I was invited to an advanced screening of "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" (FF) at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, California. This has been the first studio screening I've ever been to, and the chance to see the film and shake hands with Mr. Hironobu Sakaguchi was well worth it.

Story
Aki Ross is a scientist searching for eight "spirit waves" needed to save Earth. In addition, she believes that her dreams (surreal and violent encounters with the alien race that has taken over most of the planet) are also a key.

When Aki makes a trek into the wasteland of "Old New York" to find one of the spirit waves (which happens to be harnessed in a plant), the "Deepeyes" (Grey, Neil, Jane and Ryan) intervene to find out why she's down there without any authorization. As they meet, lurking "phantoms" (aliens which generally cannot be scene with the naked eye) make this extraction mission for the Deepeyes a little more complicated than they expected.

With the help of some special weapons, and the company of the Deepeyes, Aki travels from Old New York to the Tuscon Wasteland to find more answers and spirits.

Unbelieving of the theory behind 'spirits' and the fact that Earth has itself a soul, General Hein makes an effort to hinder the research that Dr. Sid and Aki have spent most of their lives on. Hein believes that the solution to eliminating the alien race on Earth is to fire on them with the Zeus cannon - an extremely high powered cannon orbiting the planet.

Obviously, time isn't on Aki's side and Hein is out there to stop her.

Impressions
FF is a beautiful film, no doubt about it.

The script, however, is lackluster. If you've played any Final Fantasy game (for those of you not in the know, Squaresoft has produced ten Final Fantasy role-playing video games), you'll feel like you're watching all the CG from one game - just without the actual gameplay. In other words, things move fast and seem to get resolved too quickly. The film seems to be around an hour and a half.

You'd think that Final Fantasy would have ended up as a film loosely based on concepts from each game (fantasy, perhaps an epic, medieval drama). Why they chose the future is a bit disappointing.

The concepts behind most Final Fantasy games have been the epic, adventurous love stories (at least, that's the way it's been for most of the later games in the series). FF: TSW is no exception. Aki has a past with Grey and it makes itself apparent as they start to work closer with Dr. Sid in order to find the remaining, eighth spirit.

Talent
The film has a lot of well-known actors behind it: Ming-Na (as Aki Ross), Donald Sutherland (Dr. Sid), James Woods (General Hein), Ving Rhames (Ryan Whittaker), Steve Buscemi (Neil Fleming) and Peri Gilpin (Jane Proudfoot - at times she looks like Angelina Jolie from Tomb Raider - honest).

The Big Sell
CG/Visual Effects - one of Pearl Harbor's key points right? Did you see it for the action?

At least FF is honest: entirely CG without any pretense of major history in it. Pure science-fiction.

FF is an amazing achievement. When I think about the Final Fantasy games up until now, I'd have to say that all the CG you saw in the games themselves were probably "test projects" for this film. They can't come even close.

In addition to the characters, all the vehicles and architecture are really, really good. They must have spent far too many months developing the tools necessary to pull off something this good looking.

Early on, most of the CG characters' lips don't move quite right, even if they are synchronized with the actors' dialogue. Hopefully you'll overlook this, as it's just a minor complaint that eventually phases out as you get yourself into the story some more.

The most solid and impressive performance/representation of realism, however, is that of Dr. Sid (voiced by Donald Sutherland). Sid, the doctor responsible for isolating and containing the alien virus within Aki, is definitely one of the better looking characters and his performance is one of the strongest. I hope that Sutherland gets to more animation in the future.

Sid's more natural/realistic looks could be attributed to the fact that he was the most recent character to be created in the film (I got this by way of friends in the industry) while Aki was one of the first. Some of the characters, like Ryan (Ving Rhames) look excellent, while some just look plastic (Aki and Hein, for example, look more like comic book representations than actual human beings).

Overall
If you're a fan of Final Fantasy, the games, then you should check this out. If you have the slightest love for science fiction and special effects, then you have to see this.

Teens will love it for its action sequences and purely visceral CG (explosions, realism, etc.) and those of you who are young, hopeless romantics might like the additional layer of sappiness between Aki and Grey.

I wouldn't recommend this film for younger children: there are violent scenes throughout (one of the main characters gets shot rather startlingly and some of Aki's dream sequences can be downright freaky for much younger audiences).

I'll definitely get this on DVD - it makes one great CG exhibit. But what about that story again?

There are definitely a lot of lines in the film that will make your eyes roll and cliches that will make this film, for the most part, predictable. You'll have to let it slide because the visuals will be giving you the bang for your buck.

I would have paid full price to see this. But I'll tell you to play it safe and recommend that you see "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" at matinee.



Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older