Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 105 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Metropolis, Fantasia, War of the Worlds, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Toy Story. All these titles will always be remembered for breaking new ground in the realm science fiction and/or animation. I’m happy to report that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within will soon take it’s place alongside these other classics.

As I was driving home, I couldn’t help but marvel at Director Hironobu Sakagachi’s ability to translate his vivid imagination to the screen via some monstrously advanced CGI animation. You can also tell that this is a real labor of love for him as no one else would have bothered with all the little details that are present here.

Being that this is the first offering of this type, there are some flaws, to be sure. The facial expressions, for instance, appear a bit too plastic and stiff at times. As well, the lead female character’s butt should have been a bit more well defined. Speaking as a guy, no lead female should have a nearly nonexistent butt. It just isn’t natural! All these minor gripes aside, it is still a stunning achievement. I can only hope that this is but the first of many movies made with this technology.

The story binding all the amazing scenes together is, at best, fairly standard without much originality. Even so, it is told extremely well and with a minimum of holes in the logic or continuity. My only problem with it was that it tended to venture into the realm of the metaphysical a bit too much which seemed a bit out of place for something intended to be futuristic Sci-fi. That’s more a personal dislike for me than a flaw with the movie, however.

As the story goes, the year is 2065. A mere 34 years earlier, in 2031, a large meteor struck the earth. Normally this isn’t a big deal but the meteor had some passengers in the form of some very bizarre and deadly “phantoms”. You can’t see them without special means most of the time and they are somewhat insubstantial and can pass through solid objects.

One touch from them, however, is enough to kill you. If they get a good wallop on you, your soul is ripped from your body and then consumed by the critters as some sort of homo-sapien appetizer. If it’s just a glancing blow, then part of the critter will just lodge inside you and start growing and consuming you slowly. There just ain’t no winning with these things.

There are man-sized critters, flying critters and even some humongous critters but what’s left of humanity has found ways to keep them at bay with energy shields and even kill them with some advanced looking energy weapons. It’s a losing battle, however, as the remnants of humanity have been fighting these aliens for 34 years and no progress can really be reported.

Enter Aki, a scientist working to discover the secrets of the 8 spirits of Gaia (don’t ask - just go with the flow). She (and others) believe that the 8 spirits hold the key to defeating these wraithlike alien invaders. Of course, there is a human “bad guy” to go along with the “evil” aliens. He is General Hein who only wishes to blast the aliens to smithereens with Earth’s first big-ass space cannon no matter what other collateral damage occurs in the process.

Will Aki and her Space Marine buddies Grey, Neil, Ryan and Jane be able to defeat the aliens and keep the evil general from destroying the world? Maybe. Maybe not. In a kids movie, they would find a way to save the day, vanquish the aliens, arrest the general and then live happily ever after. This is no kids movie, though. Not by a longshot.

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ming Na, PG-13, SciFi, Steve Buscemi, Theatrical, voices of Alec Baldwin