CGI spaceships look "harder" here than they would in many effects films utilizing real model work. But it's fun to watch, there's always something to watch, and it's often.to use the word of many audiences members leaving the theater."beautiful". Much like Stephen Hopkins' 1998 re-imagining of Lost in Space, there's almost too much to look at here, and the mechanics of the universe sometimes feel unnecessarily complicated (the people behind me actually chuckled at the ludicrous, overproduced holographic ornateness/decorativeness of some of FF's control panels). The "world" of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is enormously detailed and complex. Other than the mixed bag of character rendering, the eye candy is something to behold indeed. ![]() They are special effects sticking-out in an otherwise realistic world, and they are bit distracting. But for a movie about the spirituality of all living things, the living things in this movie seem remarkably vacant – like constructs merely going through "the motions". ![]() Their motions are sometimes extraordinary, and sometimes we catch a glint in a character's eye which tells us the filmmakers were on their way to accomplishing what they set-out to accomplish. ![]() Sid, for example), there isn't a lot of "oomph" to these characters. With a few notable and dazzling exceptions (the brilliantly rendered Dr. They may be walking over photorealistic mountains, or sitting in virtual hangar bays or science labs which look every bit as "hard" and detailed as a physical/practical set, but that doesn't change the fact that many members of Final Fantasy's cast look like they are the survivors of some grotesque plastic surgery experiment-gone-bad. Which makes the character's "close-but-there's-something-missing" awkwardness stick-out all the more, and makes it harder for us to get involved with what these "people" are doing. The characters of FF:TSW are not photorealistic – but their "world", for the most part, is. Nonetheless, I think this should be said: this movie's narrative impact is very much hurt by the fact that the "people" we are watching (and are supposed to be involved with) look less "real" than the environments they are in. I voiced this reaction to a group of critics after Monday evening's Austin screening of the film, and they all stared at me blankly. High-tech grunts and Aki the fragile scientist-girl learn the key to salvation may lie in the most unlikely places.ģ) My last gripe is, admittedly, esoteric – it may not be sensed or detected by other viewers of this film. This film struggles to convey deep thoughts and cosmic meanings, but it's ultimately cold and heartless (accentuated by Sakaguchi's clunky direction), and is sometimes little more than an protracted series of science fiction conceits and clichés. Listening to FF:TSW's characters ham-handedly describing the poignancy of certain ideas (the countless souls of a lost world wandering endlessly, looking for "release") is sometimes like watching a kindergartener trying to finger paint a picture he/she has in their heads, but lacks the experience or refinement to realize. It feels like a video game cut scene, leaving us to watch the eye candy.Ģ) Al Reinert (the writer and director of the awesome documentary For All Mankind), Jeff Vintar, and Sakaguchi's screenplay is enormously stirring in concept, but it lacks the elegance and the poetry to convey the beauty of what they're trying to say. It's pedestrian, almost laughable in its "point and shoot" nature, excluding us from many moments in which we should have been involved. In many ways, this movie is directed like the stereotypical science fiction episode we might see parodied on late night comedy shows – Sakaguchi's handling and blocking of many sequences is undynamic, and rarely pulls us into the drama, into the action, or into the moment. But there's very little awe and magic in FF:TSW, due to three basic shortcomings:ġ) Hironobu Sakaguchi's direction of the film (he also co-scripted the movie) is flat, uninvolving, and awkwardly paced/timed. ![]() We need to feel what the ideas mean, there needs to be a sense of awe or magic supporting such conceits. But when a movie starts considering ideas such as these, the narrative needs to resonate, to strike a chord with its viewers. These are profound concepts, and, as undercurrents, perhaps they are far too heady for (what is, in essence) a suspense/action film. Yes, it is a cartoon.of sorts.but it's also the story of a young girl trying to save the Earth while she is dying the story of spirits from a dead world roaming the universe – lost and alone and re-defines notions of what a "living" being is. "It's a cartoon, a-hole!" chant Glen's vitriolic readers. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (set in the Final Fantasy universe, but not directly related to any of the numerous video games carrying the same title) is visually stunning, yet emotionally vacuous.
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