Review of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) by Scott J — 19 Jun 2012

Where to begin? Maybe with the origins: this movie is based on the widely acclaimed (and far superior) video game released for the Playstation in 1997, which I personally consider one of the better games ever released on any system. This movie is supposed to be events that happen after the end of the game, which is one of the major problems right there...

Let's get the positive things out of the way first: the animation in this movie is stunning, and there is especially two or three fighting scenes that will leave you impressed at what they have been able to put together.

At the same time you will, if you're not a die-hard fan of the game, ask yourself what is going on. If you haven't played the game, there are so many occasions that you will be confused as all hell since characters are thrown in with next to no introduction at all, plot twists and turning point are completely pointless if you are not familiar with the narrative of the GAME, and that is if you even care enough to follow the plot that is going on in the movie.

So is it better if you actually played the game? Actually, it might even be worse. Let's start with the characters. If you played the game, you got to know and love these characters and see them develop throughout the story of the game. In the movie, first thing they do is to choose to give most of the characters waaaay too little screen-time, instead focusing on new plot-lines and characters that are underdeveloped, dull and straight out annoying. As for the original characters the movie does focus on, the development of their personalities that took place over the course of the game is completely thrown out the window (ie Cloud), if their personality isn't completely removed (ie Tifa).

The story is still confusing if you played the game, even if you remember the plot. That doesn't stop the movie to focus to the extreme on exposition of the major plot points, which gets tiring as all hell whether you played it or not. The new characters introduced are familiar to no one and with regard to them the movie thinks there is no exposition needed (seriously, the lack of logic in the script is baffling). Furthermore, the new characters take up way too much space throughout the course of the movie. The angsty tune of the movie, its main protagonist AND antagonist, is also very irritating to listen to after a while. The motivation of the story, and why I should care is fumbled with and lost, when the main character (who was pretty likable by the end of the game), come of as a nagging, whiny brat that seems to pity himself for a living.

If you haven't played the game, you will have no idea what is going on. If you have, you will be really disappointed about the direction they choose to take the story.