Anime: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Critic’s Log - Earthdate: November 27, 2013. Review #70: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

In 1997, Square Enix released one of the biggest RPG’s for the Sony PlayStation. That game is Final Fantasy VII. To this day, it is a very popular entry in the Final Fantasy series. To me, Final Fantasy VI is my favorite entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. But there is no denying that I was one of the many that enjoyed the seventh installment. This game was so popular that it led to a movie, a sequel game, some prequel games and even a book. Before I talk about the movie, there is something I must do first… *ahem* there will be spoilers about the original video game and ONLY THE VIDEO GAME. The reason for this is so you can understand the movie a little bit better. With that said, Here we go… oh and if you haven't played the game yet, I suggest you skip this upcoming part unless you don't care

Last Time on Final Fantasy VII...Cloud Strife is part of a group called AVALANCHE who is led by Barret Wallace. after the first mission, Cloud meets up with Aerith (or was it Aeris?) who is selling flowers for only 1 gil. Cloud then meets up with the rest of AVALANCHE at the 7th Heaven where we get to see Tifa and her gazongas. Barret then plans the next operation which would turn out almost for the worst when falls down to the church. Cloud then meets up with Aerith once again and she then joins Cloud. Aerith is being pursued by the Turks and Cloud and Aerith escape them and then suddenly they discover that Tifa is being taken somewhere. It turns out that she is being taken to Don Corneo who is pretty much a mix of a Mafia Leader and a pimp. Cloud and Aerith rescue Tifa while this being the only time that Cloud dresses like a woman. President Shinra of the Shinra Electric Corporation sends the Turks to obtain Aerith for specific plans, and they blow up Sector 7. Cloud, Barret, and Tifa set out to rescue Aerith from the Shinra Corporation and they meet up with Red XIII who happens to be a research specimen. Somewhere along that time, Cloud discovers a dark secret known as Jenova, but there isn’t much known about this at that time. President Shinra is seen dead with a long sword still impaled in him and it turns out that the one that murdered him was Sephiroth. After the President’s assassination, his son Rufus assumes the role as President and starts to go with his own plans himself. Cloud and his friends do save Aerith and escape the Shinra building in a crazy yet awesome escape method. Cloud and his companions then set out from Midgar to search for Sephiroth. In a nearby town, Cloud tells his companions about his past and Sephiroth. Along the way, they meet up with Yuffie, who is prone to motion-sickness, a dark and quiet man named Vincent, a (robot?) cat named Cait Sith who is riding a stuffed toy Moogle, and an airship pilot named Cid. Along their journey, Sephiroth as well as the Shinra Corporation are seeking The Promised Land, and Aerith just so happens to be the last surviving Ancient. Aerith heads off to the Forgotten City and Cloud and his companions go there only to witness Aerith getting killed by Sephiroth. Cloud ends up furious after witnessing that shocking death and he and his companions start following shortly after. They end up going to the Northern Cave and they find Sephiroth resting there. Cloud loses control and he ends up giving up the Black Materia they found earlier, After that occurs. Giant Monsters known as the Weapons are unleashed. But it is revealed later that Sephiroth has summoned Meteor which he aims it at the planet. Cloud and his companions then journey some more until everyone discovers Cloud’s true identity. They also discovered that Aerith was summoning Holy before she was killed. Cloud then finds his own self-discovery and resolves to defeat Sephiroth and live his own life. Cloud and his companions then go back to Midgar to stop the Shinra Corporation to end the wrongs they have committed. After they do so, they go to the Northern Crater to prepare for the Final Battle. They go to the planet’s core to confront Sephiroth and they end up victorious. Even though Sephiroth was vanquished, the Meteor was still coming down. Just when all hope was lost, the lifestream pours out and defends the planet. This stops Meteor from destroying the planet. The game ends there.

With all the recap I wanted to bring up has been said, let’s go to the Reunion with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children



Two years after the end of Final Fantasy VII, the world is starting to get back on its feet after Cloud and his companions stopped the Meteor that was summoned by Sephiroth from destroying the world. The world that has been saved is working towards a new future. However, there is a new threat from a new illness called Geo-stigma, and three men that seem to be seeking Jenova. Cloud and his companions must once again reunite to stop the new threat.

