People obviously play video games for reasons. They play because they can put themselves into the world of the game. They play because they wish to embody the game's hero. They play for the intellectual challenge. Or they play for the rush of adrenaline. I wonder, however, how many people play video games solely for how they look, irregardless of how dull they might be or of how insulting they may be to the player's intelligence. For those people, though, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within will be a great time at the movies. For most people, though, I suspect Final Fantasy will serve as more of a historical footnote, an idea of what technology can do and why it's still a long way from replacing people.
The assumption I'm under, you see, is that just as everything on the screen is computer generated, the script as well was produced by plugging a series of sci-fi cliches into a computer. The programmers obviously clicked the "New Age Mysticism" button, but failed to click the buttons labeled "character" or "logic." For me, Final Fantasy, as pretty as it was to look at, was dull, unintelligible, and totally uninvolving.
As such things go, the plot involves an Earth overrun with shimmery "phantoms" which came over on an asteroid thirty years before the beginning of the film. The "Phantoms" suck the life forces from people and humans have retreated to a number of enclosed cities, where they plot to take the Earth back. On one hand, there's the military faction led by General Hein (voiced by James Woods). They want to blow the Phantom Crater back to the stone age. On the other hand, we have the intellectuals led by Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) and Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland). They fear General Hein's plan will kill the spirit of the Earth. And they have an alternative plan involving eight spirits. The origins of the spirits and how they're gonna stop the phantoms makes no sense. Occasionally Captain Grey (Alec Baldwin), Ross's former flame) expresses confusion about what's going on. The audience share's his confusion. In response to his queries, Ross tells him not to worry about it. The film share's her blatant disregard for the audience.
Final Fantasy is frequently amazing to look at. The computer generated imagery is at its best in a series of dreams that give Dr. Ross completely irrelevant conclusions as to the true nature of the Phantoms. Dr. Ross herself is an amazing creation, though her movements and appearance are vastly superior to those of any of the supporting characters. She has a physical depth that none of the others match. The phantoms are fun to look at and it's frequently entertaining to watch the computer guys emulate real camera tricks and cinematic devices.
But the characters aren't interesting. They're flat. They're weakly motivated. And they keep saying stupid things. As a result the vocal talent is stranded. General Hein is so uninteresting that you wish James Woods were playing the role live action. You see, human actors can give shading to parts when the writing isn't up to snuff. These cyber-actors are just trying to look superficially like humans. The cyber-actor playing Ross can't act. She can't pull off any of her emotional scenes. She's empty. A real actress in the role may have had a fighting chance. Baldwin sounds bored and Buscemi has one lame one-liner after another. It gets increasingly annoying.
In terms of its visual strength and "Green" politics, Final Fantasy reminded me of Princess Mononoke. The more conventional animation of that film was far more beautiful and the characters were far more compelling. Princess Mononoke was truly magical. Final Fantasy has all the mystic powers of a "Got Your Nose" trick. There's just not much to this 3/10 disappointment.
The assumption I'm under, you see, is that just as everything on the screen is computer generated, the script as well was produced by plugging a series of sci-fi cliches into a computer. The programmers obviously clicked the "New Age Mysticism" button, but failed to click the buttons labeled "character" or "logic." For me, Final Fantasy, as pretty as it was to look at, was dull, unintelligible, and totally uninvolving.
As such things go, the plot involves an Earth overrun with shimmery "phantoms" which came over on an asteroid thirty years before the beginning of the film. The "Phantoms" suck the life forces from people and humans have retreated to a number of enclosed cities, where they plot to take the Earth back. On one hand, there's the military faction led by General Hein (voiced by James Woods). They want to blow the Phantom Crater back to the stone age. On the other hand, we have the intellectuals led by Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) and Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland). They fear General Hein's plan will kill the spirit of the Earth. And they have an alternative plan involving eight spirits. The origins of the spirits and how they're gonna stop the phantoms makes no sense. Occasionally Captain Grey (Alec Baldwin), Ross's former flame) expresses confusion about what's going on. The audience share's his confusion. In response to his queries, Ross tells him not to worry about it. The film share's her blatant disregard for the audience.
Final Fantasy is frequently amazing to look at. The computer generated imagery is at its best in a series of dreams that give Dr. Ross completely irrelevant conclusions as to the true nature of the Phantoms. Dr. Ross herself is an amazing creation, though her movements and appearance are vastly superior to those of any of the supporting characters. She has a physical depth that none of the others match. The phantoms are fun to look at and it's frequently entertaining to watch the computer guys emulate real camera tricks and cinematic devices.
But the characters aren't interesting. They're flat. They're weakly motivated. And they keep saying stupid things. As a result the vocal talent is stranded. General Hein is so uninteresting that you wish James Woods were playing the role live action. You see, human actors can give shading to parts when the writing isn't up to snuff. These cyber-actors are just trying to look superficially like humans. The cyber-actor playing Ross can't act. She can't pull off any of her emotional scenes. She's empty. A real actress in the role may have had a fighting chance. Baldwin sounds bored and Buscemi has one lame one-liner after another. It gets increasingly annoying.
In terms of its visual strength and "Green" politics, Final Fantasy reminded me of Princess Mononoke. The more conventional animation of that film was far more beautiful and the characters were far more compelling. Princess Mononoke was truly magical. Final Fantasy has all the mystic powers of a "Got Your Nose" trick. There's just not much to this 3/10 disappointment.