From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jul 13 11:33:57 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Jon Popick Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 22:27:08 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28744 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 68 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26947 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2870 Planet Sick-Boy: http://www.sick-boy.com "We Put the SIN in Cinema" © Copyright 2001 Planet Sick-Boy. All Rights Reserved. Tomb Raider has, at press time, already inhaled over $115 million at the box office, throwing the gauntlet down to this summer's other big videogame-turned-feature-film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The game is wildly popular, selling over 33 million copies of its nine different versions since 1987. While the film version probably won't be nearly as beloved, it is the first major motion picture to feature computer-generated people who look real (other than the occasional character, like Toy Story and Princess Fiona in Shrek), and that's got to count for something, right? Even if the story is really bad, right? The story is just as lame as Raider's and any other console-to-screen film, but Raider had a lot more fun reaching its inevitable conclusion than most. Fantasy's game creators, who also have all of their hands in the film, pride themselves on creating new stories and new characters each time out, but neither are anything you haven't seen a bunch of times before. It's frustrating to hear about the detail, time and manpower put into animating the 60,000 hairs on the main character's head when so little thought went into the story. The film is set in 2065 - several decades after "they" took over, or so a narration tells us. "They" are a group of indestructible alien phantoms that gobble the energy out of the human form like meat off a chicken wing bone. Fantasy's heroine, scientist/physician Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na, ER), has been infected by the aliens and is in search of an environmental treatment that will both cure her and save the planet from total domination. Together with Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland, Space Cowboys), she has determined that collecting eight "spirits" will do the trick. Aki has six now, and heads to Old New York City to find the other two. It is here she meets Captain Gray Edwards and the Deep Eyes squadron (which sounds like a kitschy garage band), who protect the few remaining citizens living under the giant protective dome that covers a big chunk of Manhattan. Gray (Cats and Dogs' Alec Baldwin, providing his second "voice" job in the last two weeks) and his crew (Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin and Ving Rhames) help Aki and Dr. Sid in their quest to find the missing spirits, which must be done before the evil General Hein (James Woods, Scary Movie 2) unleashes the giant, space-based Zeus Cannon on the alien meteor, which landed in the Caspian Mountains. See? It's good vs. evil, with a whole environmental message thrown in for good measure. As silly and downright confusing as it is, the story (penned by director and game developer Hironobu Sakaguchi and Apollo 11 scribe Al Reinert) is largely inconsequential. How powerful is the ability of computer animation? It can make Buscemi into an attractive man, for Pete's sake. But seriously, folks, the characters are so frighteningly lifelike (especially Dr. Sid) that it becomes distracting, which I guess actually helps the story in a way. If you look hard enough, you can find plenty of flaws (especially in the mouth movement when the characters talk), but don't bother - this still looks pretty goddamn incredible. As a side note, the filmmakers should get some credit for not making Aki into an impossibly busted cybervixen (a la Lara Croft). Considering the film's target audience (and the inability to get laid attendant thereto), it's quite a pleasant surprise. 1:53 -PG-13 for sci-fi action violence ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28744 X-RT-AuthorID: 1146 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jul 13 11:35:40 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!news.tele.dk!195.224.25.10!sn-uk-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Steve Rhodes Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 23:01:08 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28784 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 76 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26960 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2871 FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2001 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2 Hironobu Sakaguchi's FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN is such a ground breaking piece of cinema that it raises fundamental questions about the future of human actors in motion pictures. Its computer generated humans are astoundingly lifelike in looks and motion. The eyes and eyelids are especially astonishing. But, like TOY STORY, the magic comes more from what an intelligent script is able to accomplish with the animation. Oscar nominated writer Al Reinert (APOLLO 13), joined by Jeff Vintar and Hironobu Sakaguchi, fashion an intelligent script of such depth that it's a challenge to keep up. Certain aspects of story are so intricate that they are almost incomprehensible, and I mean that as a compliment. It's hard to come close to doing justice to the plot, which is set in 2065, but I'll give it a try. The world, which looks like something out of BLADE RUNNER, has been decimated by a group of ghostly aliens called phantoms. Mankind has been fighting and losing in battles with these aliens who arrived on a meteor that struck the earth. A scientist named Dr. Aki Ross, voiced touchingly and strongly by Ming-Na (MULAN), is trying to find the 6th, 7th and 8th spirits. With these, and the others she already has, she will have a key to dealing with the aliens. Aki is a lot more likeable character than Ripley from ALIENS and more compellingly attractive than Angelina Jolie in LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER. Aki is mentored by Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland), whose opinions, he explains, are as unpopular as Galileo's were. Think of him as the Yoda figure who believes in the power of the spirits, i.e., the force. The rival to this scientific approach to the problem comes from the nefarious General Hein (James Woods). Like General Turgidson (GEORGE C. SCOTT) from DR. STRANGELOVE, General Hein places his belief firmly in the invincibility of maximum firepower as the solution to catastrophic problems. He wants to use something called the Zeus Cannon to blast these varmints to smithereens. Although there are some funny moments, FINAL FANTASY is a deadly serious thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Elliot Goldenthal's impressive and dramatic score adds to the tension. Among the many aspects of the story to decode are those of Aki's recurring nightmares. They clearly hold some clues to the mystery. Her boyfriend, Captain Grey (Alec Baldwin), finds himself drawn into one of them, but he has no idea as to what they mean. On a scale in which 10 means perfect understanding and 0 represents complete incomprehensibility, most movies operate in the 8 or 9 level, especially towards the end. To it's credit, FINAL FANTASY rarely gets much higher than a 6 or 7. The ending, rather than neatly wrapping up all the loose ends, leaves you still perplexed. I suspect that most younger kids who mistakenly see this film will leave shaking their heads, asking their parents, "What was that all about?" Older kids and adults, however, will feel rewarded and blessed to have seen something so intriguing. FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN runs 1:41. It is rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence and would be acceptable for kids around 11 and up. My son Jeffrey, age 12, and his twin friends, John and Steven, age 13, all gave the movie a solid ****. They all commented on the impressive graphics, especially the phantoms and the humans. They liked the way the story was developed and the way that it was light-years away from a cartoon. The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, July 11, 2001. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC and the Century theaters. Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com *********************************************************************** Want free reviews and weekly movie and video recommendations via Email? Just send me a letter with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28784 X-RT-AuthorID: 1271 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.kth.se!uio.no!