To be technical, this is a Square Enix production and I rarely even talk about Square Enix when it comes to anime. Now, allow me to be perfectly clear. This may be a CGI film and some people may wonder why this is technically an anime. Well, it was from Japan and it is animated…Computer animated to be exact. This is one of those computer-animated films that can be considered as an anime, although I think most people don’t see it as an anime. This is kind of a pointless argument, but it is technically an Anime. It is however not the typical anime that most anime fans (or otakus) are used to. What I can say about this movie is that it looks amazing from start. to. finish. When it comes to animated movies, I am getting really annoyed that the animation I am seeing in theaters is the 3D animation. I really love the 2D animation style that was done for years. I do like some 3D animated films but I do hate it when that seems to be the new running trend. But with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, that is a completely different story. All the scenes are animated gorgeously and I can see there was a lot of effort put into this film. What also is implemented is motion-capture where the characters move realistically… for the most part and it makes the animation more appealing to look at. Just for this movie, the computer-animation is flawless and this movie should be an example to 3D animated movies these days. I don’t mind 3D animation as long as it’s done right.

The music by Nobuo Uematsu is also a real treat, Nobuo Uematsu is obviously well-known for his compositions in the Final Fantasy series as well as other series he may have been involved in a little bit. Since I am talking about Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, expect some nostalgia when it comes to the music. Some of the old themes are back (in a different sound of course). There’s a mix of classical piano, rock, a little electronic, and even orchestral. Nobuo Uematsu is good for mixing things well and the soundtrack does not disappoint because it seriously kicks ass.

In regards to voice acting, the Japanese cast is pretty damn terrific. Takahiro Sakurai is great as Cloud, Ayumi Ito is terrific as Tifa, Kyosuke Ikeda was great as Denzel in the original cut and so was Kazumu Izawa in the Complete version. Showtaro Morikubo is great as Kadaj. and Toshiyuki Morikawa is fantastic… Noteworthy seiyus include Keiji Fujiwara as Reno, Maaya Sakamoto as Aerith, Toru Ohkawa as Rufus, and Shogo Suzuki as Vincent. Suzuki-san doesn’t have a lot of anime roles, in fact, this is the only anime role he’s played. He’s pretty good. Kenji Nomura is fine as Loz, and Yuuji Kishi was alright as Yazoo. As for Marlene and Denzel, they both have two seiyus. That is because the original seiyus were in fact children, when the movie got the Director’s Cut (Advent Children Complete). These two were re-casted. Kyosuke Ikeda was great as Denzel, and so was Kazumu Izawa when Denzel was re-casted. Miyu Tsuzurahara was pretty good as Marlene, Sumire Morohoshi will take a little getting used to. As with the English Dub, there is one major problem with the dub and it’s not even the cast or its direction. The English Dub suffers with awkward synchronization with the lip flaps in the movie. When I mentioned that there was a great use of motion capture, the lip movements were also implemented. If you can look past this, then the dub should be fine for you. Steve Burton is terrific as Cloud, Rachael Leigh Cook is also terrific as Tifa. Steve Staley is mostly great as Kadaj, but does have a few hiccups. George Newbern is also terrific. As for some noteworthy voice actors and voice actresses. Beau Billingslea is great as Barret, and the casting was perfect too. A black character voiced by a black guy. That sure makes some common sense. Chris Edgerly (even though he doesn’t do much anime roles) is great as Cid. Crispin Freeman is cool as Rude, Quinton Flynn is a lot of fun as Reno. Wally Wingert is great as Rufus, and Mena Suvari is pretty good as Aerith. The only voice I think was over-the-top was Steve Blum as Vincent. Hear me out! Vincent’s Japanese voice was deep, calm, and dark. Steve Blum (as a big name he is to anime and video games) was deep, was dark, but the voice sounds a little too unconvincing for me. I liked Vincent’s Japanese voice because it was just the right balance to make his character sound fitting, Steve Blum sounds like he’s playing a Batman audition. The role is performed well, but the voice itself didn’t sit well for me. Fred Tatasciore is great as Loz, and Dave Wittenberg was alright as Yazoo. As for Denzel and Marlene. Benjamin Bryan was good as Denzel in the original cut as well as Aaron Refven in the Director’s Cut. Grace Rolek is also good as Marlene in the original cut, and Ariel Winter also was good as Marlene in the Director’s Cut. Oh, and even though Red XIII has a good amount of screentime, Masachika Ichimura and Liam O’Brien only got one line. What the hell Square Enix. All the other characters got plenty of lines, you couldn’t give Red XIII more lines than just one? Come on guys! The Japanese cast is great, and so is the English Dub. I already mentioned the synchronization issue with the dub so I don’t need to explain again. Moving on!

