| Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within |
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| Rating: Mixed Distributor: Columbia Pictures Running Length: 1 hour, 45 minutes Release Date: July 11th, 2001 (wide) MPAA Rating: PG-13 Genre: Computer Animation, Science-Fiction, Fantasy, Action, Adventure Voices: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland, Ving Rhames, and James Woods. |
| Plot: The story takes place in the future, on Earth, where a species of aliens called Phantoms have left human society in ruin. Scientists have created barrier fields around surviving cities. Aki Ross, the protagonist, has survived an attack by Phantoms. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) is working for a group of scientists who are responsible for the fields. Her mission is to discover the eight spirits; they can help her cause in defeating the phantoms. However, she finds she must understand the phantoms before she can truly help the human population. |
| Critique: Final Fantasy is a visually impressive venture into computer animation, however its story is dull and saccharine. The screenplay is weak and insignificant. Although on the surface the film presents some original concepts, it is formulaic and cliched at its core. Additionally, the dialogue is sloppy and poorly written. Furthermore, the characters are bland and two dimensional. Nevertheless, the film is often visually astonishing. The background in the film is truly amazing. The animated humans in the film are usually mechanical, but they are believable in their animated environment. Moreover, they do not detract from the story significantly. The most noticeable flaw in the animation is the monsters. The screenwriters chose a hard route because they made the enemy of the story a ghost creature. Making a ghost in computer animation is probably much more difficult than making a traditional monster. Thus, the final product is vague, cartoonish and unconvincing. The filmmakers could have used their imaginations and created something more bold and exciting. Perhaps more importantly, the filmmakers should have chosen a monster that would have translated better to computer animation. Thus, the conflict seems to lesson in potency because the enemy is less threatening then it could have been. Final Fantasy lacks creativity at the core of its story, and its dialogue is banal. Yet, its visuals are fascinating for the most part. The enemies in Final Fantasy were poorly conceived, and they made for an unexciting result in the film. I do not recommend Final Fantasy, an uninspiring motion picture. review by supernothingman |
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| 1/2 |