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Annette Cardwell Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 02:31:38 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28795 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235386 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 178 X-RT-AuthorID: 3595 X-RT-RatingText: 4/5 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28795 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 101 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26981 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2877 FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN A film review by Annette Cardwell Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com With a team of 200 graphic artists and animators working on this first film production from game developer Squaresoft's Square Pictures, Final Fantasy, inspired by the top-selling game franchise, is visually awe-inspiring and groundbreaking. No doubt, you have never seen anything like this film, and the hyperbolic fanfare surrounding its release is absolutely deserved. But why does such a tremendous feat of eye candy have to be weighted down with a problematic story, wooden dialogue and generally uncharismatic voice acting? Obviously, the primary goal of the film is to stun and amaze audiences with extremely sophisticated CGI. Everything you see in the film is rendered in great detail: individual threads in the fabric, individual strands of hair swaying, wrinkles and pimples on skin, incredible water effects. Overall, the expressions and lip movements fairly accurately match the emotions and dialogue; and the times when they don't sync perfectly really stand out, since the animation is usually so dazzling. But you won't spend much time dwelling on those gaffes -- as soon as you catch one, the next stellar monster or effect will have you muttering, "Wow..." Like the series of games, Final Fantasy's plot and characters have little to do with its predecessors, outside of being born from the same Japanese mastermind, Hironobu Sakaguchi. It's the year 2065, and humans are prisoners in caged cities of their own making that guard them from an outside world now overrun with deadly alien "phantoms." Whenever a human comes in contact with the ghostly visitors, the often-invisible beings pass through the body and wrench out its soul (for some unexplainable reason). While many humans agree with a plan by monomaniacal General Hein (James Woods) to blast the aliens with a "Zeus Cannon," Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) and Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) plan to build a "wave" using eight collected "spirits" to counteract the phantoms and kill them off. While the images serve the sci-fi aspect of the film well, the storytelling doesn't. It's unfortunate, because the plot seems so intricately thought out. Perhaps it was far too complex and enormous to be entirely incorporated into the script. Some could blame this weakness on the fact that it was a Japanese concept translated to English, except two Americans wrote the screenplay. Nevertheless, the end result is an elaborate story complicated by confusing holes. Why do these aliens feed on souls? If they can pass through bodies and ships, how can humans hurt them with guns? What is so special about the "spirits" that they would create a force strong enough to destroy the aliens? Worse yet, the dialogue is scripted to be either like a science-heavy Star Trek episode, an installment of Die Hard, or a sappy love story, depending on who's doing the talking. For the most part, it's bearable considering the genre, but tedious speeches and cheesy lines don't do anything to help the actors and can get annoying in the longer scenes. The only exception is Steve Buscemi as pilot Neil Fleming, who always has great cracks during tense moments. But, when the lights come up and the credits roll, you're more likely to be remarking on how fantastic the film looked. There's no question that the roughly 33 million people who have bought at least one Final Fantasy game will be eager to see this movie, and so should anyone who enjoys being floored by the best CG animation ever put to film. You'd be living in a fantasy world of your own if you expected much more. RATING: **** |------------------------------| \ ***** Perfection \ \ **** Good, memorable film \ \ *** Average, hits and misses \ \ ** Sub-par on many levels \ \ * Unquestionably awful \ |------------------------------| MPAA Rating: PG-13 Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Producer: Jun Aida Writer: Al Reinert, Jeff Vintar Starring: Ming Na, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ving Rhames, Peri Gilpin, Steve Buscemi http://www.finalfantasy.com/ --- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=filmcriticcom&path=subst/video/sellers/amazon-top-100-dvd.html Movie Fiends: Check out Amazon.com's Top 100 Hot DVDs! Visit filmcritic.com on the Web at http://www.filmcritic.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28795 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235386 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 178 X-RT-AuthorID: 3595 X-RT-RatingText: 4/5 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.online.be!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Dustin Putman Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:12:18 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28813 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236354 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 26 X-RT-AuthorID: 1388 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28813 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 90 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26971 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2874 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within * * * 1/2 (out of * * * * ) Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Voices: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Peri Gilpin, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Keith David. 2001 - 106 minutes Rated PG-13 (for violence and brief profanity). Reviewed by Dustin Putman, July 11, 2001. Taking its title from the enormously popular video game series, Hironobu Sakaguchi's "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is a landmark achievement in CG animation. With a full cast of human characters entirely evolved from computers, it is the most impressively detailed and life-like animation to have graced the silver screen--ever. Pretty images, however, do not a great movie make, so it is with much relief and elation to say that "Final Fantasy" has an--at once--somber, original, thrilling, and thought-provoking story with messages that dig far deeper than the usual sci-fi/action film. Set in the year 2065, Earth has been taken over by threatening, transparent aliens who suck the spirit out of any living thing that they can get their hands on. In order to save the fate of mankind, Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her trusting mentor, Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland), must find the last eight remaining spirits that have not been taken away by the so-called "phantoms," which hold the key to salvation. Aiding in their journey is buff nice-guy Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), whom Aki finds herself taking a liking to. Standing in their way every step, General Hein (James Woods), who lost his family to the creatures, has vowed to take out the aliens by his own radical means. Ambitiously written by Al Reiner (1995's "Apollo 13") and Jeff Vintar, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" defies all expectations and then surpasses them, both in its historical leap in computer-generated animation, and its beautiful, multi-layered story that thoughtfully touches upon such subjects as life, death, human compassion, and faith. From the characters' skin pores, to their nearly flawless movements, to their gently blowing hair strands, people have never before looked quite so--well--genuine. Although it is still fairly clear that they are animated figures, sometimes it isn't so apparent, and this is when the CG creators' work really shines. Furthermore, the ruinous backdrops from which the action takes place is astonishingly naturalistic and awesome to look at. The plot threads are every bit the animation's equal. While "Final Fantasy" could have been marred in futuristic nonsense and non-stop alien attacks, director Hironobu Sakaguchi's aims are significantly higher, both in scope and substance. The action sequences involving the phantoms seeking out the spirits of the characters are exciting and well-photographed, but the quieter, more subtle moments are what lifts the motion picture above being conventional. One such scene, in which Aki and Gray turn to each other in an instantaneous embrace as they mourn the tragic deaths of their crew members, is heartbreakingly powerful filmmaking that transcends the limits, up until this point, of modern animated movies. With a story that is infinitely more mature than most, and characters with a deep sense of humanity, it was easy to grow to care about them as if they really were living and breathing actors. The voice work is distinctive and universally strong. Ming-Na strikes all the right notes as the determined Dr. Aki Ross, who is, perhaps, the most memorable sci-fi heroine since Sigourney Weaver in 1979's "Alien" and its sequels. Alec Baldwin holds up his end of the bargain in the other lead role, as Gray Edwards, a dead-ringer for Ben Affleck. The burgeoning relationship that forms between Aki and Gray is an involving, sweet one that doesn't feel forced or tacked-on. Rounding out the notable voice cast is Donald Sutherland; James Woods, whose villain role turns out to have an understandable motive and, at the very least, a trace of heart; and Ving Rhames, Peri Gilpin, and Steve Buscemi as the remaining members of Dr. Aki Ross' hard-working crew. At a time when practically every week holds some sort of step forward in modern visual effects, "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" currently stands as one of the great artistic achievements in film history. A gorgeous, surprisingly meditative look at the beauty of life and the mysteries of death, the film is definitely not standard animated fare. It has the ability to inspire, contemplate, and most important of all, make you care. - Copyright 2001 by Dustin Putman http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Dustin+Putman http://www.atnzone.com * Coming Soon - My New Movie Review Website, www.themovieboy.com!!! * ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28813 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236354 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 26 X-RT-AuthorID: 1388 X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news1.ebone.net!news.ebone.net!