Earth is a desolate wasteland in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Humanity has been decimated by an invasion of Phantoms, insubstantial aliens that extract and devour the spirits of living things. The few remaining humans have retreated to a handful of cities that are protected by massive bio-energy shields. The beautiful Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) have discovered that the energy signatures of eight key Earth spirits can cancel out and destroy the Phantoms. With the help of Captain Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his band of marines, they must scour the globe for the last two remaining spirits before General Hein (James Woods) manipulates the refugee government into attacking the aliens with an orbital laser that may also destroy the Earth.
Hironobu Sakaguchi's film is taken from the popular Final Fantasy video game franchise, which is particularly well suited to film adaptation with its series of original stories, but the movie features entirely new characters and settings. And like Toy Story and Shrek, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is completely computer generated. Unlike those cartoon comedies, though, The Spirits Within is a serious science fiction drama with astonishingly human digital actors. Aki, the female lead, appeared in a full-page spread in Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list--and was indistinguishable from the real-life models. The setting and conflict make for incredible action, but it's the larger issues, character interaction, and human elements that really make the movie shine. The Spirits Within is not simply a science fiction movie, in the same way that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not simply a kung fu flick. The result is a fantastic summer movie with better action and more emotion than Pearl Harbor, and actors more lifelike than those in that other video game movie, Tomb Raider. --Mike Fehlauer |
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 One of the most underappreciatiate works of all time |
| Review Date: July 26, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , Mount Carmel, TN United States |
| I watched Final Fantasy in a small theatre about 3 days ago. Since I read the relatively bad reviews for the film, I didnt expect a huge turnout. Well, I was the only guy in the theatre. This is good in one way and bad in another. It was good due to the fact that I could sit in the theatre and watch the film without dealing with the typical loudmouthed movie crowd. I could pay more attention to the movie and the story itself. It was bad in that this film which deserves to make a whole lot of money, is not successful. I would recommend Final Fantasy to any fan of science fiction, video games, oh heck anyone! This is one of the all time best movies that I have ever seen. I was floored by the ability the filmmakers had to give a completely generated character emotion. These guys are making Gepetto flip over in his fairy tale grave! I was amazed at the depth of the story and the overall feel of the film. I am really impressed at the way the plot was similar to the series of games not by carrying on the same story over and over, but chronicling the adventures of new characters in new dimensions each time. Simply amazing! Many thanks to Hironobu Sakaguchi and Square for making such wonderful stories and games. I give a hand to Alec Baldwin, Ming-Na, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland, and all the filmmakers for making a film that I will cherish for a very long time.........just bring it to DVD QUICK! |
Final Fantasy .. as long as it's not the last
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| Review Date: July 12, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , Middletown, CT USA |
| The first time I fired up FF7 on my playstation console 5 years ago, I marveled at the opening cinematics. At that point, I thought it would be the coolest thing if someone made a movie just like it. On July 11 at 4:30pm I witnessed that dream come true. I could say it was all I was expecting and more, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. The games took 40-50+ hours to complete with a story that had numerous twists to the plot and character developement that went far beyond some bestselling novels. While I think it would be great to see a 6 hour Final Fantasy movie that had such an intricate plot, I realize that would be unrealistic for a feature film. All things considered, I think Square did an outstanding job compressing the story into the time allotted. The script could have been written a little bit better, but I think it was written the way it was so the average movie-goer would keep up with the plot. I know I didn't have any trouble following Dr. Sid's theories about Gaia and what the Phantom's really were. But that could've been from playing the games.. I saw sort of the concept in FF7, with everyone and everything having a spirit. The cg was astounding and tte physics were.. well, close. Although I think in 65 years, we may be able to bend the laws of physics a bit more, so this could possibly end up mimicing real life in 2065. I've read some film critics comment about the lack of consistency with the Phantoms, how they can move through walls and suck the life out of someone, yet can be harmed by conventional weapons. Those guns didn't look conventional to me... energy weapons would have the effect they did. Opinion: those film critics who commented about that didn't know what they were talking about. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I intend to see it a few more times before it leaves theatres. This quite possibly gets my vote for the Best Movie of All time. |
Read the Story
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| Review Date: July 4, 2001 |
| Reviewer: , |
| Most of the people giving bad reviews of the movie dont even know what the story is about. The story is a sci fi version of the games. The story is: The year is 2065 and Earth is under siege. A meteor has crashed onto the planet, unleashing millions of alien creatures which roam the Earth. Decimating field and city alike, these predators are threatening to extinguish all life on the planet. The survivors of the initial onslaught have retreated to barrier cities built to protect the inhabitants of Earth from the marauding invaders. But the few cities around the globe are in decline and time is running out. Yet, the sprit of humankind is resilient and embodied in the brilliant and beautiful Dr. Aki Ross. Determined and capable, Aki strives as EarthÅfs last hope against extinction. With the guidance of her scientific mentor, Dr. Sid, and the aid of the Deep Eyes military squadron led by the courageous Captain Gray Edwards, Aki races to save both the Earth and herself. Terminally infected by an alien, Aki holds the key to discovering the secret to defeating the alien predators. But her quest is jeopardized by the militant opposition of General Hein, who plots to unleash a massive space cannon that will annihilate the aliens and possibly the Earth. As the clock ticks down, Aki searches within her dreams to find an answer to the alien mystery, while scouring the Earth to collect the eight spirit waves she believes will save the planet. Fighting both the enemy within and the scheming General Hein, who would destroy the Earth in order to save it, Aki valiantly pursues her Final Fantasy So... You see it is a real final fantasy story. Sure none of the games follow the same story line but it still has the approach of the final fantasy franchise. |
An under-appreciated, and totally underrated movie
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| Review Date: August 1, 2004 |
| Reviewer: Kali, United Kingdom |
One of the best computer generated films I have ever seen. Final Fantasy - the Spirits Within was a joy to watch.
It was exciting, funny, poignant, exciting, romantic, joyful, future hopeful and totally mesmerising from start to finish.
With great actors voicing the animated heroes, we are treated to a state of the art adventure in which earth has been decimated by alien phantoms and the only hope for the survival of the human race are eight earth bound energy-spirits that can stop what only be described as Armageddon.
The exquisite Dr Aki Ross along with cynical but mostly good hearted Captain Edwards and his band of disparate marines set out to find these spirits before the megalomaniac General Hein can ruin any chance Earth has for survival.
The graphics are absolutely stunning, the animated characters look so life like you find yourself doing a double take all the time. Aki Ross is especially life like and Captain Edwards positively smoulders on screen but then his character is voiced over by the sexy Alec Baldwin who can still make any red blood female go weak at the knees!
The ending is superb as well as being heart breaking; no one can forget the scene when Captain Edwards lays down his life for the woman he loves and not just to save the world. Romance at its best in my opinion, animated or not!
I also just love the combining of philosophy, nature, science and technology together and the musical score gets a ten out of ten too.
I wish I could have seen this film on the big screen but I only got to see it when it came out on DVD.
A much underrated, under appreciated film that is yet again far too intelligent for your average moronic movie goer.
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Absolutley amazing!
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| Review Date: August 28, 2001 |
| Reviewer: Eric Sanderson, Cameron park, CA USA |
| This was one of the best films I have seen in along time. The computer animation is breathtaking, and shows you that it can only get better. The story is a wonderful combination of eastern and western philosophies. This movie never dragged and had a great soundtrack. |
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