Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (DVD)

Slammed for having less plot than an Alan Titchmarsh novel, it was not all plain sailing for Final Fantasy when it finally arrived at the cinema screens. Years in the making, it was supposedly set to push the boundaries of computer generated movies into the next level. Did it achieve this ambitious goal? Was it a landmark film? Well, no, not quite but it still made an impact, albeit a smaller one than the film producers would have liked. Here's what I thought of of it, of course opinions differ! Cast/Characters(voiceovers) Ming-Na - Dr Aki Ross Donald Sutherland - Dr Sid Alec Baldwin - Captain Gray Edwards James Woods - General ...  Read the complete review

I was probably more inclined to like the 'Final Fantasy' movie than the average person in the street. I've been enthusiastically following the film over the last few months, eagerly checking the official website for new trailers regularly, and reading articles about the production of the movie. So, it was with massive enthusiasm that I headed along to Leicester Square for the press screening at the Odeon cinema. The 'Final Fantasy' movie is loosely based on the computer game series of the same name, in as much as they have a writer in common – Hironobu Sakaguchi, and both are computer generated. Yes, that's right, all the visuals in ...  Read the complete review

Humanity is at war with the Phantoms, an alien race that has crash landed on Earth. Now a barren wasteland, humanity has fled to the few remaining cities behind barriers which protect them. General Hein wants to destroy the Phantoms with a huge gun, potentially damaging the Earth in the process. Doctor Aki Ross thinks she can bring things to a more peaceful conclusion by finding the "Spirits" that negate the Phantom's threat. In a race against time Ross has to find them before Hein can persuade the Earth's council to fire the gun. Oh and coincidentally she is infected by a Phantom so Earth's saviour would also be hers. "Final Fantasy: The ...  Read the complete review

Despite the film being based on the ever-popular Japanese RPG series that has had a long running history on a number of consoles, most recently the PS2, and the fact that it boasted the most sophisticated CGI ever seen in a film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within stung the bank pockets of Square Studios when the $137m film grossed just $37m in the States, £2m in the UK and ended its theatrical run with a meagre $61m to show for its efforts. It seemed that the audiences actually paid attention to the critics when the argument of ?style over substance? was levelled over the film, pretty to ...  Read the complete review

Sorry about the pun in the title, but where to start on the most advanced computer animated film ever??? Well, lets begin with the plot, that seems easy enough. Surrounded on a strange planet, Aki looks around. All she can see is the barren wastelands, and wonders why she is there, and how she got there. All she knows is that the sun is somewhat high in the sky as she steps on that dry twig. "Dream Recorded" Aki sits up from her chair, thankful of the computer voice that confirms her worse nightmares. The same dream has plagued her for the past few months - every night - and the only way to be sure is by recording these dreams. Back at her ships ...  Read the complete review