Rating: 
Summary: Slightly uneven, but worth it
Review: While "The Animatrix" is not an unprecedented masterpiece, it is a splendid compliation and worth the money. Onto the short reviews: Final Flight of the Osiris: The most amazing CGI on the disc, but short on story--We meet characters, something bad happens, said characters die.
Program: This short does not tie into the movie story lines, but the artwork and fast paced action make it worth a look.
Detective Story: This short, from the creator of Cowboy Bebob, is a great noir short, and wholly unexpected in this type of compliation.
Kid's Story: Eh. While it does give some backstory to a throwaway character in "Reloaded", the bizzare artwork and dragging story knock this short down a peg.
Matriculated: This one is kinda intresting, if a little psychedelic in the CGI sequences. This film from the creator of "Aeon Flux" shows how the human resistance recruits robots to their side: by placing them in a human-desgined matrix portraying an idyllic existence showcasing humans as saviours.
Beyond: Oy vey. Utterly boring tale about a girl, her cat, and a Matrix programming anomaly turned haunted house. But not as bad as...
World Record: ... God-awful tripe about a world record sprinter who frees himself from the Matrix by RUNNING FAST. If it weren't for this and Beyond, I would give the disc five stars.
The Second Reninsance, Parts I & II: The best of the bunch. This tale showcases the advent of AI, their subsequent revolt, the formation of a robot nation-state, the machines attempt at reconiliation, and the final war between man and machine. Haunting, bleak, and pure genius. Final Verdict: Skip "Beyond" and "World Record", and enjoy what some of anime's best talent has to offer in a familiar milieu.
Rating: 
Summary: There is no limit to your credit card.
Review: Abslutely amazing. I think it is even better then Reloaded. All of the stories are deep and intresting, and the animation is top notch. For all those matrix fans out there, if you want to know a lot of background, this is a great source. The stories don't follow the storyline of the matrix movies, but are side stories in the same universe and a couple stories about the origins of the matrix.
Rating: 
Summary: The Animatrix has you...
Review: A near excellent compilation of nine animated shorts taking place in The Matrix universe, The Animatrix is definitely worth owning if your a fan of Warner Bros. cash cow series. Starting off with Final Flight of the Osiris (which also saw time in theaters debuting before the film adaptation of Stephen King's Dreamcatcher), an excellently computer animated (by the folks from Square Pictures who did Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) short serving as a prequel to the events in The Matrix Reloaded and the Enter the Matrix video game. The animation is excellent and has sure come a long way since the Final Fantasy film. The Second Renaissance Parts 1&2 show the beginning of the war between man and machine and the creation of the Matrix. These shorts are a great backstory to the Matrix saga, and although it may seem a bit silly at first, it becomes quite chilling. Kid's Story also serves as a prequel to The Matrix Reloaded; as we learn the origin of the young teen who was following Neo around in the film thanking him for saving him. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their respective roles as voice overs in this short. Program features a kabuki-warrior themed fight simulation which is directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri of Ninja Scroll fame. World Record (which is written by Kawajiri) features an Olympic track runner who seems to get faster and faster, while Beyond features a group of kids discovering a "haunted" house which allows them to do almost anything such as hang in the air and they soon have a run in with the Agents. Detective Story is presented similar to old style film noir movies, and also features a voice over cameo from Moss, while the final short Matriculated, finds a machine seemingly turning over a new leaf on humanity. All in all, The Animatrix is a great companion piece to any fan of the feature film series, and it shows some of the top names in anime in great form.
Rating: 
Summary: disheartening...
Review: further proof that at the heart of the Matrix is... little more than that revealed in the first film. The sequel and this animation shift emphasis from the notion that "reality is a dream" and emphasizes a by-now hackneyed "man versus machine" formula. Is this the world of the Matrix, or a preview of Terminator 3? The background "Second Renaissance" is third-tier Asimov at best, and Last Flight of the Osiris is not more successful at accomplishing anything than Final Fantasy. As for the others -- come on... Are a series of "Tone Poems" already the only things they could cobble together with such a rich concept? All in all, I suspect the Animatrix is the shape of things to come for the Matrix... but fortunately, we'll only have to go back there one more time...
Rating:
Summary: Fills the Gaps, baby...
