Review of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) by Matthew C — 21 May 2010

Gorgeous computer animation, a cool setting, and excellent production design mostly make up for some wonky dialog and a final act that has little dramatic impact and makes only a tiny bit of sense. There's too much new age, Earth-spirit mumbo jumbo.

But the technology is cool, including the stuff that's extrapolated from the film's central concept. I think the movie was partially sunk by the name. Fans of the video game were turned off by it's more science fiction themes, while science fiction fans probably didn't know what the heck 'Final Fantasy' had to do with an apocalyptic cyberpunk type setting.

If you can get past the goofy name, give this one a watch. If nothing else, it's a visual feast.