Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Voices: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland
Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi
Rating: PG-13

Studio: Columbia

Review Posted: 7.11.01

Spoilers: No

Rating: 5/10

By Steve Tradd.

"Where fantasy meets reality." That is what the poster for Sony's new film "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" says. Well, I don't know if this is true. For when I saw "Final Fantasy," I was constantly waiting for reality to kick in. Now, I don't want to sound like every other person who has reviewed this movie and trashed it.

The CGI is spectacular, but just like last year's "Dinosaur," the people making the film focused more on the visuals than on the script. This film could have been so much better, with just a few changes to the script and less cheesy dialogue. The film itself is the story of Aki Ross, a 21st century scientist that lives in a barren world.  In 2035 an asteroid hits earth, bringing along this phantoms that kill humans, taking their life force.

First off I have to say, when they started using the word "Gia" (GUY-YA) the audience laughed. It just sounded so ridiculous. You then follow Aki on her journey to find eight spirits that will kill the phantoms.  This is a basic Sci-fi plot and is a little too touchy feely to be mainstream.

As with most sci-fi movies, the plot sometimes doesn't make any sense. The visuals are what make this movie worthwhile. Aki is amazing, even though at times she looks like a burn victim that has really bad plastic surgery. At other times she is just stunning, (a woman sitting in front of me made the comment "I wish my hair looked that good!").

I have to say though that the most realistic looking character was Dr. Sid. His liver spots and his old, gray beard looked just perfect. Other than those two, I thought the characters looked fake.

Now you can say that I am being hypercritical, but for $210 million dollars, you would think that they would put the same amount of effort into every character, but it is obvious that they didn't. The beautiful dream sequences are what saved this film; they are crazy and just plain cool!

Overall, the film was good, but not fantastic. "Final Fantasy" is one of the films you see in the theater because it is an experience; you are thrown into this crazy world of insane technology and harsh landscapes, its like going to a different planet. It's just too bad movie theaters don't have mute buttons.

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