Characters like Cloud and his companions are the good same old characters you loved from the game. Except for Aerith, May she rest in peace. Cloud is a pretty good character during the game and this does continue somewhat in the movie. Tifa is like her old self in the game, which is nice and just like the game, her boobs are quite noticeable. Here’s the cool part, she wasn’t reduced to fanservice too much in the movie even and she can kick major ass. Barret makes an appearance and his badassitude is back. Yuffie is not as annoying in the movie compared to the game. Vincent is...well, hell if I know. He does kick some ass but not much. Cait Sith just sits on Red XIII and is just there for the comic relief. Red XIII does kick ass but only says a few words at the very end of the movie. Cid doesn’t do much but at least he contributed in some way. It is nice that the characters are just like how you remembered them. It was nice to see Marlene develop a bit more since the game. That is for a few movie-exclusive characters. Denzel was a little one-dimensional and a little uninteresting, that is until the Complete version came out. There were added scenes and these new additions made Denzel more than one-dimensional. Hooray! He actually is a little more sympathetic than the original version. Then there’s Kadaj and his lackeys. Oh Dear God, where do I start with these three brats. There isn’t much explanation to their personality but it isn’t hard to decipher. Yazoo is uninteresting and is pretty much there for the action, Loz is a little more involved and is a little disappointing in terms of development. Kadaj is heavily involved in the movie and he’s also far more interesting. Less in the original but far more understandable in the Complete version. The characters are mostly good, but there are a few characters that should have been taken care of more.

As for the story of this movie, it is a damn mess. I can see why a sequel was to be made (in the form of a movie). The game was really popular, the story ends open-ended and the game was so successful that this movie was possible. The story is the most disappointing part of the whole movie. And you know what? Half of this can be excused. There is a plot going around half of the movie, and then the rest of the movie is all action-packed and it’s insane that it just keeps going and going with a few breaks as well. At least the plot was balanced. My problem with the story is that it centers around Cloud, but also the 3 silver-haired men who only stay in this movie. This movie also brings back an old memory. What does bother me a little bit is that it feels like Cloud’s “Redemption” chapter. If this was going to be built up to that, then the story should’ve been written differently. The major problem with the story is that it was rushed, this was fixed with the Complete version. The story still could’ve been written much better but it is what it is. But there is a very good reason to watch this movie. Despite the disappointing plot as a sequel to a big game. This movie’s computer animation is awesome and the action kicks a lot of ass. This movie is pretty awesome despite a major flaw with the story.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is available from Sony Pictures. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete is also available by Sony Pictures but it is only for Blu-ray while the original cut is only on DVD. The Final Fantasy VII video game was available for the Sony PlayStation, but now these days, it can be found in the PlayStation Network and even in Steam. Crisis Core was available for the PlayStation Portable and Dirge of Cerberus was available for the PlayStation 2. To my knowledge, Before Crisis is a mobile game and was never brought into America.

With all that said, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is an animation spectacle with gorgeous, jaw-dropping computer animation. kickass action scenes, an awesome soundtrack, memorable characters, and a plot that is disappointing but can still be enjoyed because of the animation and action scenes. If you haven’t seen this movie, do yourself a favor and do so if you are a Final Fantasy fan. If you are not a fan of Final Fantasy, it wouldn’t hurt to give this movie a try. But you may want to look up the game first to understand because this movie was made for the fans of Final Fantasy VII.

I give the Original Cut of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children a 7 out of 10, it is GOOD! However, I am in more favor of the Complete Version. So with that said…

I give Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children an 8 out of 10, it is VERY GOOD!

Feel free to leave a comment, everything’s alright.

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

The movie sequel to the smash hit PS1 JRPG and it does offer to the average fan what he would expect from the premise of the game -> Big swords, pretty chicks, emoness, some ecology-themed crisis and Sephiroth. Yeah, the main villain is a category of his own.

