Review of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) by Jim C — 09 Mar 2009

Okay... this may seem like blaspheming or blind loyalty to some people, but-- I liked this movie. It has NOTHING to do with the games, other than a couple of conceptual and thematic similarities, and there are occasional flaws in its dialogue and story, but for the most part is a good blend of action and tragedy.

The characters, though at times not acted as well as they could be, are developed quite well enough for one to get attached to them, and the villain is worthy of the franchise. Elliott Goldenthal's music doesn't compare to Nobuo Uematsu's, but he nonetheless delivers an excellent score.

And then of course, there's the CGI. It's dated already, especially in comparison to Advent Children and some of the feats the games are now pulling off, but it was top notch for its time and is still a treat to watch (though you will not be fooled by it and it has frequent unnatural qualities, especially in character mouth movement, it is easy to appreciate as animation not meant to be photorealistic but instead to be art).

What's more, you don't need to play any of the games to see it, though seeing it will give you no idea of what the games are like. A worthy distraction for CGI and/or sci-fi fans.