Alright, this takes place sometime in the future, you know, the 2065 genre... whatever. Anyway, the Earth is now facing some crisis where there are "Phantoms" roaming all over the place. These steal human's souls/spirits and use them for their own purposes. In the midst of this dilemma, Dr. Aki Ross is wandering around trying to find eight different "spirits." She's already found a few of them, and is looking for a lifeform hidden inside of a plant when the movie begins. Aki has also been having problems sleeping, due to these strange dreams that have been plaguing her. To try to figure out the meaning of these, she records them and looks for a hidden message within. Throughout the movie, she must try to do the typical Final Fantasy thing: Save the world while looking good, getting closer to finding the meaning of humanity and existence, become close friends with the team she was thrown without warning into, and make the evil guys dissapear as if in a boss fight... not to mention making them believe the planet IS alive, and she can prove it if he'll just let her...
Now for my personal comments on the film. I LOVED it. I am an avid Final Fantasy fan, and I collect anything and everything Final Fantasy. I am also a really big Squaresoft fan (which is the company that releases Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Parasite Eve, etc... in other words, all of the REALLY good RPG's) so I had to see their first attempt at a full-length feature film. And they pulled it off wonderfully. The storyline was almost as deep as all of the games that you'd play. The only reason it wasn't? The movie doesn't give you 72 hours of gameplay ^_- The only "deep" issues they missed were the pasts of the characters. You find out a bit, but not like you would in a normal Final Fantasy game. That's alright though, for an hour and 45 minutes, the movie did a wonderful job of character development, and kept the story moving at a fast pace. The voice acting was pretty good on Aki and Neil, among other characters. However, it wasn't all that great on Grey. Perhaps because Alec Baldwin cannot voice act, but hey, he did give it a good shot. Give 'em credit, man! It's hard to voice-act when you're not used to it!
Despite all of the horrible reviews this movie got, I call it wonderful. Not only because Final Fantasy fans will find all of the old familiar themes to it (except for the summons, of course ^_^), but the fans new to the series will find that the storyline is unlike anything they've ever seen before: complex, compelling, and intriguing. They will understand if they're interested, and if they're not, then it'll probably go over their shallow heads.
There are OFFENDING things in this movie, sorry. If you're horribly religious and don't like anything that differs from your chosen beliefs, then you probably won't like it. Final Fantasy ALWAYS deals with spiritual things, such as souls, where they go when they die, etc etc. They swear, and there is a kissing scene. Oh, and it's really depressing.
Storyline
5/5 It's your typical FF plotline, but even the newcomers can understand what's going on if interested, without going through getting to know how to equip materia, weapons, and learning ATB! ^_^
Character Development
5/5 All of the characters were likeable, even Neil, the supposedly annoying one. I liked Jane (she looked like a man) towards the end of the movie better than I did in the beginning.
Plot Depth
5/5 Very deep and philisophical, just as you'd expect from the one and only series...
Music
5/5 L'Arc~en~Ciel has an English track on here! Hurray! Finally, a J-Pop group gets some recognition... ^_^ Nobuo Uematsu didn't do the music for the movie, though, and that kind of dissapointed me. But then I thought: He's busy working on FFX and FFXI. Get a grip, because you want those to have better music, since you'll be hearing it repeating constantly.
Sexual Content
4/5 There was a freaking kiss and that's ALL, I think. Maybe a reference here or there.
Nudity
5/5 NONE!
Violence/Gore
3/5 Lots of explosions, deaths, and people getting spirits ripped out of them.
Animation
6/5 OH MY GOD!! IT WAS SO F@&*!N AWESOME! I had to CONVINCE people this was all CG- just like one BIG full motion video from the games!
Profanity
4/5 Swearing, but nothing too offending.