Above anything else, this movie is basically fan pleasing. It wasn’t made in order to offer a thought-provoking story or to further develop its characters; those are left as nothing but a rehash of the game. It was made just to show off at how cool their technology is and to milk the fans. But I must admit that this movie is not horrible, which means it is amongst the best videogame adaptations ever made. Yeah, the bar is set low on this particular category …

Anyways, the first thing one will notice is how the animation and the artwork kick ass, both literal and metaphorically. They didn’t hold back on the budget; that’s for sure. And it sure looks a lot better than in the game; not that I had any real problem with the blocky chibi characters there. They took the feeling of the original artwork, gave it a small boost of a 1.000.000% more polygon power, and created a far crisper version of the half-dead world in the series. The only details they really changed are how they added cell-phones instead of walky-talkies, which strikes me as nothing but product placement. I bet the sun-glasses are that too. Oh well, I can forgive them for something so minor, I have absolutely nothing to complain about the quality of the animation and I am not nitpicky enough to bitch at how some motions look stiff or some grimaces look fake. I liked it as it is. I had no trouble getting used to the more human-looking characters either (compared to the game). Even the action scenes, as far-fetched and unrealistic as they might have been, looked great as guilty pleasure.

I can now hear the characters talk and thus I can’t really make a comparison to the game; there were no voice-overs back then. I accept them as they are; no qualms again. They didn’t sound bad to me or anything although they did have that corny shounen-like feeling in them; which is fine since the movie is technically aimed at a shounen demographic. And hands down on the OST; it is the best remake from midi to rock/orchestra ever made. You can bitch about the story or the visuals but the soundtrack is plain awesome. I listen to it even after all these years; a thing I rarely do for other songs. Plus it was placed in appropriate moments in the movie and not in irrelevant moments. It helped to get the juices flowing and thus I again accept it as it is: perfect.

Now regarding the story part, there are two versions of it and you better go watch the extended one if you want to get the full picture of it in a more appropriate manner. With half an hour more footage full of talking and present the events in a more understood way, you get a lot more from it than from the original one, which was quite vague and rather dried up. I kinda excuse them why they did it, since they were pressed to finish the movie before the deadline and most viewers would probably be bored if it was any longer because of the talking. But past that difference, we are talking about a movie here based on cool characters and an interesting theme but nothing more. Expecting a great story is rather anal; especially when almost half its duration is action scenes and the entire backdrop has already been exposed in the game. And it’s not like you must play the game to fully understand what is going on either, since there is a kid describing via monologue the state of the setting in the beginning of the movie.

For a sequel, I liked how it didn’t do the mistake of ass-pulling new stuff in the setting, like most do. The new adversaries, the black Neo Stigma warriors and the sick children, fit in the core themes of the original scenario and were even vaguely foreshadowed in a way. It’s the day-after-the-game era, when the world tries to recover from the ecological damage Shinra and Mother did and there are remnants of both sides to deal with. I see nothing bad here; they didn’t throw in some weird new enemy out of nowhere or something and the core themes are intact. So far, so good.

A problem with the plot is that it’s mostly nothing but an excuse to move from one battle to another. In fact everything plays out as a poorly constructed build-up just for the gang to appear on-screen once more. And even when it does, it’s not really that amazing, so, seriously, don’t try to watch the movie for its storytelling because you won’t find much. Especially in the original version which leaves everything vague and confusing. It is fan pleasing to the most part and the most boring parts in it were the attempts at building up drama during the non-action scenes. “Hey, stop crying and start fighting already!” is what I was thinking. There are some really emo moments in it that feel way too sappy to work, but I guess this is the trend of the franchise series in general, after Square moved from Nintendo to Sony. But anyways, the interaction of the characters, despite feeling basic to the most part, is still fine for a movie feature and makes far more sense if you have played the game and are watching the extended version. Since the movie is not introducing anything entirely new, there was no need to waste much time in analyzing to begin with. Plus, three out of the five major characters from the game were already dead before the movie even begins so, ok, all there is left to expect is cool action. Some one-liners are exchanged, some emoness is thrown in just for the heck of it, and then here come the action.