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Harvey S. Karten Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:22:52 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28815 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235706 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28815 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 121 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27009 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2879 FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN Reviewed by Harvey Karten Columbia Pictures/Square Pictures Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Writer: Al Reinert, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Jeff Vintar Cast: Voices of Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Ving Ghames, Donald Sutherland, James Woods "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" was put together over a four-year period by a team that was half-Japanese and half- American, directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi--from a country that has helped to popularize tofu (bean curd) in the United States. Why mention this? There's an analogy to be found. When tofu is not used in its most basic form, a white, nutritious cake which takes on the flavor of whatever surrounds it, this miracle food is in manufactured construct takes on the look and to some extent the flavor of another edible that it's imitating. Look on supermarket shelves and you may find tofu milk, tofu burgers, tofu hot dogs, tofu ice cream and several other varieties of ersatz nourishment. Can the tofu fool anyone into thinking that it's really a burger or a hot dog? No way. After all the money that has gone into research, there's a significant distinction between the curd and the meat or dairy product it's designed to emulate. What does this mean? It means that the cruel slaughterhouses of agribusiness will continue to churn out billions of deaths each year to feed the American palate. Will tofu ever replace pigs, cows, lambs and chicken thereby eliminating the entire heartless industry? Maybe...let's hope so. There's been quite an improvement in the bean curd industry from its infancy when it produced nothing short of offensive milk that you wouldn't feed to your kitten. Same goes for "Final Fantasy." The movie represents the first time a real bid has been made to replicate human actors, a potential union-busting technology which--even if it eventually replaces Julia Roberts with her standard 20 million per picture paycheck--still costs the producers a cool 140 million. Is "Final Fantasy" worth the price? That depends on what you seek when you pays your money and takes your choice. If you're looking for a cool story, you'll get nothing new. The only thing that can be said about this sci-fi narrative is that it is far superior to the horrendous tale told in IMAX 3-D's "The Haunted Castle." But you don't go to IMAX films for the yarn: you go for the technology. Ditto "Final Fantasy." That's why you'd be well advised not to pass up Mr. Sakaguchi's visionary work, a genuine breakthrough which may not be the equivalent of the introduction of sound or 3-D or even Cinemascope but which could point the way to near-perfect, non-actor-performed pictures in the future. Not that "Final Fantasy" dispenses with highly paid performers. The story, scripted by the director together with Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar, employs the voices of Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland, James woods, Ving Rhames and others--most effectively coordinated with the movements of the computer generated lips of the cyberactors on the screen, but we're not fooled. There's something otherworldly about the synthetic men and women on the screen who battle aliens, although Dr. Sid, a humanistic scientist, looks most frighteningly like the genuine article. "Final Fantasy," loosely based on a series of highly successful video games, pits a group of scientists and military people against an alien force that had been released when a falling body crashed into the earth, killing human beings by sucking their essence right out of them. We actually witness the demise of the people, who appear to be engaging in out-of-body experiences. Although the humanistic Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na) believes that these aliens are not our enemies--they are simply confused and searching for their roots--they certainly have us in the audience fooled. Politically, the non-alien characters are divided into rightists and leftists. The leftists, who include Aki and a guy she's attracted to, Captain Gray (Alec Baldwin) as well as a scientist called Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland), consider that the way to send the aliens on the merry way is to channel the Earth soul, or Gaia, an environmentally sound technique. The right- wingers, represented by General Hein (James Woods), want to blast them all. The trouble with the latter approach is that human beings will be killed as well as the spooky looking green dragons and some unexplained creatures that spend their time running some sort of marathon for reasons that only they may know. I'm not privy to any interviews of director Hironobu Sakaguchi but I'd guess he'd say to critics and a general audience alike, "Hey, guys, don't judge me by the story. Appraise me strictly by visuals." Well, now, he's got a point. While Dr. Aki Ross's hair doesn't quite blow in the wind as much as does the hair of models in a Clairol commercial, her eyes sure look real and she's a most attractive fake. The explosions, the look of the oxymoronic Old New York which could have come from "Dark City," the all-around futuristic structures that abound throughout every scene in this ocular-arresting film make it a picture that no movie buff will want to miss. When sound came around in 1929, there were skeptics who said that it would never replace the silents. However, when 3-D was first introduced to the movies during the 1950's and then improved on greatly during the IMAX era, people were tempted to say that all movies would shortly be in three dimensions. This did not come to pass and will not. Even if the heavy glasses can be dispensed with, there's something paradoxically artificial- looking about the natural imagery of IMAX 3-D. Will "Final Fantasy" be a harbinger of things to come or will its technology remain simply an alternate way of seeing films when you're in the mood for novelty? Hard to say, but I'd guess the latter. Then again I'm not from the generation that eschewed punch ball and stick ball in the street in favor of staying home with video games like The Sims, Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider. Rated PG-13. Running time: 105 minutes. (C) 2001 by Harvey Karten, film_critic@compuserve.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28815 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235706 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 570 X-RT-AuthorID: 1123 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: JoBlo Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:31:10 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28822 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235436 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 573 X-RT-AuthorID: 1021 X-RT-RatingText: 5/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28822 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 88 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26974 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2876 FINAL FANTASY RATING: 5/10 For more reviews and movie wallpapers, visit http://www.joblo.com/ PLOT: Set in a post-apocalyptic future, our planet has been invaded by phantom aliens. Few humans remain, but a handful of them actually believe that they can survive the invasion and reclaim the planet as their own. CRITIQUE: Despite some pretty stunning human-looking computer generated characters, imagery and action sequences, this film's bleak and murky vision, and somewhat incomprehensible spiritual mumbo-jumbo storyline, just didn't do it for me. And before any of you "gamers" knock my ass upside down, please note that I have never played or seen the "game" version of FINAL FANTASY, so I'm basing my review entirely upon what I saw on the big screen and nothing else. Anyway, back to what I was saying...basically, the biggest problem that I had with this movie wasn't the fact that it was produced entirely by computers (human characters et al), but that I just didn't care all that much about any of the people in the film, and even more importantly, that I didn't really care about any of the gibberish that they kept babbling about ("we must find the 7th spirit in order to..."). Although that might just be a personal thing with me. I know that a lot of people enjoy these types of themes in movies, but to me, they get a little annoying, especially when they're made even more complicated than they need to be. For example, I'm not entirely sure that I understood what went down