Overall goodness
5/5 It was awesome. I don't even care what fat gay man who is obsessed with sex said on the Daily Show. I could go into some serious insults with his looks, sexuality, and voice here, but I won't. That has nothing to do with his opinion on the movie. All I have to say is: your review sucked. As a review writer myself, I must give out the good and bad points of the film, which I admit, you did. However, you can't say that it's good because Aki has a bottom worth checking out. You can't just say the plot was "dull." Why was it dull? What was it lacking that made it that way? And just because the cast was all CG doesn't mean that it is a bad film! As a matter of fact, I'd say that's a leap forward in the movie-making business. After all, no one got hurt in the "filming" of it, did they?
Totals: 47/50, or wonderful. Any Final Fantasy fan CANNOT miss this one, and any person who hasn't even heard of FF should definitely check it out anyway: they may end up wanting to collect all of the games for more stuff like that.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a great movie. I was so psyched to see it! I'm a HUGE fan of the video game series and I really liked the anime OAVs, so I was so excited! This movie was over two years in the making, with experts in the story and graphics (duh!) making sure everything went well! I'd say that they did an exceptional job! On to the story, then a few rants. . .
Well, it's far in the future, and these weird things called "Phantoms" are invading the Earth. We aren't too happy about this, because you sometimes can't SEE the durn things, and it they touch you, they can steal your soul (the big ones) or just kill you (little ones) No one kows how to kill them. I mean, they're PHANTOMS! How does one kill a phantom? I couldn't tell you. The Phantom of the Opera! Okay, no, there was none of that. A woman named AKI (ah-key, NOT ACK-EE) is trying to find the eight (or was it seven?) keys to what she thinks will unlock the Phantoms' secrets. See she's been having these dreams. She doesn't know what they mean, but she's on an alien planet (or so she thinks, she's not totally sure) and there is a war. These mechanical beings run at her, and eventually surround her. What does all this mean? She doesn't know, but she's been recording her dreams. (it's the FUTURE, durn it! You can DO that!) It's full of twists and turns, and the voices are superb for most characters. I personally think that some of those voice actors should stick to ACTING alone. No offense, but voice acting is very difficult! Not for everyone! Anyway, Aki meets up with what I like to call the "Rainbow Team". They wear all gray and black. Quite the colorful people. ^_- Anyway, she's trying to get a plant. because she believes it to be the next key item! Well, back at customs, she refuses to get checked by the machine for Phantom infections. But one of the Rainbows goes through. Things go bad very fast, and they have to de-toxify a member. Thank goodness that everything seems to be well again. Now everyone's mad. Why did Professor Sid let Aki go without being checked? GRRR! All this and MORE!
Now, onto the ranting! See, our local paper does movie reviews. It's based on a five-star system. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within got TWO FREAKIN STARS!! And Legally Blonde got THREE! LEGALLY BLONDE DID BETTER? NO WAY! This made me so mad, I ranted for a few hours! "Mediocre graphics with no plot; another boring summer blockbuster." Now, that quote isn't direct, so 'scuse my slight incorrectness. And then. . . THE DAILY SHOW (on Comedy Central) had to get in the swing of things. That guy who does movie reviews who talks like he's gay and is obsessed with sex. . . oh grrr. . . time to let loose! What an IDIOT! That dumb guy said that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within wasn't even worth your time! Eye Candy, bootylicious "Ack-ee" was all the good stuff! Oh, grr grr grr!! ACK-EEE? Her name was AKI!! AH-KEEEEEE! Anyway, he said that all it managed to be was another movie with fancy-schmancy graphics that aren't even all that good; no plot, and Ack-ee was hot. It would be better if the whole damn cast wasn't CG. AGH! Do YOU, Mr. I-Talk-Like-I'm-Gay-And-Just-Because-I-Was-Too-Stupid-To-Understand-The-Movie-I-Rip-Upon-It think you can do better? People worked their asses off (scuse the language) to make that movie, slaving away! They have put forth a tremendous amount of effort just for this! If you happened to think that the movie had no plot, you're either not paying close enough attention to grasp things, or you're too freaking dumb to get it! That had more plot that Legally Blonde, but NO! Everyone likes that! Dumb and Dumber! Tell me THAT piece of crap has a plot! (okay, Dumb and Dumber is funny, it's not a piece of crap, I take it back) Tell me "Scream" had a better plot! Tell me half those porn movies the guy watches for $12.95 have plots! Anyway, I realize that not all things require plots, and some aren't supposed to. Okay. Well, I will say a few GOOD thigns about his review. He did at LEAST say Hironobu Sakaguchi's name right. That was a good start. In any case, he put forth some GOOD points and bad points. Unfortunately, he dwelle-eth upon the bad. And the fact that "Ack-ee" had a nice butt. He said some good things, but I still think his review sucked. Remember, when you insult an intelligent movie for having no plot, and all you watch is porn, think it has great plots, then you, my friend, are an idiot.