Said action is great of course but to be honest it doesn’t last long enough to enjoy each battle to the fullest. It’s like they were planning to make a scene to last as much as the affiliated song in the background, which was never more than 5 minutes. Plus, they had two dozen songs to cover and around 90 minutes to wrap everything up. What else could they do other than making spars and short-lived emo speeches? It will mostly feel like poor screenplay, rushed pacing and not enough time to get into the mood of each scene separately. So yeah, the story is basic and there is nothing they could do with that; so you might as well just watch it for the cool factor.

Something similar comes with the cast which, just like the story, is already introduced and developed in the game. The movie uses them as nothing but cameos for the fans to enjoy, so do not expect character development from the main characters. Even the new villains and the sick children have a very basic handling in getting to know and like them beyond an equally basic level. And even that will probably be lost under a ton of action scenes. If you go in and expect to see everything established from point zero, then everyone in this film will feel too much like a caricature with a vague character trait that is thrown in there for fan catering and nothing more. Heck, they even threw in characters that were supposed to be dead; some as ghosts, others that were “presumed dead” and others as “resurrected” which pretty much ruins any drama around their deaths to begin with. But whatever, this is fan catering at its best.

What is a bit off is how they made Vincent to look more bad-ass than the protagonist Cloud, by making him appear to be this mean red-cloaked super ghost or something. Hell, he is almost presented as a main character when he is an otherwise minor extra character in the game. I guess they wanted to make him look cool for his upcoming Dirge of Cerberus game, where he is starring instead of Cloud. It was a silly attempt at building hype and the game ended up being an average shooter. But you know what? If they had the time to do something similar with every other character, this wouldn’t feel so weird (or bad). Each one would get his 15 minutes of glory and a nice introduction to his own game. In this case we would of course need enough more duration to fill a whole second movie or something but it would definitely save face for the characters and even make the story feel better.

But it’s ok, let’s not be too critical here; the movie is very good at what it’s supposed to be doing and since I liked the game a lot I am a bit biased towards overseeing its hiccups. It has a fine name in its title and for the duration it was allowed, it offered a basic plot and lots of good action. It sure felt a lot more enjoyable that, let’s say, the animated Tekken movie or the live action adaptations of Super Mario, Street Fighter, Dead or Alive, or Dragonball. Plot and character emersion suffer of course but the soundtrack is still awesome and I still watch the action scenes from time to time. That counts as a half-success to me.

So if I make some evaluation, we get these scores:

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: Both versions get 10/10
STORY & CHARACTER SECTIONS: Original: 6/10, Complete: 7/10
VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: Original: 7/10, Complete: 8/10
VERDICT: Original: 7.5/10, Complete: 8.5/10

Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children review...Take 2:

Right off the bat I must say that I did not play Final Fantasy VII so parts of the story still elude me. This film probably got one of the greatest hypes of recent years and after a very long wait...it arrived and...In many ways, it fulfilled what it promised and managed to be a great film, in my opinion, much better than the previous movie that bore the title of "Final Fantasy". Now that isn't much to brag about as the strengths of this film can easily be numbered. Read on, there's a lot to be said...

Animation
For months fans and have literally drooled over the trailers that the producers kindly offered. After the intense work that's been placed into this I must admit that the final result is absolutely stunning. It manages to put everything CGI to shame and set such high standards for animation and presentation that I doubt they'll be met, let alone surpassed, in the near future. Absolutely everything that this film presents is pure eye candy, superb characters, stunning backgrounds, fluent and clean animation...visually, AC deserves no less than praises, especially taking into account the battles which are absolutely awe-inspiring and magnifically intense. Many people would argue about the speed at which the battles play out. But even so, I cannot consider this a flaw but rather a plus taken the excellent choreography that the film throws at us. It's no less than I would expect after all the hype the film's animation got. It's truly a work of art...except for a little detail: BAHAMUT! What the fuck? The king of dragons as he is portrayed in most Final Fantasy games makes a grand appearance, his Mega-Flare looking as good as ever...yet the dragon looks like a "turkey in armor" as a friend suggestively called it.

