Spoiler ahead. If you prefer the suspense, click here.
For people who haven't heard of Square's Final Fantasy, this film might come as a perplexity. After all, the movie is set two years after Sephiroth was defeated by Cloud and team in the gaming world. The common questions are: Who is Cloud? Who is Jenova? Most importantly, who the heck is Sephiroth? For those who love Final Fantasy VII and have lovingly completed the game (ahem, including yours truly), these characters (if you'd call Jenova a character) are as familiar to us as Loz's mobile ringtone after Tifa defeats him in a scuffle (you have to admit, that was a good one).
In a nutshell, there was once a city called Midgar which served as the base of Shinra, a power supplying conglomerate. Cloud was an unwilling member of an anti-Shinra rebel faction called AVALANCHE and who, after an attack on a Shinra power plant, meets Aeris (he did meet her before that, but that's a longer story). Aeris is the last remaining Cetra, who were thought to be in close harmony with the planet (so close, they can commune with the planet). Shortly after, Sephiroth appears. He was one of Shinra's many experiments, and was created by fusing cells of Jenova (mistakenly thought to be the remains of a Cetra) and a human fetus. Unknown to them, Jenova is an alien creature that landed on the planet thousands of years earlier and carries a deadly disease (can turn creatures into monsters, among other things). Sephiroth however plans on transforming himself into a god-like being by injuring the planet. With this injury, the planet releases the Lifestream to protect herself. It is this energy that Sephiroth plans to exploit to fulfill his dreams of becoming a god.
Of course, Cloud and his party (Tifa, Barret, Red XIII, Caith Sith/Reeve, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Aeris who was killed earlier by Sephiroth) defeated this silver haired and oh so bishie-licious Jenova incarnate. And it was two years after Sephiroth is defeated that Advent Children's story takes place. Apparently, the wrath of Jenova is far from over, if the geostigma, a crippling (if not aesthetically unpleasant) disease, is any indication. Rufus Shinra, who in the game is shown as being engulfed in an explosion (and so is believed as dead by many), is afflicted by the geostigma himself. He turns into a new leaf and claims to want to correct the wrong he has done (interesting how those whose lives are numbered would suddenly do good deeds). Turns out he has Jenova's head, and the Remnants are breathing down his neck to have it. These Remnants are just that, the remains of Sephiroth broken down to three persons. They want their hands on Jenova, their "mother", so they can revive the real Sephiroth, who can then continue his grand plans of being a god.
To an ordinary viewer (my mother, for instance), the whole plot would seem like a major mumbo jumbo. That said, anybody who's not into sci-fi, anime, and most importantly not into Final Fantasy should skip this film altogether. For us however, we love it to the hundredth power (why else would I watch the whole thing again when I saw it airing in Animax?). It should be noted though that this movie's CGI is not something to be missed, and my mom could probably watch this whole thing just to see the CGI, if nothing else. I should also mention that the soundtrack is amazing to us Nobuo Uematsu fans. I especially like the new (rock? metal?) version of Jenova and One Winged Angel; chills run up my spine everytime I hear them in the movie. I was also delighted to hear the music during the end credits (what I call the graduation song, as I first heard it at the end of Final Fantasy VIII, where a SeeD party is being shown). It is also interesting to note that this film finally put to rest the age old debate of who Cloud likes better. I was always pro-Aeris rather than pro-Tifa---I have to admit that Tifa strikes me as too much of a suffering martyr. This movie shows that Aeris likes Zack all along (Aeris: This one's too big to adopt.), and Cloud, well man, you just have to move on and see just how good a woman Tifa is to you. Which he appears to be doing at the end of the film.
My rating: 10/10. This is the first film I have ever rated a perfect 10. While the movie has far too many loose ends, that is always expected of Square's storyline. As for me, this is a treat for all of us loyal Final Fantasy fans, and it certainly didn't disappoint. If anything, it makes me want to play the whole game again (now where the heck are my FFVII disks?).
Memorable scenes: Because of the beauty of its CGI, the film boasts far too many memorable scenes, but my favorites are:
> Cloud first encounters the Remnants.
> Cloud goes to see Rufus (and locks the door on Rude).
> Tifa fights Loz in Aeris' church.
> Vincent helps Cloud fight off the Remnants near the Forgotten City.
> Kadaj summons Bahamut Sin (where did he get the materia?!?). For a summon, this bahamut has a nice set of pearly whites.
> Barret and others arrive to help Tifa and fight Bahamut Sin.
> Cloud and team fights Bahamut Sin. (See the blue ball of flame this summon lets out? This resembles the Final Fantasy VII logo.)
> Reno and Rude fight Yazoo and Loz.
> Reno and Rude set up explosives in the highway to stall Kadaj.
> Sephiroth is revealed to Cloud.
> Cloud defeats Sephiroth with his omnislash. (Shown much better in film than in the game. I was like, "Oh, so that's how the omnislash really looks like!" ^_^) To non-FFVII shippers, omnislash is Cloud's ultimate sword technique (referred to as a limit break in the game) wherein he attacks with all the swords he has acquired simultaneously (I wonder where the Ultima Weapon sword comes in? That one's hard to get in gameplay).
> Sephiroth, as a one-winged "angel", disappears.
> Cloud finally sees Aeris as she walks away with Zack.