Storyline
5/5 Wonderful! I think it was amazing! The Phantoms were great, and the team was very diverse! Many twists and turns I did not totally expect!
Character Development
5/5 It was very interesting to see lots of things happen that the characters reacted realistically to!
Plot Depth
5/5 May be too deep for certain people who like to only pay attention to Aki's butt.
Music
5/5 Although Nobuo Uematsu did not compose the music, it was excellent. L'Arc~en~Ciel, a JPop band, even has a track on the ENGLISH version of the soundtrack! A great song! Pick up the soundtrack!
Sexual Content
4/5 I think that there were a few references. Nothing serious. It's rated PG-13.
Nudity
5/5 Nope! Well, the PHANTOMS are naked. (okay, that joke's getting old. . . )
Violence/Gore
4/5 Well, there are non-violent death scenes. But some are very sad to watch, and it can be very depressing.
Animation
6/5 Off the freakin' scale. Couldn't have been better! All very smooth and linear, the hair was absolutely beautiful (that is HARD work!), and not to mention - the Phantoms were so beautiful. They took my breath away! I was awed! It's hard to remember that it's only CG! They are so real!
Profanity
4/5 No big deal! A few "damn"s and "bitch"es, and some others.
Overall goodness
5/5 Wonderful! Hardly a thing wrong! (okay, it's almost perfect!) Congratulations to all those who worked on it! You guys did an OUTSTANDING job, and I think that you all deserve lots of stuff or something! ^_^ To those who want to see it - GO! It's wonderful! I think you will enjoy it! To those who don't want to see it - Just try it. You might like it. To those who thought is sucked - I don't like you. Unless you have a good reason, like the spiritual things offended you, then that's fine! I mean, if you're gonna rip on something, then have a good REASON!
Totals: 48/50, or It was a real classic. I was blown away by the graphics, the plot, the characters, and there are always the wonders of the characters and classic Final Fantasy things like Cids! (even though it was a Sid. . . ^_^) Beautifully executed! A wonderful film!
TOTALS PUT TOGETHER: 47.5/50 we both loved it, and are buying it ASAP!
***We saw this in theatres. dubbed, unedited, and GREAT!***
| Title: | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | ||||||||||||||
| Original Creator: | Hironobu Sakaguchi | ||||||||||||||
| Year: | 2001 | ||||||||||||||
| Licensed by: | Squaresoft Pictures | ||||||||||||||
| Length: | About two hours, not totally sure though... | ||||||||||||||
| Rating: (professional) |
PG-13 (mild violence, deep plot, mature situations, and some weird things that may be offensive (spirits and whatnot))
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1
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Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a good movie for either gender, with love and lots of cool plots twists! No nudity, mild violence, and some mildly offensive thigns to some, with the presence of Spirits and Gaea. It's a spiritual thing! ^_^ Take a ride on it and just have lots of fun! We think that it was a good movie, and one can get some good morals too! Without the total cheesiness of "Drugs are BAD" "Sharing is FUN!" and whatnot.
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