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Full length CGI-animated features are now commonplace, and the technology has undergone such huge advancements that 'Final Fantasy' now seems almost obsolete. Time has also dulled much of the zing of 'Final Fantasy's once-cutting edge visuals, which were the primary reason to see the film in the first place.
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Just like all those big-name actors in the 'Star Wars' prequels who delivered horrible performances because they were stuck standing in front of a blue screen through the whole movie, 'Final Fantasy' suffers from stilted, flat line readings from an otherwise-exceptional cast. And it's not just the fault of the visuals. As groundbreaking as the pixel-caricatures may have been, they're weirdly artificial - creepy, even - and there is none of the whimsy of a Pixar to balance out the ick factor. Indeed, overall, the film plays out like a technological advancement in search of a movie. Watching 'Final Fantasy' again for the first time in six years, I'm reminded that while the story had potential, if you erase the gimmick of photo-realistic CGI renderings of human beings, all that's left is a fairly hollow center. As the film progresses, our heroes race toįind the remaining "spirits" before The Phantoms take over the world - and before Hein can activate his supreme weapon of destruction. Sid (Donald Sutherland) are then forced by Hein to work with Grey Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his ragtag team of soldiers. Aki (Ming Na) is on a hunt to find eight "spirits" that, when brought together (bear with me on this one), will create an "inverted waveform that will negate the life force of the alien intruders." Not so keen on this idea is General Hein (James Woods) who believes that a pragmatic military counteroffensive is the best solution - not a bunch of spiritual mumbo-jumbo. Al Gore, where were you when Sony needed you?Īs the film opens, it's 2046 and Earth has been invaded by aliens (known as "The Phantoms") who steal people's souls. Among its many issues are a convoluted plot, flat voice performances, and an environmentally-themed storyline that - looking back - seems to be ahead of its time. Indeed, it's hard to argue that 'The Spirits Within' didn't succeed on a technical level - the film is often amazing to watch - but it just didn't engage critics or audiences on an emotional level.
FINAL FANTASY THE SPIRITS WITHIN SERIES
Worse, this hoped-for franchise starter never got out of neutral, as 'The Spirits Within' was quickly (and mercifully) forgotten.īased on one of the most popular video games series in history, 'Final Fantasy' was certainly a groundbreaking attempt at creating photo-realistic human beings in the context of a narrative, feature-length animated film.
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With a production budget reported at $140 million, its final domestic tally of $32 million was beyond dismal - it was a money sucker of epic proportions for Sony. 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' was, if not the biggest bomb in recent Hollywood history, certainly one of the costliest. Accordingly, in the summer of 2001, all eyes were on Sony's mega-budget 'Final Fantasy' and DreamWorks' 'Shrek' (which came out within a couple of months of each other) - together, the two films were supposed to be the test case to determine the future of CGI at the box office. Sure, Pixar had scored with several big hits, but the major studios were still debating whether computer-generated animation could be a commercially viable medium equal to classic hand-drawn animation. When 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' first unspooled in theaters, entirely CGI-animated films were still an unproven commodity at the box office.