Sound
As good as the animation proves to be, the overall feel would just not be complete without the musical score and here, it's as good as the visual symphony that is AC. The music is blended perfectly into the general flow of the film and battle scenes just become epic with help from the music. Also, one must not forget the voices. A characteristic of the PlayStation Final Fantasy games was the lack of voices for the characters so imagination played a great role in making the characters real. Well, the producers of AC managed to breathe life into the FF VII through their voices. Each character is as you would imagine him to be and the seyuus did a top-notch job with their roles.

Technically, Advent Children is a masterpiece, an honest to God masterpiece.

Story
Story review...Take 2:

The story is not all that it could've been. Strongly rooted into FF VII's story-line, AC's plot cannot truly be appreciated in all its details except by FF VII fans. There are small details that have been pointed out to me by such people and I was really amazed by the subtlety with which the film treats the fans. My hat's off to the creators.
But alas, upon second viewing of the anime (the first time I slept through about 1/4 of the film) I found that the story was nothing more than a premise for the action scenes. The small details are really everything that the producers did right with this thing. I can't honestly say that the story sucked as I can't honestly say that it was good. I believed too much hope was put into the connection with the original FF VII story-line so things were left quite hung up somewhere.

But really, I was not expecting a stellar story but I was expecting a lot of action (I'm a sucker for good fights...sue me). I got all that I expected and more from AC's battles but I couldn't help but wonder at the immense contrast between the battle scenes and the quiet ones...at one moment the adrenaline level is sky-rocketing, at the other it drops drastically. It could've been made better and that just enforces my belief that the story was just trying to figure out the shortest way from one action scene to the other.
I should rate the story even lower but that would be denying the fact that I enjoyed it in all its simplicity. It's a great action flick with a story that manages to be interesting for FF VII fans, pretty decent for new-comers, just too simple for anime veterans. Call it a pity if you may but I, for one, was not entirely disappointed in the plot.

Character
With the characters, it's the exact the same as the story. I can't say much about the characters as I don't have any previous experience with FF VII. All I can say is that I found Cloud to have a personality equal to a cracker, Tifa to just be there for Cloud's sake and everyone else to just have too little time on screen to really be appreciated.

The bad guys were...uhhh...bad. Skipping the "Don't cry Kadaj" part which was really random...I found them to lack any kind of substance whatsoever. Yeah, they wanted to do something, they were powerful...they were there for action's sake.
I'll get back on this matter if I ever play FF VII but until then I fear that I cannot comment on this matter any further.

Value
But in the end...was this film really worth the entire wait and all the hopes?
...Indeed it was. Head to toe it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. It was a film especially directed at fans but with enough to be interesting even to someone that has no previous contact with a FF game, let alone FF VII.
It could've been better no doubt but it's fine as it is.

(NOTE TO READER: If you happen to read this review, whether in-full, or just a skim, please rate the review. I will appreciate the feedback, negative or positive, and will return the gesture if you have made your own review.)

Ah, Final Fantasy VII...

When this game premiered back in 1997, it happened in a very memorable, and enjoyable time in my life. I enjoyed every bit of completing 100% of the game, and had been looking forward to the release of this movie for many years following its initial announcement.

To appreciate this review, and to have any interest in reading it thoroughly, I'd have to recommend that you're also a fan of the FFVII game, as I'll be very detailed for this review in particular. To the Mainstreamer just interested in some insight, just check out the bold/underlined segments.

First of all, it is not mandatory to have played the game to enjoy this movie. However, you will get the maximum enjoyment out of it if you did play the game.

Animation:

Oh how beautiful it is. AC is a sumptuous visual masterpiece. The CG in this is simply the best I've seen to date, and I don't expect too much to surpass it in the very near future.

Every frame of Advent Children teems with the love of its creators. From the opening sequence of an older Red XIII overlooking the grassy remains of midgar, to the final credits, you will be in awe of the amount of effort that went into making everything in the world of FFVII come brilliantly to life.

The action sequences are just amazing. For anyone who has not played the game, it is worth it to watch this just to see the fantastic action in this movie. Even after I have seen AC for the ...15th time? It's still enjoyable to skip the story sequences just to watch the amazing fight sequences, that tie in absolutely perfectly with it's epic soundtrack...

Sound:

Nobuo Uematsu has become a household name, not just for video gamers, but for the multimedia mainstream as well. The breathtaking soundtracks of the Final Fantasy games has wowed people all over the world in CD form, as well as live orchestral concerts.

