures. Maybe....just maybe Final Fantasy would have been good.....
Rating:
Summary: Final Fantasy--Joining the Canon...
Review: Hmmm. Where to start? How about "really enjoyed the magnificent effort of an incredibly ambitious and talented group of animators, with only minor dissapointments in their attempt to play too safe, too mainstream, watering down the lofty sights set with the technical/artistic approach to the film visuals with proven formulae and action sterotypes." There. That was simple. But what this film really got from 'Joe Public' seems to have been not mixed criticism/appreciation, but the cold shoulder. I think that's sad...it's a much better film than the pointless and underwhelming Planet of the Apes and the most ambitious title you're likely to see this summer. Why? Perhaps its due to it challenging the status quo of the Hollywood entrenched blockbuster...it had dark spiritual themes, didn't employ key L.A. toutables and was produced independently, not exactly Jerry Bruckheimer Presents. I firmly believe that FF will be a sleeper acheivement in filmmaking, changing the scope and look of films to come, much like similarly lambasted titles as "Tron," "Blade Runner," and David Lynch's "Dune." Many hated those films for being cold, alien and hard to decipher. Now, the levels and looks of those works make them landmarks and touchstones to new generations of artisans and movielovers alike. Welcome, Square Pictures...you took it on the chin but be proud of your big imperfect masterpiece. You had guts to do it and the hard work shows.
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