Review of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Introduction

Over the last few years, a number of video games have made the transition from computer to cinema, mostly without achieving anything of note - Streetfighter, Mortal Kombat, Mario Brothers and Tomb Raider are just a few title that spring to mind…

Like the four games above, the Final Fantasy series of games have been staggeringly successful, and when the first trailers for the movie appeared earlier this year showing off the state-of-the-art computer generated visuals, it certainly looked like the technical aspect of the film wasn`t going to disappoint. However, it takes more than fancy visuals to make a movie, and it was crucial for Final Fantasy to have interesting characters and a good storyline to succeed. Did it manage?

In the year 2065 AD the Earth is infested with alien spirits and time is running out for mankind to destroy them. Dr Sid and Aki Ross have the solution to the problem, but do they have enough time to create a force powerful enough to rid the planet of the aliens?

Video

When I saw this movie at the cinema earlier in the year, I was blown away by the visuals - the quality of the CGI is staggering - and the good news is that it looks even better on the DVD.

Video comes in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and is absolutely stunning - being a digitally created movie, there is no celluloid in sight and as a result the direct-digital transfer to DVD perfectly reproduces the high-resolution computer graphics in the movie.

In most movies, there are certain effects sequences that stand out technically - in Final Fantasy, things are a little different, because whilst there is some fantastic action, it`s actually some of the slower scenes, which demonstrate the quality of the CGI. Quite simply, the visuals on this movie are streets ahead of anything else I`ve ever seen. Take Star Wars: The Phantom Menace for example - it`s good some excellent visuals - but they look like visual effects - in Final Fantasy they generally don`t. Shrek is another example - this has great animation, but it`s in a cartoon style.

In Final Fantasy, it`s hard to believe that nothing is real - take the opening sequence in New York for example, this is a fast-paced action sequence, with a variety of camera angles - most of which wouldn`t look out of place in a movie made with camera, and the level of detail in the characters and buildings is extraordinary. It`s a credit to the makers that you could take most of the scenes in this sequence and show them to someone who didn`t know anything about the film - they would think it was real people acting…

The only let-down with the CGI is a lack of emotion on the faces of the characters - otherwise they are fantastic - Aki is superb - watch her hair, watch her walk, run, move, look at the clothes - it`s all perfect. Other characters are just as good - look at Dr Sid`s beard and skin, the stubble on other characters, the leather on coats, the spacecraft - it`s amazing and a sign of what we can expect in the near future.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and whilst excellent, doesn`t rise to the same very high standards of the video. Titan AE, another animated spectacular, has much better sound and it still one of the reference discs - had Final Fantasy matched Titan sonically, it would have been the perfect audio-visual demonstration of DVD.

As it stands, Final Fantasy makes very good use of the available channels, but it doesn`t have the range or power of Titan or The Phantom Menace for example. There is plenty of rear-front and front-rear panning, good stereo separation and a great deal of atmospheric sound, and the dialogue is always clear and understandable. Now if only it had a little more kick…

Features

This release comes as a two-disc special edition, crammed with extra features.

Disc 1 contains the movie along with two feature length commentary tracks - the first from the co-director, sequence supervisor, lead artist and the Phantom supervisor. This commentary is in Japanese, but thankfully has English subtitles and is actually quite interesting. The second commentary is in English and features the animation director, editor and staging director, and again provides plenty of interesting information.

The first disc also includes an isolated score (with commentary), storyboards (with optional commentary), trailers and production notes.

Disc 2 contains a documentary, which also features 6 "information pods" containing more information on certain parts of the movie. This documentary is interesting and provides plenty of information on the movie.

The second disc also includes character files which are actually surprisingly good, vehicle scale comparisons, an alternative opening sequence, the much-lauded Final Fantasy Shuffler which allows viewers to re-edit one of the scenes from the film which is quite good fun, and finally a number of DVD-ROM features including the screenplay and a virtual tour of Square Pictures.

There are also plenty of hidden features which include an impressive version of Michael Jackson`s Thriller video rendered using the cast from the movie, a storyboard sequence of Aki and Gray having a meal, a slideshow of vehicles in the film, extra storyboards, character studies and finally, one for the spotty teenage boys - a slideshow of Aki wearing a bikini and leather gear...

Each disc features an impressive animated introduction and very good menus, which are easy to navigate.

The film is packaged in a black Amaray case, which contains a second disc tray for disc 2. Also inside is a four-page insert with some background information and details of the 28 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Overall, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is two things - a pretty entertaining movie, and a technological showcase.

As far as the movie goes, there`s a quite good story, which is told well without too many dull moments, and the movie is just about the right length. There are a good variation of characters and imaginative locations, although the characters are slightly let down by the lack of facial expression at times.

Technologically, this is second-to-none, a reference quality demonstration of what can be achieved with computer graphics - and it is beautifully presented on this disc, which also has very good sound.

Add an excellent range of special features, and this disc is a winner.