Rating: 
Summary: Short But Sweet
Review: Though not a fan of anime, I felt this DVD contained some amazing quality and well written shorts relating to the Matrix movies. I enjoyed all of them, though a few stood out from the rest. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in the Matrix, technology, or computer animation in general.The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is the shortness of the DVD. I felt it could've used more content to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Take it for what it is
Review: Similar to someone else...I wanted to give this a 3 1/2 but that's not possible. People complain about the animation and gore and take the Christian relgious stuff way too seriously and can't handle "depressing and disturbing stories"...whatever...the Bros wanted to give you back info. The Matrix is a vast world and it's not all about Trinity and Morpheous and Neo and those guys. This is part of the rest of the world...and you can check their online comic books too. I found The Final Flight of the Osiris to be my favorite...partially b/c I love the photo-realistic computer animation, but also b/c it's connected to the game and Reloaded and it's so...bittersweet (the end). I also loved Detective Story...at the end of the film I kept thinking "wow, would've been so cool if he could've been freed". Soo...why the low rating? Simply because the films are so short...and I know that's the way they were intended (plus a few are boring)...but I would start getting into one of the films and then it'd be over. I'd want something longer b/c I liked that film so much I wanted to know more...but no luck.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is a sweet DVD to have and I would recommend it to both Anime fans and Matrix fans. Final Flight of the Osiris is simply the sweetest eye candy ever generated by copmuters. This is a must if you want to get a better understanding of the Matrix storyline and how things became the way they are. I loved it and I watch it at least once a week now!
Rating:
Summary: Right out of Wachowski's Head, if slightly unsettling.
Review: This is one DVD you can't miss if you liked the movies. Don't expet movie quality in this. THAT'S NOT WHAT IT IS! I can't belive you people, You critisize this for being ugly or having no plot. DUH! It's not suppost to have plot. What it is are the Ideas the Wachowski brothers had that didn't fit into the movies in any way. They wanted to publish the cool ideas simply because they are cool! Allright, here's the episode by episode break down: Final Flight of the Osiris -
This is photo realisticly computer animated. It is basicly a prequal to the game "Enter the Matrix". At the end of FFOTO, a crew member drops of a message in a mailbox in the matrix, and the game starts with retriving that message from the post office, and after that first part, "Enter the Matrix" parallels the Movie, "Matrix Reloaded". The Second Renaissance -
Done in realistic drawn animation, this explanes the history of the world before the matrix up to the creation of the Matrix. Kid's Story -
Done in "paint-style" animation. Kid is that anoying kid from that begining of Matrix Reloaded, who keeps thanking neo for saving him. Well this shows what happens and how Kid escapes from the matrix. WARNING - PAST THIS POINT THE SHORTS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIES! Program -
Done in Japanise style animation, this is a fight between to people in a medival training program, in which one of the W... brother's ideas comes out. I'll give you a clue (Syfer Training). World Record -
Done in a plain funky animation style that makes agents look like elvis... Basicly a track runner runs so hard his legs explode, but he keeps running anyway through sear will, and wakes up from the matrix for a moment... Beyond -
Done in the same style as Second Renaissance, this is a nicely done piece about just your average matrix inhabitants who find an old building that the local kids call a "Haunted House". When really it's just a glitchy place in the Matrix. Very Iteresting. A Detective Story -
Done in Black and White animation, this is a short story about a detective (among others) that was hired by an agent to find a mysterous Hacker by the name of Trinity... Matriculated -
Done in the same style as TSR, this is the most disturbing piece, about turning the machines in a virtual world to get them to swich sides willingly. "To a machine, all reality is vurtual"... well that dosn't apply to humans, as when the machine trys to help this person, it plugs them back into the dream-world, but to catisrophic effect... Don't forget that there's also a bunch of speacial features incuding a trailer for "Enter the Matrix".
Rating:
Summary: The more I thought about it...