AC is no exception to this. Many of the original tunes that made the bestselling FFVII game soundtrack so popular, are back and better than ever.

The Black Mages (Uematsu's personal Rock/Metal band) lend their awesome sound to most of the music, and charge every battle scene with high energy, high intensity guitar riffs, alongside Uematsu's organ work. The remix of "One Winged Angel" and how it so harmoniusly goes with the action and dialogue in this movies final battle still gives me chills every time I see it.

The Voice cast all played their roles well too. I was extremely happy with the choices made for most all the characters. The characters sounded pretty much how you would imagine them too. That's saying alot, considering they're taking characters the target audience for the movie is very intimate with, and giving them something integral to a movie, that the 1997 game version lacked .. voices.

Story:

To truly appreciate the story of FFVII:AC, you have to have played the game, otherwise AC becomes a glorified, visually impressive slugfest. The story takes place 3 years after the events at the end of FFVII.

The entire premise of the story is fairly simple in this sequel. The same characters are placed in a world now plagued by a disease which was the aftermath of the end of the game. (Which they explain in a lengthy dialogue at the beginning of the movie) The characters are back to their normal lives, when suddenly a new gang of villains with extraordinary power and an evil agenda show up and attack Cloud.

From there on, it's a quest to find out who they are, how they tie into this new disease plaguing the planet, and what their ultimate goal is. Your typical "Good vs Evil, fight the bad guys, save the world" epic, just with characters that a target audience is familiar with.

The unfortunate thing is that this story will more than likely have a lackluster appeal to anyone who has not played the FFVII game. AC was made more as a fanservice project anyway, but ended up becoming a mainstream phenomenon in the process, due to its insane amount of hype.

Character:

People who are not fans of the game are going to have a very hard time connecting with the main characters. There is little to no development whatsoever for about 75% of the cast, and the one's who do receive development get it minimally at best. It's obvious Square wanted to wow the mainstream with breathtaking visuals, while relying on the very appearence of its beloved characters to carry this movie into the homes of its already rock solid fanbase.

Almost all of the characters in AC premiered originally in the game. There's a problem here though. They made newcomer Denzel one of the main characters in the movie. Even as a fanservice based movie, most fans went into this one wondering who the heck this kid is...

In order to understand Denzel's story, you have to go and read up on it... it isn't mentioned at all in the game, or even in any backstory during the film itself...he's just kind of there, and for some reason, plays an important role.

Mandatory research to understand a character or parts of a story is a big no-no, especially for a movie with the goal AC had.

Some characters were given the proper amount of screentime, and were mirror images of their game counterparts. (Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aeris, Vincent, Marlene) but some characters were overdeveloped (The Turks, as much as I like them, did not play as integral a role in the game as some of the poorly underdeveloped characters in the movie) some characters receiving very little screentime (Cid, Barret, Yuffie) and others almost none at all (Red XIII had ONE line in this movie.)

It was important for them to develop the newcomers (Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo) and they did that very well. To be honest, I liked the direction they took AC in, but as a movie made for fanservice, it may put some viewers off.

Probably the single biggest turnoff to most fans, was that in the ONE battle the other characters aside from Cloud and Tifa got to take part in, they couldn't even put a single scratch on the enemy, rendering the team virtually useless. I suppose this was done to illustrate Cloud's new strength... at least that's the only explanation I can come up with.

Value:

Now here is a hard one. To judge this from an unbiased Point of View.

I have purchased this movie at probably a quarter the amount I would have paid for it. For any fan of the Final Fantasy series, this is an absolute MUST own.

For a mainstream viewer not familiar with the FF games, it is still going to be a fun experience to watch with a group of friends and just absorb the amazing visual and audio experience. However, the Characters and the Story will be forgettable almost as soon as you've stopped the film, when you take away the games preset nostalgia factor.

Enjoyment:

This movie will be enjoyed once for it's impressive and unique visual effect to the casual viewer.

To a fan however...the fact I wrote such a large scale review speaks for itself. As a fan of the FF series for the last decade, I loved every minute of AC, and if I could give an '11' for what Square tried to do, I would. This is the fanservice that fanatics have been waiting for.

This is my first review.

I am sure it will not be rated highly.