at the end of this film, and that's never cool. But enough about my non-appreciation for the story line, let's talk about what everyone should be talking about with this film and those are its visuals! I have to admit that most of this movie's computer-generated images looked great on the big screen and were perfect for the world created within the script. Unfortunately, the characters couldn't help but look computer-animated from time to time, and that usually took me "out of it" for a while. I also had some problems with the recognizable voices on some of the characters, like Alec Baldwin's voice on a young man (who looked like Ben Affleck!), Steve Buscemi's on a good-looking funnyman and James Woods. I really think that I would have gotten more into these characters, had they used non-movie star voices (as the lead character Aki, who was also the most developed character). On the whole, the dialogue wasn't bad and the speech-to-mouth synching either (I'd heard horror stories on both), but I have to admit that despite my general appreciation for "darker" movies, I was really quite depressed by the end of this flick. I mean, why doesn't anybody smile in this movie? There were a few jokes here and there (thank God!), but on the whole, the entire vision, storyline and demeanor of the characters was just very, very gloomy. So I guess that I'm about half-and-half on this movie. I dug most of its amazing visuals, appreciated the action scenes and some of the real-life qualities of the characters (the old man with the beard looked life-life in almost every scene...very impressive), but didn't get into the story about the spirits invading earth, felt pulled out of the picture from time to time, whenever I noticed the "computerness" of it all, and definitely didn't buy into any of its "emotional" scenes (real-life actors needn't worry about computers replacing them just yet, these actors didn't deliver the goods in any of their "money" scenes). But on the whole, I do still admire the ambitiousness of this project, respect its vision and certainly look forward to more ground-breaking stuff like this in the future. But as a movie...well, it just didn't entertain me all that much. Wait for the DVD. Where's JoBlo coming from? A.I. (8/10) - Alien (9/10) - Aliens (10/10) - The Arrival (8/10) - Battlefield Earth (7/10) - The Cell (8/10) - Dark City (9/10) - Mission to Mars (3/10) - Titan A.E. (7/10) - Virus (5/10) - The X-Files (7/10) Review Date: July 11, 2001 Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Writers: Al Reinert, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Jeff Vintar Producers: Jun Aida, Chris Lee, Akio Sakai Actors: Ming-Na as Aki Ross Alec Baldwin as Gray Edwards Donald Sutherland as Doctor Sid Genre: Science-Fiction Year of Release: 2001 ------------------------------------ JoBlo's Movie Emporium http://www.joblo.com/ ------------------------------------ (c) 2001 Berge Garabedian ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28822 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235436 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 573 X-RT-AuthorID: 1021 X-RT-RatingText: 5/10 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.ida.liu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!erinews.ericsson.se!erix.ericsson.se!luth.se!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Evelyn C. Leeper Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:46:59 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28836 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236432 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-AuthorID: 1426 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28836 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 102 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26987 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2878 FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (a film review by Mark R. Leeper) CAPSULE: This very dark sci-fi fantasy is magnificent visually but it has a nearly incoherent plot. FINAL FANTASY is a Japanese-American co-production entirely animated but with a very real three-dimensional look and with very real-looking characters. In the year 2065 aliens that appear to us as translucent images, but still very deadly creatures, have invaded Earth. Saving the Earth requires resorting to semi-mystical means to understand and halt the enemy. If this film had been done in live-action the scenes more spectacular than those of BLADERUNNER would have been hailed as a triumph. Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to +4) The art of the animated film continues to evolve before our eyes at an incredible rate. It seems that one animated film after another is released and advances the art of animation. I personally was very impressed with the visual images created in TITAN A.E. But there are images in FINAL FANTASY that go well beyond the power of that film's animation. The one problem is that if I applaud this film it will have to be mostly on the imagination of the concepts and on the visuals. I don't think the story was a very good one. And the uncertain terms in which I say that are intentional. The telling of the story and the explanation of what is going on lies somewhere in the range between terse and incoherent. I frequently had no idea what was happening in the plot, thought FINAL FANTASY was never failed to be an enjoyable film to watch. The greatest part of what was remarkable about the film was the animation work. The entire film is done in a three-dimensional technique. Every single image is as three-dimensional as a live action film. Of course, I am afraid one could always distinguish the images from real live action. And that is (intentionally) praising the animation with faint criticism. The computer- generated images were almost photographic. And what images they were! There were planet-scapes and futuristic battlefields. There were alien monsters of towering height. There were things that cannot be described; they have to be seen. The story opens in 2065, with the Earth already mostly destroyed and conquered by a diaphanous life form from space. Well, not just one diaphanous life form, but a whole class of gossamer life forms. There are things that are insect-like and things that look like floating dragons. It is like a whole planet of creatures are cooperating and taking part in the invasion. Why? Dr. Sid (voiced by Donald Sutherland) and his protege Dr. Aki Ross (Ming- Na) want to find out. The creatures seem to burrow into the ground then attack with deadly potency. Humans have reacted by retreating to force-field protected cities. A guard of power- suited soldiers protects these cities and what is left of the human race. Dr. Sid believes in the Gaia theory that planets are like a living organism with self-protection mechanisms. Perhaps they can be triggered to protect the planet. But Sid and Aki have to act fast. Aki's body has been invaded by one form of the aliens' essence. AIDS-like it will prove deadly if the nature of the aliens is not better understood soon. Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is connected with the Final Fantasy video games wrote the story for this film as well as directed and acted as executive producer. Jeff Vintar and Al Reinert wrote the screenplay. Generally in an animated film of this sort, I complain that any starving actor could have gotten a good job doing the voice of an animated character. It usually seems wasteful and useless to give these voice roles to established and successful actors. In this film it really did serve a purpose. The animation technique makes the characters realistic and even gives them some marvelous facial expression, but it leaves them seeming cold and without much personality. That makes it hard to keep straight who is who. One thing that helped was that I found it easy to track four of the characters because they spoke with voices I immediately recognized. Those were Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Donald Sutherland, and James Woods. I probably should have recognized the voice of Ving Rhames, but did not. The main character is played by Ming-Na best known for her roles in THE JOY LUCK CLUB and in the various Disney productions in which she plays the Chinese historic figure Mulan. What is a little disconcerting is not that the voices are familiar, but that the faces do not resemble those of the actors. Dr. Sid may have unmistakably sounded like Donald Sutherland, but he looked very different. I kept expecting to see Dr. Sid with the Sutherland face. This film from Square Pictures (whose logo is a rectangle) is animated to be just one step from live action. The viewer may come away not understanding the story or the future Earth on which is it set, but he will have seen some marvelous images set to the tune of some really terrible music. I rate the film a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Mark R. Leeper markrleeper@yahoo.com Copyright 2001 Mark R. Leeper ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28836 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236432 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-AuthorID: 1426 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Robin Clifford Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:48:08 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28838 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235566 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: B Summary: r.a.m.r. #28838 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 90 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27011 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2880 "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" Aliens beings have taken over the Earth. The great cities are deserted and precious few humans remain to repel the invaders and reclaim the world for mankind. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na) and her mentor Dr. Sid (voice of Donald Sutherland) must develop their "wave theory," the only antidote to counter the alien phantoms in this latest video game to become a feature length movie in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." It was inevitable. Ever since Pixar Animation brought "The Tin Toy" to life in 1988 as the first all-computer generated (and Oscar-winning) short, the animation industry has been striving to create a realistic world using CGI ever since. A few years later "Toy Story" wowed us and, most recently, "Shrek" bowled the world over. Now, video game master Hironobu Sakaguchi takes his own, popular game series, Final Fantasy, and brings his animated video world to the big screen. Live action films from video games have been around for a while. Super Mario Brothers, Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles and Might Morphin Power Rangers were all fodder for the video-game-turned-movie market. The latest of the live makeovers, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," is currently having a successful run at theaters everywhere. But the video game to video film niche has not, until "Final Fantasy," been tapped. Vid king Sakaguchi is the first to make the leap from creating his own popular gaming software to crafting a big-screen CGI version of his brainchild. The brief description at the beginning of this review lays out the basic story. Aliens, in this case amorphous monsters that live just on the edge of human vision, are able to tear the spirit out of their victims, leaving their bodies an empty shell. The military, led by General Hein (James Woods), is gung ho against the invaders and, because they killed his family, the general will stop at nothing to stop the alien invaders. Of course, the misguided military mogul does not see the danger of this stop-at-nothing-to-win ideology and it is up to the scientists, in the "persona" of Aki and Dr. Sid (with the help of heroic Captain Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin) and his loyal Deep Eyes SWAT team) to save the world. "Final Fantasy" is a traditional action/adventure flick with the exceptional difference that there is, technically, little of tradition in the filmmaking. Much like "Atlantis: The Lost Empire," we get a rousing adventure that is made up with a series of high-tech battles that pit man against monster. The CGI used here is outstanding, with the action realistic and human movements and expressions genuine. The looks of the younger characters still has a smooth artificiality to it that keeps it just a step away from being "real" (though I think this is a move by the filmmakers to keep from spooking the audience by being too realistic). There are a couple of problems with this technical tour de force, though. The main one I have is the same one that I have with many films. It is too darn long to sustain the story line. The makers, here, are so taken with the state-of-the-art technology that they feel they must sacrifice good pacing with extra F/X - action scenes are carried too long and the story meanders through its last 30 minutes with multiple logical endings, preventing the film from being tight and to the point. 15 minutes of judicious editing would have made this a terrific sci-fi adventure instead of just a good one. The other problem is the melding of CGI with the look and feel of reality. We have entered the realm where the vid techies can create a realistic-looking human being by manipulating the bits and bytes. Giving voice to these new beings is going to create problems. It's one thing to have Charlton Heston doing the voice of a dog. It's another thing entirely giving that voice to a human, albeit a CGI one, that does not look like the actor. I found it distracting to hear Donald Sutherland's voice coming out of balding, bearded Dr. Sid. My mind kept visualizing the actor, instead. Non-stars and unknown vocal talents would be less distracting when giving voice to the characters in this reality-based animation world. The real draw for "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is to the many fans of the video game series (over 33 million copies sold world-wide) and those who are curious to see the first hyper-realistic, computer-generated action feature. It is a formidable effort, despite the problems, and I give it a B. For more Reeling reviews visit www.reelingreviews.com robin@reelingreviews.com laura@reelingreviews.com ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28838 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235566 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 386 X-RT-AuthorID: 1488 X-RT-RatingText: B From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!cyclone.bc.net!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Susan Granger Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:51:17 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28840 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236435 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 742 X-RT-AuthorID: 1274 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28840 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 35 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27023 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2883 Susan Granger's review of "FINAL FANTASY: SPIRITS WITHIN" (Sony Pictures) There's a far deeper question than whether the movie-makers were faithful to the inter-active computer game which inspired this animated fantasy/adventure. This is the first major studio release with an entire cast of computer-generated humanoid actors - and the CGI graphics, dubbed 'hyperRealism,' are an amalgam of photography and painting. It's 2065 and Earth has been invaded by spectral aliens. Few humans remain but there's the beautiful heroine, Dr. Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor, Dr. Sid (voiced by Donald Sutherland). They're working on an antidote involving various, positive spirit waves which will disarm the enemy phantoms. Aiding Aki, who has a ghost spore in her chest, is Capt. Gray Edwards (voiced by Alec Baldwin) and his renegades, The Deep Eyes (voiced by Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Ving Rhames). But a reckless, gung-ho military strategist, General Hein (voiced by James Woods), is determined use the highly-destructive, space-mounted Zeus Cannon to bombard Earth with a bio-etheric energy force although its ecological effect is unknown. The "acting" is as credible as in many story-propelled sci-fi sagas and Aki's character combines buff sexiness with spirituality. Significantly, this could be the first Japanese animation to make the cross from cult status to mass acceptance in the United States, a feat at which "Princess Mononoke" failed. The "Final Fantasy" computer game has been popular since its introduction in 1987 and its creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi, worked with director/animator Motonori Sakakibara, utilizing a cliché-laden, contrived script by Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" is an innovative 6 - too bad the dazzling 'eye candy' technology was wasted on such a trivial pursuit. ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28840 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236435 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 742 X-RT-AuthorID: 1274 X-RT-RatingText: 6/10 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!howland.erols.net!newspeer.monmouth.com!feeder.qis.net!sn-xit-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Steve Kong Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 03:57:58 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28844 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236440 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 874 X-RT-AuthorID: 1318 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28844 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 89 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27022 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2882 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Reviewed by Steve Kong (Reviews@UltraMookie.com) Copyright (c) 2001 Steve Kong URL: http://www.ultramookie.com/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=5 So, does Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within live up to its hype? Yes and no. What definitely lives up to the hype is the computer animation. What doesn't live up to the hype is a totally engrossing story and good action. Lets tackle the story first. The story follows Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-Na Wen) who is a human infect with an alien "spirit". She and a Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) are working on a way to save the Earth, which is being overrun by these spirits. These spirits will take the life force of any life form that it touches, killing them instantly. But, Dr. Sid was able to help Dr. Ross and kept her from dying from the infection. Helping these two doctors is the Deep Eyes squadron. Captain Grey (Alec Baldwin) leads the squadron; he also has a love interest for Dr. Ross. The two doctors are trying to save the Earth in an environmentally safe way, a way that will not destroy the Gaia (the spirit of a world). On the other hand there