Rating: 
Summary: Fantastically Animated Film
Review: This movie is not easy to rate. I believe the story is not particularly developed or interesting. In fact it is hardly a story, but simply an elaboration of a pseudo story that is used to set up a video game. Screen writers do not even bother anymore, because the story is not what is important at the box office these days. This seems to be true of most video game movies. "Tomb Raider" did not have that great of a story. But "Tomb Raider" had Angelina Jolie whom, I must confess, I like very much. And she made "Tomb Raider" worth it for me. What is important in "The Final Fantasy" is special effects, and that video game players can identify with characters enough to bring them out to the theaters. Computer animation here is amazing. Although you can clearly see that you are not watching human actors, the animations are just human-like enough to make you forget about that for long periods of the movie. And you get emotionally involved in the fate of these characters, even if the story is somewhat absurd. The movie is predictable and the end feels anti-climactic. But as far as computer animation, the writing is on the wall. Geat progress has been made, and this film may be a precursor to the new generation of movies, where a human observer can no longer tell the difference between human actors and animated ones. Also, voice acting is very good, and adds the sense of realism to the picture.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but Square should stick with the games.
Review: I gave this movie a 4 mostly because of how amazingly real the movie looked and because it carries the "Final Fantasy" title. Anybody that went into the theater looking for a movie that would blow the socks off of their feet (as I did) walked away extremely disapointed. For the most part, the movie was great! But after a point late in the movie, it became clear that the writers had no idea how they were going to end such an intricate story... The real reason is the EVERYONE can understand the plot, it's the ending that starts to throw people off. Long story short: Awesome until the last 15 minutes. You will enjoy this movie but you will be left feeling empty and lost by the ending. People can draw their own conclusions, but I left wanting more closure.
Rating:
Summary: Give it credit for attempting digital actors
Review: I would give this film a 2 if it were acted by human actors. Ie it would make it a B scifi movie with excellent production values. It is a beautifully rendered film.I give it 2 extra points for the bold attempt to do digital humans. Anyone who has been in the area of computer graphics for a while (15+ years for me) would know that one of the holy grails is realistic human animation. Even George Lucas wasn't quite bold enough to try for it in Phantom Menace which is probably one of the few times that Industrial Light and Magic got scooped on a CG innovation- ok I guess ILM did do Jar Jar first. But in the history books Final Fantasy will go down as the first real attempt at convincing digital humans. I sensed while watching the film that many in the audience got kind of turned off by the ending. The ending is somewhat characteristic of Japanese scifi films where there is some kind of peaceful resolution that favors a natural solution over a technological one. Ie it is not a bunch of fighter jets blowing up the mothership like ID4. So in that sense it fails as a summer movie. But if you'd like to see some CG at its best, this movie is a treat. See it in the theatres because DVD will not do it justice. It's the same as comparing Crouching Tiger in the theatres vs on your little home TV screen.
Rating:
Summary: Never expected to enjoy this one...
Review: Prior to seeing this movie, I pled - and continue to plead - ignorance regarding the Final Fantasy video game series. Merely accompanying my bo-hunk to the movie of his choice, dig? From an FF-uneducated perspective, I didn't expect to enjoy the movie as much as I did. The visual scope was tremendous; at times, I found myself forgetting that I was watching a computer-animated flick, as the characters were so lifelike and detailed. Granted, the plotline was a bit unfocused, but this was more of a writer's err, not necessarily attributable to my "Gaia? What's Gaia...?" confusion. Not a *bad* story by any means, as it has it's moments; just a bit cloudy (even my boy couldn't quite understand the mechanics of the finale). But, hell, who needs plot when you've got such spectacular visuals flooding your view? In short: 1) Enjoying this movie is quite possible, regardless of your Final Fantasy education, 2) Stunning graphics are *not* to be missed, and 3) "Four Stars" means that Final Fantasy was a really great movie in it's own right, but I've seen better.
Rating:
Summary: More than just animation.
Review: This movie is stunning, as far as the animation is concerned. The characters come alive, and are in some ways more pleasing to watch than real actors. Although the storyline may be confusing to some, it is worth seeing this movie just for it's visual value. The voiceovers are clear and well done, however I had a few problems believing Ming Na's expressions at times. Nevertheless, what The Matrix did for special effects, this movie will do for computer animation.
Rating: 
Summary: Picture a movie with FFVIII genre, with no chocobos....
Review: ..that's on graphical [...]. I've waited for this movie for about a year, in sheer excitement. Well, I went to go see it in theaters the day it came out. It was..cool. A nice plot, and it was visually stunning. Only things I didn't like was that it really didn't feel like Final Fantasy, no chocobos, no "huge turning point that changes everything", and the music, well, it wasn't composed by Uematsu-sama. I didn't really like some of the voices (Aki's, for example), but hey, it's Square's first time usin' voices, so I'll cut them some slack. All in all, it was a good film. Definatly a big step for Square. But, it didn't get that great ratings in box offices, so I'm in doubt that there'll be a sequel. Sigh..and I was really lookin' forward to seeing a CGI version of Final Fantasy VII on the big screen... Written by Keneda of TotalAnime.com
Rating: 
Summary: Highly complex and disappointing
Review: I was unsure of this film since I had never played the game on Playstation. However, when viewing Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve played the game or never heard of it, the film is a big heap of mumbo-jumbo and it has nothing to do with the game. I never thought I would have to say this about a movie, but the plot is in desperate need of been simpler. Sure, I like a good complex plot that makes you think after viewing. With Final Fantasy the plot is just so hard to understand that you’ll need to force a scientist to come with you. It doesn’t leave you thinking after viewing, and if it did, your head would probably burst thinking about all the options the plot had. I didn’t care about the characters, the romance was cheese on a huge stick and I was frankly bored through most of the movie. Okay, I’ll admit like everyone else that I thought the computer generated people and sets were pretty amazing, most of the action scenes were entertaining (except the final reel – sheesh, what when on there?) and the character Aki was very believable, determined and voiced well by Ming-Na. This movie just didn’t please me in the rest of the areas in filmmaking unfortunately. In this review, I’ll go out on saying a similar thing to what I said at the start. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is a big disappointment not only for people who’ve never played the game, but also for people who have.... The game was so much better.” There goes proof: this movie sucks in almost every way.
Rating:
Summary: bring your sleeping bag
Review: this movie almost put me to sleep. the animation was ok until they did facial close ups. it looked really fake and the story line was a snore. none of the characters are from the games and the plot was predictible. the love scenes were cheezy and unnecessary. it just made the film more unbarable. cringe!
Rating:
Summary: Loved the movie....
Review: This movie will probably not appeal to everyone, but I loved the movie. The graphics and animation are very well done; some of the characters just look so life like that it is completely amazing to watch. I thought the story line was fairly interesting, and the movie did keep a good pace; I wasn't bored once. The grim science fiction feel was a perfect setting for this film. Some of the voice acting in "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" could use a little work; there are parts where the some of the actors just did not get enough emotion into their voices, but for the most part, the voice acting was pretty good. All in all, I really liked this movie and can't wait to buy it on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty decent movie
Review: This is a good movie, probably better than you've heard. Yes there are some cliche's and some other flaws but they're not that bad. The animation is flawless and I was amazed how well the characters moved. If you've played any of the games or seen enough anime the plot should seem familiar but you'll still enjoy the movie. It's worth seeing and worth buying when it comes out on DVD.
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