Animation: Being a computer geek to the core, I love CGI. I only wish they could get the movement right. For the longest time, the textures were my largest issue. Now its not. I give this a 8 because of the wonderful areas and fantasic settings. I cant give it better because the fight scenes are to fast for me. I have a hard time following the action. Perhaps I am getting old. Amazing acts of strength use to be in slow motion so you could be suitable impressed. I dont mind fast, as long as I can follow what is happening. I had a hard time following in this situation. The textures were great and the rendering of the anime spikey hair on Cloud was great.

Sound: Very pleased with the sound. Good immersive effects. The music was satisfying and the sounds and voices were great.

Story: I enjoyed the story, but like so many anime storeys, I find it jumpy. Jumpy is the only way I can describe the disconnected way I feel when the story leaves to large parts of they story to the imagination. Often times I feel like the story is just that silly thing that tries to find a way to link one cool fight scene to the next. I ran into that with this story a couple of times. To me, the story here turns out to be more shallow than I would like.

Characters: Not being a Final Fantasy follower in any way shape or form, I have no familiarity with the characters before watching. Still feel that way after watching. Never felt a true understanding of the person that should be behind each of the cgi characters represented on screen. Came close a couple of times but never really felt in tune with any of the charactersin the story.

Enjoyment: I did enjoy the watching this. I really wish the story did justice to the beautiful rendering of the Final Fantasy world. Its is definetly worth watching for the visuals alone.

ZOMG Final Fantasy 7 movie!!!111 its teh awsme dfinate must watch!!!11

Well that’s what I would have said if I was a brainless FF7 fan (btw FF6 > FF7! hehe >_>;;), I however am not one of those brainless zombie types.

I will have to do this review as a stand alone movie, and not as a ending to a RPG. I do however highly suggest that one should play FF7 before watching the movie for a much better experience.

The Animation amazed me, and the sound I love, One Wing Angel remix is by far my favorite (not cause its sephy's theme ;p, its pretty well done imo). The kick ass action scenes put all of Matrix actions scenes to shame, and it all gets huge bonus points for plainly looking too dam cool. This is all however all face value.

The story on the other hand, in the light of the uber action, it’s actually quite lame. I would have scored it as a 1 for Story, but I was generous in giving them a 3 for their effort to make a story, which is bad guy vs. good guy sort of story (seems awfully like other FFs but minus plot twists and stuff that make a simple story interesting). They also don’t even explain anything, except though a 5 minute summery of the entire game, and even then its very empty in meaning and doesn’t explain enough to answer any of the questions that come up throughout the movie. My 1st watch though I was saying "wtf" to half the things that get explained in the game but not in the movie (I played the game but my memory card died mid way though and I never got to finish the game so I had a lot of questions). Some of the things that do come to mind are:
-Sepheroth clones/chrysalis?
-198 years ago, where did they come up with that number?
The story was horridly lacking in just about everything, major disappointment. It leaves an empty feeling, similar in the sense Matrix: Revolution does; also half the time they introduce something, yet the audience has no idea what they’re talking about. The story is run off the idea that you've played the game, however not everyone has played the game though to understand any of it.

Onto... Character Development? What’s that? Or that’s what the people said when they made the story up.

Let’s start with Cloud; he can be summed up in two words lame and shallow. He’s the star for half the scenes in the movie; however he stays the same for the entire movie. Supposedly changes at the latter point in the movie; this change has no basis on occurring and well... just happens. I believe it’s the writer’s attempt at character development, but it was more like let’s talk to Vincent and poof, Cloud’s all better. I’ve been also informed that this is a sequel to a game, an ending to a game; I don’t care bad character development is bad character development.

Everyone else (except Kadaj's gang) can be bunched into a single group. This group is called, the fan service group. None of them offer anything to story; hell most of them just show up at the latter point in the movie just cause. They’re practically there just to show up in uber CG goodness, nothing more.

Kadaj's gang members can be summed up as generic baddies.

Value and Enjoyment, I can say I enjoyed watching it; however it left a big empty feeling that turned into me playing the game through. All in all it’s a fan service; there to amuse the large mass of FF7 zom... er I mean fans. It gets major cool points though and is a thrill ride for the action; a definite good choice when you want to watch something cool and short.