Review: To my fellow basement dwellers, and Matrix plug-ins... I strongly recommend ANIMATRIX -- some awesome shorts, with different, but sweet range of the new CG stuff/animation! Must be some independent filmmakers drippin on acid directed these things. It really ties a bunch on loose facts and actually make the Matrix plausible. You know, the "ONE" concept, and the ZION (underground city undetected, yea). OK here goes a short out-take to interest you. Part I -- the the movie AI, Man develops arificial intel and it starts to think. All that Asic Asminov, stuff on artificial "feelings". But now the oppression by man turns those basic machine feelings into "less pure thoughts" and war begins. Part II -- Think T2 - Judgment Day -- in the war machines prove too much for humans. So what do they do --> boom out come the nukes. Only think is, who survives the nuclear winters easier...machines don't sweat the temp and the radiation, just the lack of solar energy. Good war stuff. Part III - think Core - well, kind of. Now a small group of men's best and brightest left come up with the only plan they can think --- tunnel down at least 20,000 ft and build a shelter/bio- dome (soon to become Zion). Detonate all that's left, let all the radiation in and smoke the machines. Yea, it sucks, but we'll be wiped out anyway and let's go down swingin. Part IV - nay,I'll leave the rest for you to see, but trust me, they're good. ((hell, I meant to get some bills paid, and all I've done is watch these things.))
Rating:
Summary: You have 9 rabbit holes to choose from
Review: It was violent, insane, graphic and in some parts grotesque. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. This is what animation should be like in america, not that junk they show you on Cartoon Network or The WB. The dvd has 9 short films about The Matrix, not the movie but the place (although 4 of the films are tangled into the first 2 matrix films, Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance I & II and Kid's story). I'll be rating the films individualy, as in Amazon.com the highest score is 5 stars, lets begin. 1. The first film "Final Flight of the Osiris" tells you who sent Jada Pinket Smiths character the info about the machines digging in "The Matrix: Reloaded". All CGI, great animation and great story (5 stars). 2. The Second Renaissance I and II- This tells the story of how the machines came into power. This is the one that is graphic and not really for kids but I let my 5 and 10 year old cousins see it and they seemed to like it. What they didn't understand I explained to them and it sounds like most of you people who didn't like this DVD need to come over to my house so I can explain all of these 'simple to understand if your above 10 years old' plots for you. Great animation and great story (5 stars for both). 3. Kids Story- It's about a teen that knows there's something more out there. He knows about Neo, Trinity and the rest but he doesn't know how to get to them. I liked the action on the skateboard and the kind of animation they used was new to me, I had not seen animation like that before (5 stars). 4. Program- A women is in a training program and her Boyfriend enters, telling her that he is tired of living in the real world. He tells her that he knows a way back to the Matrix and asks her to come along. Kind of like the Cypher character in the first Matrix movie. When she declines, he decides not to take no for an answer. He then decides if she's not leaving with him then shes not leaving the program alive. Cool story and great fight scenes (5 stars). 5. World Record- A man entering a race in the Olympics races to beat the world record. But as he races on he wakes up in and out of the Matrix and the real world. The Agents around him do there best to keep him in the real world, going so far as to destroying all the muscles in his legs making him unable to walk again. Great animation and a pretty neat premise (5 stars). 6. Beyond- A girl looking for her cat in her neighborhood finds an abandoned house which gives her and some neighborhood children special powers (floating, breaking and repairing a glass bottle, seeing rain fall were there are no clouds). The premise of the story is that the house is basicly a glich in the Matrix and soon Agents come to fix this glich. It was ok and the animation was pretty good too but there was something about this film that I just didn't like, I don't know why, maybe it was just to cutesie for me (I'd say between 3 and 3 1/2 stars) 7. A Detective Story- The Agents are having trouble finding a hacker named Trinity, so they hire the services of a local P.I. So far three Investigators have tried looking for her. One killed himself, one went insane and the other vanished into thin air. It's gotta 1940's feel to it (like a Humphrey Bogart movie) and it's all in black and white (some color). It's like a 40's period piece but the charcters use todays technology. I liked the script and the black and white went well with the feeling of the film. Also great animation and I love 1940's period type films (5 stars). And finally 8. Matriculated- Some people in the real world take down and capture a machine sent to hunt and destroy. They then take the machine and download it and them selves into an alternite reality (kind of like a Matrix for Machines) to try and convince it to join them in their fight. The animation has a weird feeling to it in the alternate wolrd sequence and it is a little creepy and I still don't really get the ending (I had to watch it a few times before I understood most of it, I think the machine falls in love with one of the girls) but I did like the tribute to Warner Bros. cartoons (you'll know it when you see it). It was well made and had great looking machines (3 to 3 1/2 stars). There are only commentaries for four of the films, The Second Renaissance I and II, Program and World Record. There's a feature called "From Scrolls to Screen", it's basicaly about the history of anime. The Creators feature are Bios about the creators of the films (directors, script writers, etc.) and the Execution feature gives you a film about the individual director and script writer of the movie they made. They also give you a glimps of the "Enter the Matrix" video game. You can also put this in your dvd-rom for more features. So if you enjoy Anime and The Matrix then I suggest you buy this DVD. If you don't like Anime, you just might after you see these films (DVD- 5 STARS).
Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: I wasn't expecting much from this DVD after suffering through the horrible "Director's Cut"-style editing of "Matrix: Reloaded" (despite the Wachowsky brothers' enthusiasm for Japanese anime, they have not caught on to the philosophy of minimalism). However, I feel that they have redeemed themselves with this creative effort through their favorite medium - anime. What is so brilliant about this collection? It would help to remember all the movie-based cartoons that were aired on TV. The animators were restricted to plots that were solely made to market the franchise (do you remember any Star Wars based cartoon that left any impresson on you?). The results were invariably a derivative of the live-action original. Instead, the brothers respectfully allowed each producers to interpret their world in the producer's own style. The result is simply amazing - the collection's central theme is a framework rather than restriction, and the creativity and the skills of these animators really shine through. The collection is good for the most part. There are some weak points: Matriculated relied too much on visual elements that were better told in spoken words (besides, robots do understand words and reason, don't they? And so does the audience). Detective Story was stylish but got choppy and was hastily ended at the scene on the train. The Program was the most disappointing, with many repeating visual elements that points to lack of effort, and the quality falls far short of the producer's earlier work, "Cowboy Bebop". The rest is okay. The most outstanding work is "The Second Renaissance I & II". It deals with the one of the main theme of the Matrix series - the fraility of human kind. The compressed imagery has the pace of an Osamu-styled (a la "The Phoenix") manga - many of the scenes are taken from our recent history but re-styled for cohesive storytelling. This will explain why many young viewers will not understand the message that is conveyed by the choice of imagery. Also, the origins of the idea of interdependence of man and machine (also presented in Matrix2) is presented as the rational extension that follows the miseries brought on by both sides - an idea that confused many revieweres here. As far as violent nature of the imageries goes - since many images are re-take of the actual events in human history (just replace humans with robots), it is far from gratuitous and it is meant to get your hands dirty. I would understand that children and the undereducated will have a hard time understanding this. That said, just take it easy and enjoy the ride, this is simply an entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: Great for Matrix/Animation Fans
Review: The Animatrix is a collection of nine animations commissioned and produced by the Matrix writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski. The animations vary from fairly simple "A Detective Story" to state-of-the-art "The Last Flight of the Osiris. I found the collection of animations to be quite interesting -- both from an artistic point of view and from a storyline point of view. Even though "A Detective Story" is the least sophisticated piece technique-wise, I found the story the most enjoyable. The realism of "The Last Flight" was just incredible. "The Second Renaissance" and "Kids Story" give a lot of background to the Matrix storyline. This DVD is great for fans of "The Matrix" looking for additional background as well as people who like animation. Those like me (who found "The Matrix Reloaded" a bit long in the tooth) will most likely find the DVD just OK. If you haven't seen "The Matrix", then skip this DVD. There isn't much in the way of DVD extras - only some director's commentary for a few of the animations. The one I watched had English subtitles. Interesting, if you have the time to watch but it didn't do much for me. Recommend: Yes to Matrix/Animation fans
Watch again: Probably not
Rating:
Summary: osiris's last flight
Review: well I expected all of the movies to be like the first one but they were not. osiris's flight is the best I think. it reminds me of final fantasy movie... about reneissance stories: well I've never liked the science fiction concept "robots having their own consciousness and taking over". so I don't like matrix story indeed... the renaissance stories were ridiculous indeed. especially the !!!!"female and male robots"!!!! representing 01 in UN.
and "may god forgive the SINS of men and robots" the world before matrix: well if you've watched renaissance stories you should have seen that the world before robots take over is the world we have now. I mean robots create matrix based on the old world... that's important. matrix revoluitons may lead to the idea of "even Zion is a program too" ... cause if the spoon is not real... than the telephone cables aren't real too... then how can they enter and exit the matrix?? the only possilibty is that the outer world they knew as real is an illusion too... well let's get back to animatrix. it doesn't worth the cost I think. it's only produced to earn more & more money. good robots with green eyes, bad robots with red eyes... female & male robots, everybody's testing everybody... program movie: they fight & fight & fight in a program. then... "this was a test you've passed" detective story: ý think this was the worst. this too was a "this was a test" movie osiris flight: best animation the child's story: some scenes were really terrible. they've not worked on it I think. may be it was their style but I didn't like it. beyond: I liked this story. an unusual house. in fact it's an error it matrix. may be you'll want it in your collection just for osiris's flight. it's like final fantasy. otherwise it's not worth it.
and also I didn't understand why all the female characters were walking around with underwear. though I like osiris's flight's graphics it's obvious that they wanted to get attention with female bodies...
Rating:
Summary: Awesome Visuals...
Review: This is for Anime fans and Matrix fans alike. Well thought out stories and simply stunning animation are combined to create one amazing DVD. If the next all CGI movie is as good as "The Last Flight of the Osiris", then I cannot wait to see it. The other short films are all as good or better than the Osiris story. This is what I would call "Essential" viewing.
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