Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within DVD > Reviews > A bold attempt that doesn't quite convince

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Indifferent to it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	Very good animations and excellent sound
Disadvantages:	Characters not quite realistic

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Many years ago I watched Tron, a futuristic sci-fi movie that was filmed almost entirely in computer graphics. Many years later as the power of the computer grows and the tools become available to utilize these powers to the full, we are beginning to see a new era in movie making.

Firstly came several cartoons, the best probably being Toy Story, that developed the use of computer graphics and produces a full movie in this media. As this was a cartoon, the characters didn’t have to be too lifelike. Other movies such as Terminator 2 used computer graphics combined with real action to great effect.

Columbia pictures in conjunction with Square pictures take this media one step further in an ambitious project to utilize computer graphics to their fullest attempting to create a real world that is believable and also is hard to differentiate from the ‘real world’.

<The Story>

In the not too far future, 2065 to be precise, earth is struck by a meteor. Although in itself this could be classed as a tragedy, a more dangerous element exists on the meteor. The meteor is infested with millions of creatures whose intent seemingly is to destroy mankind as they roam the earth destroying all in their path, including Earth’s indigenous life forms.

Around the Earth, the few survivors that managed to escape the initial destruction have created barrier cities that protect its citizens from attacks; however, slowly these cites are in decline and the end of the world seems inevitable.

Human’s however are resilient; perhaps the single thing that sets us aside from many of the creatures of the earth is the need to survive; a tangible almost fanatical need that somehow drives us to the limit for mankind. This power is shown in the brilliant and beautiful Dr Aki Ross whose determination to stop the annihilation of mankind perhaps becomes man’s last chance of survival.

Her mentor, Dr Sid, has discovered the key to defeating the aliens. Essentially this involves getting 8 key elements or spirits together to form a protection against the aliens attacks – this becomes a more sinister and dangerous need as we lead that Aki is terminally infected by the aliens.

With the help of Captain Gray Edwards and his squadron, we follow Aki as she races to discover the secret spirits; this quest, however is severely hampered by General Hein, who insists the only way to defeat these aliens is to use a new space canon that will kill them all – the only problem is that Dr Aki believes this may also spell doom for Earth.

Aki scours the Earth looking for her spirits as she searches her strange alien dreams to find some semblance of an answer. Her valiant struggle involves a fight against the aliens as well as the military. Will she survive to save the Earth?

<The computer graphics>

From the very first scene where you see an amazing alien landscape, and watch Dr Aki as she looks into the sun, her hair blowing in the wind, her freckles moving as she grimaces, and her beautiful eyes changing as she tries to see, you realize that a great deal of attention has been paid to the animations and the characterization of the movie in an attempt to make it more real.

The graphics are undoubtedly the best I have seen in a movie, bringing a futuristic atmosphere to life in a detailed and almost believable way. The attention to detail is excellent, and the use of ‘camera angles’ very clever to give the movie a feel of being produced in a real setting.

The main downfall of the movie is the human figures. They are excellent, but still even with the freckles and the moving hair they are not quite believable. The movement is excellent and not jerky, however I fell that the animation was just a little too clean.
Dr Aki’s hair never got messed up; no one ever got dirty; clothes weren’t ripped; sweat didn’t collect on the clothes.

These are minor problems that probably don’t have too much effect on the realism of the movie, however the two major flaws were the speech and the emotions. Although the lip sinking was good there were still some times in the movie where you could detect that this was an animation. The emotions are perhaps the hardest things to animate; while the attempts are good they are not quite good enough! There are various scenes where emotions are key – there’s a scene where Aki and Captain Gray that supposedly shows their love, but this is almost wooden and very reminiscent of early b-movies.

That said, this movie begins to set the standards for future movies and now that the flaws are visible I am sure that future movies will develop methods to improve the animation and make a transition from reality to fantasy entirely possible.

<Sound>

The sound is very important in a movie of this type. The sound solidifies the reality that the animators are trying to build while at the same times enforces the atmosphere. This movie uses the sound excellently; the explosion are very good, the sound of the machines very convincing and the sound track is stirring, ensuring that the movie has the correct feeling of danger or happiness when required.

One of the bonuses of film making is that the same techniques used in standard movies can be used in animated movies, and this is perhaps the best part of the movie as the sound effects really add to the reality of the movie.

<Acting>

Ming-Na, who I must admit is a new comer to me, is fairly good. I feel she doesn’t quite convey to me the inner struggle that Dr Aki must be undergoing and also fails to convey her depth of emotion for Captain gray.

Alec Baldwin is very good as Captain Gray; his portrayal of the hard done by Captain whose love for his team and Aki is very evident. It is always difficult to bring an animated character to life, but Alec Baldwin manages this admirably.

James Wood, as General Hein performs well, giving just about enough measure of evil combined wih a passion for life that is almost enigmatic.

<Conclusion>

While this will never be a classic movie, it has highlighted the fact that this new media is here to stay. It allows a director to have total creative control of the world and characters. The technical aspects of the movie are excellent even if they are a little flawed and this movies shows how far we really have come since the introduction of Tron.

The feel of the movie is somewhat like a computer game without the interaction, but I believe as more major players become involved, this will change as more challenging and interesting scripts are written.

Although I do not rate the movie particularly highly I still advice consumers to buy the movie - this is badsically because I beleive this will be a movie that will be heralded the first movie that stimulated a whole new way of making movies, so just for nostalgic purposes it is worth having a copy of this movie.