is General Hein (James Woods) who wants to fire a huge orbiting cannon at the crater where the alien meteor is. He thinks this will kill off the spirits and free the Earth. The doctors think different, they think that this will kill the Gaia of the Earth also and if the Gaia of the Earth dies, then all the spirits on the world will die. The story is overly complicated, especially since director/writer Hironobu Sakaguchi decided to throw in all kinds of meta-physical, existential, and religious non-sense into what could have been a pretty straightforward and fun story. The underlying story is pretty simple and I would have loved to see it told without all this philosophical crap. The complication bogs the movie down and sometimes makes it feel like it is preaching about saving the Earth to an audience who is just there to see a cool movie. Does this hurt the film though? Nope. What saves the film is the out-of-this-world eye-opening computer generated animation. This stuff truly lives up to its hype. The movie opens with a very long close-up of Aki's eye and is incredible! It's almost as if the filmmakers are inviting you to try to find something wrong yet we are stunned at what is onscreen. Yes, there are times when the characters move woodenly, but most of the time the movie gives a true sense of reality. The characters all look convincing and their movements are realistic. But, because it is animation, the filmmakers are able to do so much more with the characters and with the environment. In the opening sequence we see Aki through the ground (from bottom up) and it is just a stunning visual. These stunning mind-bending visuals are used all through the film. The landscapes that are created in the film are especially stunning. There was one thing that felt "off" about the characters though. The speech and the mouth movements just felt a little off. Kind of like watching a movie with its soundtrack just a little be off. But, that's no biggie. The voice acting is great! Ming-Na does a good job with her role, as does Alec Baldwin. But the real winners here are Donald Sutherland, Peri Gilpin as one of the DeepEyes, Ving Rhames as another Deep Eye, and Steve Buscemi as a pilot for the Deep Eyes. Buscemi was especially good and was incredibly funny (like always). The only voice that felt out of place, and this was because of the incredibly lame lines he got and the dumb things his character had to do, was James Woods. Usually, I like Woods a lot as an actor, but he just wasn't doing well in Final Fantasy. His General Hein was a bit too badly written. The score from Elliot Goldenthal is one to listen for. It is well done. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is truly a revolutionary step forward for computer-generated movies. Will CG actors be replacing real human actors anytime soon? Nah, there's still a ways to go, but Final Fantasy shows just how far things have come. Should you see Final Fantasy? Without a question, Yes! This is a Don't Miss movie. See it for the incredible visuals that will leave you breathless. After a while I stopped trying to keep track of all that was happening in the story because it was so very complicated. And at times seeing how the consistency of the story itself wavered, it seems that the moviemakers also started to forget about the stories and concentrated on the visuals which is a damn good thing because this film is all eye-candy and it is something worth seeing twice. -- Mookie Kong (Steve@Kim-Kong.com) Mookie's Gone Mad With His Digital Camera! http://www.pbase.com/ultramookie ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28844 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236440 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 874 X-RT-AuthorID: 1318 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Jul 18 09:56:01 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Rose 'Bams' Cooper Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 06:14:22 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28859 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236486 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 447 X-RT-AuthorID: 3672 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28859 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 166 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27030 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2885 '3BlackChicks Review...' FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (2001) Rated PG-13; running time 100 minutes Genre: Animated (CGI) Seen at: Jack Lokes' Celebration Cinema (Lansing, Michigan) Official site: http://www.finalfantasy.com/ IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0173840 Written by: Al Reinert, Jeff Vintar, Hironobu Sakaguchi Directed by: Hironobu Sakaguchi Cast: voices of Ming-na, Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Donald Sutherland, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamsbabyboy.html Many of the tech and entertainment web pages I read regularly have been gushing about the leaps and bounds that computer generated imaging has taken as of late; these ezines breathlessly muse on advances made in computing, even going so far as to suggest that One Of These Days, actors just might be replaced by CGI-created "stars". As purty as it is, if FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN is the yardstick by which that ubiquitous They are measuring comp-tech success, Hollywood has nothing to fear. Yet. The Story (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Earth, in 2065, is pretty toasted, in the aftermath of a Big Fight between Earthlings and some ALIEN-like aliens. The ALIEN-like aliens, called "Phantoms", kick much Earth booty, and don't bother with taking names. But the Real, True Hope For The World is the fearless Dr. Aki Ross (Ming-na); Aki and her mentor, Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) struggle to find and unite the eight Spirits that [mumblemumblemumbojumbo] so they can stop the ALIEN-like aliens from further thrashing Gaia Earth while helping the Phantoms [mumblemumblemumbojumbo] so they can chill here, too. Of course, things aren't that simple. On the one hand, Aki has to deal with Capt. Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), who is not only a skeptic, but is also her old flame. What's worse, Gray and his Deep Eyes military crew Sgt. Ryan Whittaker (Ving Rhames), almost-but-not-quite comic relief pilot Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi), and kickbutt chick Jane Proudfoot (Peri Gilpin) report to mean ol' General Hein (James Woods), who is after the Phantoms with a vengeance - getting rid of Aki in the process, being a bonus. The Upshot: FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN is *very* purty, let there be no doubt of that. The sheer depth of its beauty, of animation that Walt Disney would sell off Mickey and Minnie to see, was marvelous to witness. And it is purty in a way that no other CGI movies have been yet. Even my favorite CGI-animated flick to date, Pixar's TOY STORY 2, didn't come as close to rendering its world as realistically as did "Final Fantasy", both as a movie and as its video game predecessor - thanks in great part to the mastermind behind both versions of "Final Fantasy", game designer and film director Hironobu Sakaguchi. And this is where we begin to Receive Wisdom. Even moreso than with the dreadful mess that was the live-action movie version of the TOMB RAIDER video game series of the same name, FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN reminded me just why video games belong in the nebulous realm in which they exist: they are simply *not real*. And unlike the dead-from-the-neck-up morons who are ruining American public schools with their incredulous Zero Tolerance policies [talk about your contradiction in terms! I know...Another Time, Another Place], most gamers *know* they're not real; and in fact, thrive on that knowledge. I digress, but the point above - the shared knowledge by gamers that video games are not at all real - doesn't seem to translate over well into the cinema, unless it's as High Camp or Parody (the live-action TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES movie series comes to mind). FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN works *better* than the TOMB RAIDER movie, I think, because except for a few moments when the viewers' eyes plays tricks on us, the audience never forgets that we are seeing animated - that is, un-real - characters on the "Fantasy" screen [versus wholly un-animated robotrons in "Tomb"]. For example, as good as the animation was, the lack of realism was never more evident than in scenes calling for the characters to Emote, especially with sadness; watching the animated Aki and Gray stiffly commiserate with each other, with the disembodied voices of Ming-na and Alec Baldwin providing emotion that the animation just couldn't match, was like watching a Bad Karate Flick where the dubbing is three steps off-beat. But the kicker for me was, as with "Tomb", that the Spiritual Mumbo Jumbo that "Fantasy" went on about - here, that Earth was Mother Gaia, and Bad Things were disturbing her Wa - might work fine as a video game cutscene; but as movie canon, it just made me want to cover my ears so as to stop the pain of its wretchedness. All that said, you'll notice I didn't red- or yellowlight this project. Partially, that's because I finally *did* cover my ears, metaphorically speaking. Once James Woods' characterization of the Evol General Hein kicked in, in all of Woods' typical Chewing-The-Scenery glory, I decided to