Review of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) by Alimuzzaman A — 17 Apr 2011

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within will disappoint fans of the famous videogame, but if you're like me and don't give a flying fuck about the game for its lack of first-person perspective and shooting demons from Hell, then this movie is quite wonderful.

In 2065 part of the Earth is barren due to an invisible, invading aliens called "Phantoms" that are made of energy. Scientists Dr. Aki Ross and Dr. Sid are determined in their belief that every living thing has a spirit that will eventually return to the Earth spirit, Gaia, and by collecting 8 spirits they can find a way to destroy the Phantoms. But they struggle to convince their council that what they say is true. With help from Aki's former lover and his combat group, they are determined to collect the remaining spirits before the council approves a destructive line of action. Though the dialogue is a little too far down the melodramatic, touchy/lovey line, the story is quite philisophically unique. The concept of an Earth Spirit is a old Eastern thought of spirituality that normally hasn't been touched in anything but in Toho's Godzilla and Mothra movies. But this story is philisophically intriguing, dramatically thoughtful, pretty creepy at times when you see people's souls ripped out of their bodies, and very entertaining.

The Spirits Within is one of the leading inspirational animated full feature movies for its advanced CGI technology. Sure, Pixar accomplished wonders, but The Spirits Within kicked it up a notch. It uses its CGI to create life-like looking characters that are too realistic looking for one's own comfort. Even as old as this movie is now, it's animation looks far superior to animated movies today. Great imaginitive art direction with a advanced amount of detail put in, this movie is so beautiful to watch. And the cinematography doesn't look bad either. Aside from the wonderful animation, the editing makes for a greatly paced sci-fi drama, and this movie has a nice music score.

Amazing CGI, a unique story, good drama, and an A list cast as the voices for the characters, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in a great movie that is underrated by it's spiritual complexity and lack of actual connection to the Final Fantasy video game. If you look at it that way, the movie might be a bummer, but I don't like the videogames, so this movie made a great impression on me.