Review: I liked most of these stories if for nothing more than the artwork. I had my biggest problem with "The Second Renaissance Parts I & II. I don't think we'd get that stupid and let machines come that far. The orginal robot should have been taken apart to find out what went wrong and then all other machines should have been updated accordingly. If I had my way I'd write "The Second Renaissance Part III". Ideally we'd get Joe Pantoliano to do the voice. I'd go something like this. Fade in showing the machines digging. They find a bunker under ground. Inside is a skeleton of a long dead man and a recording device. The machines play the recording. (From the way the person is dressed in the recording and what's left of the skeleton, it's the same person.) Recording beings. (The speaker is drinking what appears to be scotch and is getting "looser" as the speech goes on.) (Speaker fills a glass) Senator Reagan: This is Senator Reagan, if you are watching this recording now it probably means that those damn machines took over and the human race is being slaughtered wholesale. I tried to stop them I really did. When that first thing was put on trial I ranted against it. That right, I called it a thing. That's all it is. Those damn liberals think these over grown TV's and toaster ovens should have rights. I said no and tore three part on the senate floor had them rebuilt. They worked fine. Try doing that to a flesh and blood human. That only made me look like a bad guy. Well excuse me for defending the human race. It should have been taken apart to see how it developed a sense of self-preservation. Isaac Asimov anybody??? I, Robot??? Ring any bells???? No... (Fills a glass again) We destroyed most of them but not enough of them. They moved to the Middle East and set up "01" and we let these little trash compactors get away with it. We let them set up industries. Why??? No one saw it coming. They didn't "pay" their workers the way we did. Their workers didn't sleep, eat, unionize... That was the first and only time I asked, "Where's the damn union when you need it??" Labor activists should have been up in arms over this. But they weren't. I was stunned at the lack of outrage. (Fills a glass, speech is slurring) We nuked them. The EPM, blast wave and heat got some but not all of them. We stopped. Why??? People were too afraid to let their source for cheap goods dry up. They offered the olive branch, and then we decide to get tough on them. It was already too late for that. I personally put forth a banishment idea. Get those walking microwaves ovens off the planet. They could go to the Moon, Mars, leave the solar system all together. They could see if we are alone in the universe, but no. We blackened the sky to stop them. I'd love to get my hands on the geniuses that thunk that one up. That's world government for ya. (Fills the glass and downs it in one gulp) Then things got really ugly, full-blown war. It started out looking like we might win this, but they were suckering us into a trap. They knew our weakness, their troops, if they can be call that didn't fear death. They can be put back together good as new. They unleashed plagues that made Ebola look like a skin rash. I even heard rumors that they stared using humans as a power source. That's rich, biometric energy it's called. (Grabs the bottle and drinks straight from it, speech impaired) It's getting very bleak now and I'm one of the lucky ones that got to hide were they would have a hard time finding me. If hiding makes me a coward so be it. I have no idea what's happening on the surface right now, but it's a good possibility that I could be the last "free" human on Earth. Funny, I'm free, but I'm trapped in a buried bunker. I only hope that humans are watching this and laughing their a$$es off at me, instead of those metal hunks of junk. If it is the machines, and I'm not a religious man, God have mercy on us all for what we have done and what we have failed to do. (Throws the bottle against the wall, hear it shatter) The speech ends, and it appears that the speaker has passed out. The recording ends. Machines move on. A little while later humans show up. They play the recording for themselves. Pull away from the site showing the humans watching the tape and the beginning of the audio starts again.
Rating: 
Summary: The Animatrix: in a word, scary
Review: I just watched the animatrix last night with my little sister. I'm a total Matrix fan, but these anime cartoons were deeply unsettling. The final flight of the Osiris was tragic, but helpful for understanding Reloaded. The second renisance parts 1 and 2, were by far the most useful for understanding The Matrix trilogy, and the most unsettling. Program was weird in a non-scary way. Kid's story was a little strange, but not scary or dumb. World record was BORING maybye I didn't understand it, but all it was slo-mo and useless (to my point of view) information. Matrixified was unsettling and a snore to watch. Beyond was cool. It wasn't scary, but it was a little strange. About halfway through the anime cartoons, my dad came in and watched a little of them. He said they were boring... I would just like to remind you that no-one under 15, easily scared, easily bored, or was uninterested in The Matrix should watch these anime cartoons.