not worry much about the silliness of "Fantasy", and to just groove on its Pretty Pictures, as well as the acting talent behind it, realized in varying degrees. Between Woods' always humorous appetite for scenery, Baldwin's growing adeptness at providing vocals for animated movies, and the ability of Peri Gilpin (from NBC's FRASIER) to make her presence known despite not being given a whole lot to do, I could almost forgive Ming-na's monotone, Steve Buscemi's lack of character quirkiness [surely, Sakaguchi must've known that Buscemi *oozes* quirk!], and the muting of Ving Rhames' standard powerhouse performing skills. But damnifi didn't think that Doctor Sid was the spitting image (and, sound) of William Hurt; right down to the receding forehead. Uh, sorry guy. The "Black Factor" [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith]: Relax, "angrywhiteguy" [yeah, I get email from 'em all. Lucky me.]; Black Folk were represented fairly well in "Fantasy". It's really the Asian Factor that I'm addressing here. And actually, it isn't me addressing this one; rather, this comes paraphrased straight from the mouth of actress Ming-na, the voice Dr. Aki Ross. Much has been made of the careful reproduction of Aki's strands of hair, of making sure the other character's physical flaws were reproduced, even of how the character Aki might become a Star of "her" own right, in films beyond "Fantasy". But as she was being interviewed by a female reporter of Asian heritage (whose name I am blanking on right now, sorry) on CBS' THE EARLY SHOW, Ming-na said of the way Aki was drawn - looking very little like the actress herself: "The sista, wasn't a sista". And the beat goes on... Bammer's Bottom Line: FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN receives a greenlight from me because, in the final analysis, I think it's definitely worth seeing. "Seeing", in fact, is the key term here. Soak in its beauty; and if you can swing it, bring along a headset and your favorite music. Say, about 90 minutes worth. FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (rating: greenlight): But c'mon now; Gaia? What is this, "Captain Planet"?! Rose "Bams" Cooper Webchick and Editor, 3BlackChicks Review Entertainment Reviews With Flava! Copyright Rose Cooper, 2001 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com http://www.3blackchicks.com/ ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28859 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 236486 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 447 X-RT-AuthorID: 3672 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Aug 1 01:12:42 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!news-FFM2.ecrc.net!news.fh-hannover.de!news-han1.dfn.de!news-koe1.dfn.de!news-was.dfn.de!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Edward Johnson-Ott Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 02:48:10 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 28923 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235321 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 591 X-RT-AuthorID: 1099 X-RT-RatingText: 1.5/5 Summary: r.a.m.r. #28923 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 113 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27123 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2901 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Ming-na, Alec Baldwin, James Woods, Donald Sutherland, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin. Screenplay by Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar, from an original story by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. 106 minutes. Rated PG-13, 1.5 stars (out of five stars) Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo.com Archive reviews at http://reviews.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?Edward+Johnson-Ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to ejohnsonott@prodigy.net or e-mail ejohnsonott-subscribe@onelist.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject line. The first image in "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" is a computer-animated close-up of a human eye. It's a beautiful piece of work, remarkably detailed and quite convincing. When the picture pulls back to reveal the owner of the eye, however, things change. The young woman has mesmerizing hair, although it hangs too artfully – even by movie standards – to be believed. The facial features are more detailed than any computer-animation seen to date, but the result is more reminiscent of a very well-crafted doll than anything human. She is pretty, but bland, and not nearly expressive enough to come off like a person. All the characters in "Final Fantasy" are like that. Of the core group, the younger white men and women are all athletic, attractive and indistinct, like applicants for a TV reality show. The black man is taller and burlier, and the aging scholar is bald, with wrinkles and a beard. None of them appear to be based on individuals; they all look like the products of general descriptions given a police sketch artist. It gets worse when they talk and move. Why is the sarcastic voice of Steve Buscemi, he of the great twisted face and snaggleteeth, coming out of the mouth of some dreary Ken doll? Why, for every fluid physical gesture, do we also see herky-jerky puppet-style motions? More to the point, who decided a full-length computer animated movie featuring "hyperReal" (their term, not mine) humanoids was a good idea? "Final Fantasy" is based on a phenomenally popular video game I've never played, with a story straight out of Japanese anime, which more often than not leaves me bored and depressed. If you're a fan of either, please spare me your letters, as I will focus solely on the finished film and not its source materials. With an expression-challenged cast, "Final Fantasy" mixes turgid action scenes with heaps of mystical shit. The result is ugly, confusing and boring. Note: The following reveals the basic plot. If you want to have a fighting chance of making any sense of the movie, I suggest you read it. Earth is at war with aliens that appear to feed on human souls. Most of our planet is devastated, with humans living in a few protected cities. While the bulk of the survivors focus on military strategies, Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor, Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland), believe in a more organic approach. They operate on the notion (quoting straight from the press kit) "that all life forms have signature spirit waves that can be identified and contained. Aki and Dr. Sid collect a series of organic specimens whose spirit signatures combined will form a wave of equal and opposite intensity to the spirit wave of the alien force. The waves will, in effect, cancel each other out and disarm the foreign contagion. They have collected six of the eight key spirits needed to complete their wave. They are on a desperate hunt to find the remaining two spirits before their time runs out." Are you still with me? There's only a little more. Aki is infected with the alien force. Dr. Sid has developed a method of confining the contagion and keeping it from killing her, but the defense wall won't hold much longer. Already, the alien is communicating with Aki through her dreams. Aiding Aki and Dr. Sid are the Deep Eyes, a group of hard-as-nails types that would have felt at home with the troops in "Aliens." Capt. Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin) heads the task force that consists of a wise guy (Buscemi), a tough woman (Peri Gilpin) and a gentle giant (Ving Rhames). Throwing a monkey wrench into the plans is the requisite dumb ass: in this case General Hein (James Woods), who wants to use the Zeus Cannon to bomb the aliens back to the Stone Age, even if it destroys Earth as well. So there you have it. Like most of the anime I've seen, the plot combines apocalyptic settings, lots of shooting and fuzzy spirituality, all wrapped up in a save-the-earth bow. But I'm bored with apocalyptic settings. I understand why so many live-action films employ them – they're cheap – but animated films can show anything, so why wallow in an industrial trash heap? The action scenes and shoot-em-ups don't satisfy either. The humans move oddly and their facial features are so muted that the talented voice cast can't bring them to life (in fact, their efforts merely emphasize what we're missing). Aki is especially disappointing; with her lack of expression and flat delivery, she looks and sound like a brunet version of Weena, the Eloi girl from 1960's "The Time Machine." Drab color choices and aliens that appear to have been created in Jell-O molds sap the pizzazz from the big set pieces. Students of computer animation may be fascinated with the technology behind "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within," but I found it sub-par across the board. "Futurama" does more effective battle visuals, the kids in "South Park" are far more expressive than these mannequins and any old episode of the contemporary version of "The Outer Limits" does better doom and gloom sci-fi. So who needs this? Not me. © 2001 Ed Johnson-Ott ========== X-RAMR-ID: 28923 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 235321 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 591 X-RT-AuthorID: 1099 X-RT-RatingText: 1.5/5 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Aug 8 16:01:14 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Eugene Novikov Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 19:48:33 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 29069 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 242432 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 610 X-RT-AuthorID: 1577 X-RT-RatingText: B Summary: r.a.m.r. #29069 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 94 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:27256 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2915 Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/ Featuring the voice talents of Ming-Na, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods. Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Rated PG-13. Are computer-animated actors bound to replace Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and the rest of their flesh-and-blood kin? Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within makes the first convincing case for the affirmative. While none of the "actors" here can not yet be mistaken for a human being, this is easily the most impressive CGI on display in a completely animated motion picture. The word "cartoon" will soon become extinct. The plot concerns the adventures of Dr. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na, who, a couple of years back, brought the title character in Disney's Mulan to life), a scientist who believes in the Gaia theory. The film's version of Gaia involves 8 spirits, each contained in a different life form somewhere on earth. Earth, unfortunately, is being invaded by aliens called Phantoms, who landed on a crashed meteor. To kill the Phantoms, Ross needs to collect all eight spirits, and use them to create some sort of wave that will cancel out the Phantoms' life force. The villain is a vigilante general who doesn't believe in all this Gaia mumbo-jumbo, and whose elaborate strategy for defeating the aliens consists of blowing them all to smithereens using some futuristic version of a nuke. So Ross teams up with a group of army officers sent to protect her to find the 7th and 8th spirits before the evil general can use his death ray, which will only make matters worse. Final Fantasy is based on a video game, but the movie is by no means unaccessable to someone who has never picked up the controls of a Playstation. The story is actually quite easy to follow; it's also not very interesting, as often happens with movies that pay more attention to technical wizardry than to plot. The science fiction here is like something out of a second-rate Japanese anime, completely run-of-the-mill and unaware of its own absurdity. But no matter. I had no problems spending the 100-some minutes simply looking at the pictures, which are even more astounding than the trailer made them look. The film plays like a window into a parallel universe rather than a work of animation. The characters aren't quite human-looking, and yet they are, with their hair bouncing and waving in the wind, and their flesh looking like you can reach over and touch it. What's the point? Why go to such pains to create an artificial reality when you can simply film with real actors? Animation allows artists to truly create their own world, almost unaffected by the budget constraints that would otherwise plague a filmmaker. This is why you're hard-pressed to find a CGI animated version of You Can Count on Me: it would be a pointless exercise in showing off. Final Fantasy, as well as some of the summer's other animated flicks, use their breakthroughs in graphics to achieve the fantastic. When this spectacular technology finds a visionary -- John Lasseter, perhaps? -- with a story to tell as well as pictures to show, we will be in for something truly incredible. This has not happened yet. Final Fantasy works better as a 2-hour demo reel than as movie, a showcase of what we can do and what we can do better. Grade: B Up Next: Legally Blonde ©2001 Eugene Novikov ========== X-RAMR-ID: 29069 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 242432 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-SourceID: 610 X-RT-AuthorID: 1577 X-RT-RatingText: B From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sat Jan 5 15:59:49 2002 From: John Sylva Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 21:48:13 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 30654 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 275977 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-AuthorID: 1361 X-RT-RatingText: C- Summary: r.a.m.r. #30654 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@supernews.com Lines: 83 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news.net.uni-c.dk!newsfeed1.uni2.dk!skynet.be!skynet.be!sn-xit-03!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:2605 rec.arts.sf.reviews:192 THE PHANTOM MENACE FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (2001) Reviewed by John Sylva The cliche "style over substance" has fittingly been thrown at numerous pictures this year, but no film is more deserving of the title than Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the latest in the "chilling vision of the future" genre currently invading a multiplex near you. Applauded for its arresting visual sweep and realistic CGI human characters, Final Fantasy brings to life the popular Playstation game that's widely considered a standard for RPGs, or role-playing games, as they're called. The second video game adaptation of the summer (the other being the dismal Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), Fantasy offers plenty of eye-candy to keep the 12 year old kid in all of us in awe of the extraordinary visual landscapes, but absent is the innovation and adventurous spirit needed to successfully bring the game-overs, starts/stops and pauses to the big screen. Life, death, dreams, souls–the potential to explore these concepts, for which there are no words to accurately describe, is endless with the advanced, state-of-the- art technology Fantasy withholds, but the attempts to capture a dream on film, to make a testament of life and death and to propose the meaning of a soul ultimately fail because, essentially, the film doesn't have any of these: there's no dreamy wonder in the meaning of central character Dr. Aki Ross' dreams (voiced by Ming-Na of ER), there's no life in the screenplay's ideas about life and death on earth and there's certainly no soul in the awkwardly plotted picture that takes place on post-apocalyptic Earth. Strikingly similar to this year's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence in its bold presentation of what it attempts to preach, Fantasy, unlike A.I., lacks meat around the bones: its paper-thin plot, in which alien phantom beasts roam Earth after their asteroid arrival, can bear no scrutiny or examination whatsoever without completely falling apart–the plot is merely an excuse to create truly stunning images that pose as something deeper, something grounded in humanity. Fantasy milks the idea of these radical phantoms for all they're worth, placing them wherever the film seems to reach a dead end or a point that the action seems to be slowing down. This, for the most part, is how the entire film feels: redundant and uncreative. Granted, some effective moments are thrown in here and there: the opening sequences, in which Dr. Ross, who's been infected by a phantom and will die if she cannot find the eight spirits that possess the power to cure her, explores a decaying, "Old" New York City, are truly thrilling and innovative in their presentation and Ross' recurring dream is rather chilling and manages to capture some subtle characteristics of real dreams–but both highlights get bogged down by the onslaught of idiocy that lies in Fantasy's narrative. The "human" characters of Final Fantasy, including Dr. Ross' love interest (more or less Ben Affleck with Alec Baldwin's voice), are obviously computer-generated but have nonetheless stirred up some controversy about the future of real actors. The characters don't quite have the nuances or gestures that humans do, but often, I found myself surprised at how real they appeared. Although I hardly believe there'll ever be a point in time where the local AMC will feature mylars featuring the names of CGI movie stars, Fantasy can be praised for its exploiting of modern technology and what it's capable of. Co-directors Motonori Sakakibara and Hirobonu Sakaguchi (also the game creator) chose to bring Fantasy to life utilizing the most complex and impressive CGI I've seen–but for what reason? It doesn't take much to see the hollowness in the film's script (which Sakaguchi co-wrote with Al Reinert and Jeff Vintar) nor the cost ($135 million) and time (four years) it takes to utilize the technology Fantasy does. Yes, a successfully filmed video game could be quite a revelation–but Fantasy only lives up to its potential in a visual respect. A video game lets you experience, is equipped with adventure and suspense, allows you to relate and to interact. And no, this isn't an impossible feat–the current Mummy series, under the direction of Stephen Sommers, pulls it off quite nicely. Not to mention heavy re-writes, the filmmakers should have also considered letting real actors inhabit the film–at least when the script kills off the various, one-dimensional characters, you'd have Ben Affleck exerting some real human emotion while he watches his companions die (or as the film will have us believe, have the souls sucked violently out of them), as he did in Pearl Harbor, rather than a wooden look alike of him doing so. Or, on second thought... GRADE: C- Film reviewed July 23rd, 2001 ========== X-RAMR-ID: 30654 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 275977 X-RT-TitleID: 1108683 X-RT-AuthorID: 1361 X-RT-RatingText: C-