Watch Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within For Free

Powerful

People are voting emotionally.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Oups ! I have forgotten this DVD but after watching it, i could have left it on the shelve. Sure for a 100% computer generated animation, it's beautiful and even today, the movie hasn't been matched (see « Tintin » for example). For a person existing only from 0 and 1, Aki is a stunning numerical woman who acts better than living ones (Kirsten Stewart for example). But, that's all! The movie is a melting-pot of already seen sci-fi movies, especially Aliens. The story is an unintelligible quest, filled with pseudo science. After a good start, this is only a shoot-them up that happens in a bleak earth. In a way, the movie really shows us the future of movies !

First of all,I would like to point out,that I haven't played any of the "Final Fantasy" games,so I don't know how much this movie follows them.On it's own however the movie is very well made and it's much,much better than a lot of other video game based films like "Street Fighter" or "Super Mario Brothers".A lot of people complain that the characters are less-then-riveting.In my opinion,that is not the case.I mean,Captain Edwards' squad members were kinda flat,but the other characters were alright.Our protagonist- Aki was very well developed.At first glance General Hein seemed like a stereotypical bad guy,but we get an explanation as to why he is taking such radical measures.Again,I don't know if the plot has anything to do with the video games,but it was,in opinion,very original and well thought-out.Some may think it's your cliché "aliens have taken over the world and the survivors must fight back with what little they have" plot,but that is not the case.The movie has both fantasy elements(the "spirits")and sci- fi elements(the technology).Sure,you have seen that in other movies,like the force in "Star Wars" and so on,but the idea they went with here is completely different."Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within" is most famous for it's animation-and I can see why.This is the first movie to actually use CGI to create genuine looking human beings.It's still good,even by today's standards.The visuals and music work together to create some very amazing and powerful scenes,especially in the ending."Final Fantasy:The Spirits Within" is a truly amazing movie.I strongly recommend it.

This movie was a good SciFi flick.It's set in a post apocalyptic world. Has the domed cities to protect the remaining human element. You have the pacifist heroine, and macho military hero. The evil alien invaders destroying the planet and able to kill anyone with a single swipe. You have the band of brothers who is under the command of said military hero, complete with the tough chick, the lovable bad ass and the smart mouthed scrawny guy and you have the douche bag high ranking officer. The premise is our heroine Dr. Aki Ross is trying to find lifeforms with a certain spirit, an aura if you will, that can bring balance back to Gaia, the earth spirit,which has been thrown out of balance thanks to these alien invaders. She is in the field when she finds one of these spirits but comes under attack by the aliens, called Phantoms (due to there ethereal forms), when she is rescued by our military hero and his squad. The rest of the movie follows protocol of a SciFi flick, they go looking for other spirits, douche bag thinks this is all a crock. City is invaded by the Phantoms, Douchebag tries to destroy the enemy by destroying the planet. and so on... Here is where I give it a 3 out of 10, this has nothing to do with Final Fantasy. It was written by the creator of Final Fantasy. But even key elements that are in all Final Fantasy's are missing from here. No Summons, No final confrontation with main villain. In all Final Fantasy Games, even those that have the heavy SciFi theme, aren't close to whatever this movie was. Don't get me wrong, I am not asking for something like Advent Children, but they could have done a stand alone story that had the Final Fantasy elements in it and it still would have worked. If the title of the movie was just "Spirits Within" It probably would get a higher rating from me. But if this is supposed to be a final fantasy, then it doesn't work.

To start off, I'd like to give a brief summary of the history of cgi. 2-D raster graphics in Westworld, wire frame graphics in Star Wars, the light cycle sequence in Tron, the stained glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes, the first CG liquid effects in The Abyss and T2, Jurassic Park, Titanic, and now Final Fantasy. It is unfortunate for the movie that this form of animation has been vastly improved since, as can be seen in Robert Zemekis' latest films, The Polar Express and Beowulf. Final Fantasy remains competent in CG, but an equally accomplished plot is needed to make it a competent sci-fi, and although there are a couple of nifty ideas, the screenplay does not stretch things out enough. As a result, Final Fantasy feels too small in both scale and running length to shock and awe. Perhaps it is the kind of thing that would work better in theaters, but that doesn't feel like a good excuse for mediocrity. The best filmaking can engage a viewer even if watched on an iPod screen.Set in the distant future, man lives in space and Earth is an abandoned wasteland (thats new... ha ha). We follow a young ambitious doctor in her journey to find the answer to a crisis. Man is at war with a race of strange alien spirits, 'phantoms'. Who are they and what do they want? In her quest she is joined by others including an old lover (sort of).I think I may have simplified the plot a bit, but this gives you a general idea of what to expect. If done well, the story of Final Fantasy could be adventurous, intelligent and perhaps even emotional, and it is not. Though there is plenty of action, a lot of it feels dull and intertwining these scenes is a large amount of silly dialog, in which the subject matter is too much of science and not enough story. Last time I saw that happen was in Battlefield Earth with John Travolta's lines. The ending feels anti-climactic and with a somewhat silly plot twist. Final Fantasy is not a terrible film but to recommend it is a stretch. Whether or not the animation will be enough to captivate you or not is hard to say. Whether or not you'll find the story weak and unengaging, or adventurous and inventive is also hard to say. What I can say is that there are far better entries in both sci-fi and animation, If you really want a good film, try the Ghost in the Shell, not this.