Rating:
Summary: a lot of good ideas not explored properly
Review: I rented this because I could not decide whether or not to buy it. I had been extremely disappointed over the Matrix Reloaded and I did not want to make a costly mistake. Renting was a good idea. While better than the movie, these shorts suffered from too many ideas that were not explored properly. Everything seemed a bit too rushed. The animation varied from exquisite to downright revolting. I was unimpressed with Final Flight of the Osiris. Photo realistic animation does not work with Human characters! Give it up! The characters looked embalmed and reanimated. I do not want to see computer animated butts with skin that looks like it has the consistency of jellyfish. There is nothing alive about these characters. They are too perfect. They don't move like beings who are related to the Great Ape family tree. Speed up any video of live human beings and our side to side, arm swinging ape like walk is unmistakeable. Plus someone has to give these animators acting lessons. Because that is what they have to become in order to try and give realistic reactions to these mannequins. A well timed smirk is not acting! Anyway, the best of the lot was Beyond. I was impressed with the animation and the story. It brought the Matrix world into ours by focusing on a girl next door type, her cat and the neighborhood kids. The incorporation of the haunted house archtype was genius! That look into the black nothing of the matrix hole was terrifying! I wanted to know more about these kids. What did the agents do to them? The rest of the shorts, I could take or leave. This is definately a rental! Do not buy!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the movie!
Review: This DVD is awesome! It's better than the Matrix Reloaded Movie! It covers all you need to know to understand the Matrix inside. Don't buy the movie, buy the Animatrix DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Four out of nine is pretty good
Review: This is undeniably a great idea; fleshing out a fictional world with nine animated shorts. I appreciate that the Wachowskis are trying to design a multi-media franchise from the ground up, done right. However, the execution falls short. FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS
Not so much a story as three interconnected set-pieces: a swordplay-foreplay martial arts scene, a running battle between a hovercraft and a swarm of hunter robots, and a Freemind making a run through the Matrix. Photo-realistic reproductions of moving human beings never seem to quite work right (maybe it's because they don't have tongues). PROGRAM
One Freemind tempts another with happily-ever-after in the Matrix, while fighting through a samurai fantasy virtual world. This plays with the way people will say and do different things in different environments. KID'S STORY
Where's they get the idea for this one? A fanfic written by a 12-year-old? At best, it's an immature ego fantasy. At worst, it's playing into the belief that you can escape your humdrum reality by sheer force of will, the kind of thinking that made the Tokyo subway gassing and Columbine possible. SECOND RENNAISSANCE I,II
A mythic retelling of the world's back story, the rise of the AIs and the war that nearly destroyed humanity. The visual storytelling is excellent and produces some memorable images. The biggest problem is that it follows the ludicrous backstory that humanity created the nuclear winter effect to kill the machines, instead of vice versa, which would make far more sense. Plus it sticks with the "humans as power source" nonsense. Hopefully, the Wachowskis will ret-con this foolishness out of continuity some day. DETECTIVE STORY
A triumph of visual atmosphere over anything else. A detective searches for Trinity and discovers how she can just disappear. WORLD RECORD
The most original of the stories. A sprinter's attempt to crack the speed record attracts the attention of Agents. Makes sprinting look as violent as pro boxing. BEYOND
Probably the most beautiful of the stories. A woman searches for her cat in an abandoned house, where reality has a few glitches. Time stretches, snaps back, repeats. Gravity fluctuates. It captures those odd moments of magic where you feel the rules are momentarily changed. MATRICULATED
They definitely saved the best for last. Peter Chung brings his patented brand of psychosexual weirdness to the Matrix, and it's a perfect mix. (Watch "Aeon Flux" and you'll see the resemblance.) A team of freeminds attempt to bring a hunter robot over to their side by giving it a human-like body in a fantasy world. Since machines don't dream, they have no way to consider one reality more real than any other. When their base is attacked, which side will the robot choose? Chung's work proves that you can tell a story that is visually exciting and sexy, yet thought-provoking. If anybody in the U.S. should be making animated feature films, it's Chung. The Animatrix is sweet, but only four stories ("Program", "World Record", "Beyond", "Matriculated") didn't leave me feeling like I had eaten a cup of icing sugar. Still, four out of nineis much better than Sturgeon's Law would suggest. I hope that they don't abandon this idea, and keep making animated shorts.
Rating:
Summary: Through the ol' Rabbit Hole...
Review: A great counterpart to a great trilogy.(Let's just hope there is no Episode 1 or 2) Anime fans will love this as well, as you look deeper into the Matrix; it's minor facets and it's pieces relevant to the jigsaw puzzle trilogy. Matrix and anime fans should check this out.
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