The year is 2065. For forty years the population of Earth has been forced to live in cities protected by giant barriers; these barriers shield humanity from the Phantoms, alien beings who crashed to Earth aboard a large meteor. Dr. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na) is searching for the final two Spirits, which when united with the first six will create a wave of energy that will destroy the Phantoms.

Aided by fellow scientist Dr. Cid (Donald Sutherland) and Captain Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), her former lover, Aki races to discover the Spirits before military zealot General Hein (James Woods) fires the Zeus Cannon superweapon down into the impact crater where the Phantoms dwell, an action Ross and Cid believe may cause the destruction of Earth.

CRITIQUE

I saw Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within when it was first released back in 2001, but I couldn’t remember a thing about and decided to give this new Blu-ray disc a look. Now I know why I couldn’t remember a thing about this movie: I’m pretty sure I fell asleep halfway through. Aside from some impressive CG animation and a few nice touches here and there, Final Fantasy (which bears little relation to the video game series that inspired it) is a crushing bore.

It moves along at a snail’s pace, the story is thin, derivative, and incomprehensible, and the voice acting is lethargic. And, as was the case with Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express, the character’s facial expressions are so vacant the movie often takes on a creepy, disturbing quality the filmmakers surely never intended.

The fledgling Square Pictures production company pumped more than a hundred million dollars into this project, then watched as the movie went on to recoup less than a third of its budget (the studio’s only other output before going completely belly up was the “Final Flight of the Osiris” short for The Animatrix).

I personally can’t see why anyone thought this material warranted such a huge amount of cash. It’s too boring and confusing for kids, and adults who aren’t also bored and confused are likely to recognize how lackluster the story is (besides, when was the last time an animated film aimed at an older audience actually made money?).

The script--credited to co-director Hironobu Sakaguchi, Al Reinert (who co-wrote the great Apollo 13), and Jeff Vintar (who co-wrote the awful I, Robot)--shares many of the traits that make most anime so middling: it’s a mishmash of ideas borrowed from other sources; the characters are all stock; it confuses incoherence for complexity; and the spiritual aspects are nothing more than a bunch of meaningless mumbo-jumbo.

I don’t pretend to understand what’s going in this movie in the least. A piece of clothing that amounts to a mystical corset? Phantoms that at times can be destroyed by conventional weapons and lasers but at other times are impervious? After finishing the movie I looked around for summaries and explanations of the plot, and I couldn’t even understand the ones I managed to find. 

Much like the recent Renaissance, this movie is noteworthy only because of its cutting-edge visuals. Honestly, you take away the CG and even fewer people would have given a damn about it. And although it earned the movie a place in cinema history (a small place, but a place nonetheless), the animation itself is uneven. The phantoms look pretty cool, the design of some of the vehicles is nice (although it owes a great debt to Aliens), and the action sequences are often executed with considerable skill, but the human characters simply don’t cut it.

Despite the use of motion-capture technology, the humans never move in a realistic way. And as I mentioned earlier, their facial expressions are incredibly lifeless and more than a little macabre; it often looks as if the characters are all wearing weird life masks (although given the somnambulant voice work, this is somewhat fitting). On top of this, mouth movements never appear to be in sync with the dialogue. I eventually started to think I was watching a very long cut-scene from a video game, and that certainly doesn’t work in the movie’s favor.

Were the animation truly stellar I could forgive the story’s shortcomings. And were the story actually good I could forgive the animation’s flaws. But neither is the case, leaving Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within just another over-hyped, undernourished disappointment.

THE VIDEO

The video on the old standard-def disc was a knockout (that much I do remember), and the 1.85:1/1080p transfer included here is just as impressive. Sourced straight from the original digital master, the image is flawless. Much of the movie is dark, but this does nothing to blunt depth or detail. Blacks are deep and rich; the few bright colors that sneak in are bold and nicely saturated (check out the scenes in which Aki has her visions of the warring alien factions). I’ve seen quite a few excellent next-gen transfers of computer-animated movies over the past several months, and this is easily one of the best.

THE AUDIO

The uncompressed PCM 5.1 is also outstanding. Surround action is almost non-stop, with the rears channeling both ambient and directional effects, which are perfectly integrated into the soundstage (again, check out the aforementioned scenes of Aki’s visions). Bass is deep and tight. Dialogue is always clear and intelligible (making both the performances and the words being spoken all the more boring). The English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks from the standard-def release have been ported over here; English, French, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, and Chinese subtitles are included.

THE EXTRAS

Final Fantasy was originally released in late 2001 on a packed two-disc edition. Unless I’m mistaken, the only extras that have not been carried over to this Blu-ray disc are the isolated score/commentary with composer Elliot Goldenthal, the storyboard/production commentary option, the factoid track, the re-edit a scene featurette, the “Thriller” video parody (which was included as an Easter Egg), and the DVD-ROM content.

The commentary by co-director Motonori Sakakibar, sequence supervisor Hiroyuki Hayashida, sets and props lead artist Tatsuro Maruyama, and "Phantom" supervisor Takoo Noguchi (which is presented in Japanese with English subtitles) is extremely technical, but it does provide a rather thorough overview of the work that goes into creating a project as this. 

The commentary by animation director Andy Jones, editor Chris Capp, and staging director Tani Kunitake is also heavy on the technical info, much of which seems redundant coming on the heels of the first commentary.

The Making of Final Fantasy (30 minutes) is an interactive documentary featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Branching segments (signaled by an onscreen icon) take the viewer to short audio commentaries or video featurettes (including character bios, which are also available separately) that expand on the information being presented. 

Vehicle Scale Comparison (3 minutes) offers quick looks at three of the vehicles featured in the movie.

The Compositing Builds featurette (6 minutes) explores the evolution of a few sequences, detailing how various elements of a shot were layered in over time.

The original opening (5 minutes) features different footage and narration, and also adds a change or two to the character of Dr. Ross.

On the Set with Aki is a brief (less than a minute) gag in which a digital Aki walks across a live action set to view playback of a scene she just shot.

The Gray Project (6 minutes) showcases footage of early animation and character tests.

The Trailer Exploration featurette (5 minutes) looks at the development of the movie’s various trailers.

Matte Art Explorations (6 minutes) details the creation of the digital matte backgrounds for two scenes.

Aki’s Dream Reconstruction (10 minutes) is an extended version of the dream Aki experiences in the opening sequence.

Joke Outtakes (4 minutes) is a series of bloopers and gags the animators created while goofing around. These are similar to the credit cookies the folks at Pixar are so good at, except the ones you’ll find here aren’t funny.

More Boards/Blasts (4 minutes) is a recreation of a deleted scene using animatics and storyboards.

Rounding out the extras are the movie’s teaser and theatrical trailer.

FINAL THOUGHTS