Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

[Fugitoid]

For some reason, I can't sleep tonight. So, I figured I'd throw up my impressions of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children movie.

Originally this movie was supposed to be release at the same in the US and Japan on Sept. 14th. But the due to the powers that be, the US release has been pushed back to November... maybe even longer. Well, I couldn't wait that long. So, I took it upon myself to obtain a copy of the movie that was released in Japan. And I'm glad I did, because Advent Children is just amazing! Visually and sonically it's simply the most amazing computer generated movie I have ever experienced. Advent Children is what Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within should have been. However, I still think Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a good movie... I think the problem was it really had nothing to do with the Final Fantasy series. This is not the case with Advent Children. It retains so many elements of FFVII it's such a treat if you played the game. As I was watching Advent Children, I couldn't help smiling when I remembered parts of the game brought to life... at least in computer animated life. For me the most impressive part was the battle sequences. Great oogly moogly!!!! I was left speechless watching them. The fluid body movement, timing, camera work, effects... just amazing. I didn't think computer animation at the level I saw was possible yet. The second impressive thing was the music... but that should come as no surprise since none other than Nobuo Uematsu composed the music for the movie.

Now, notice I haven't said this movie is perfect. Because unfortunately it isn't. The major flaw is in the plot. But I've come to accept that Japanese animated (computer or otherwise) movies usually have weak or very strange plots. However, in this case, I think the problem is trying to squeeze elements of such a rich and diverse story that FFVII is into about 1 hour and a half. You're just going to have to leave things out and you'll need to know about certain things ahead of time. I think another problem, at least for me, there are just things about Japanese-based movies that are culturally skewed. For some things you just need to know the in's and out's of Japanese hertitage, and their way of thinking. Also, I watched Advent Children using unofficial English translation subtitles. So, maybe things will be clearer when the real DVD comes out. Anyhow, without giving away anything from the story/plot, I'll just say it's a story still worthy of a Final Fantasy movie and there are parts that definitely will put a smile on your face or a lump in your throat if you're familiar with story of FFVII. Another issue I have with this movie is there isn't enough screen time for cool characters like Red XIII or Cait Sith. Also, there aren't any chocobos or moogles! Well, there is a stuffed moogle...

In the end, this is still a great movie. A superb movie. The visuals and the sounds/music are spectactular! The plot is good. And I think Advent Children is good enough that most people will enjoy it even if they haven't played FFVII or don't remember much from it. However, the movie is greatly enhanced for FFVII fans. I will definitely be buying the DVD when it comes out here.

On a side note, seeing Advent Children greatly lifts my optimism for the next TMNT movie that will be CG. The ability to do realistic-looking, fast-action, martial arts scenes has been proven with Advent Children and I hope the people at Imagi are taking notes.

[Andrew Modeen]

You sure you didn't just download it like everybody else, Fugitoid?

Well, I'll just go ahead and say it.

Disappointed.

Everybody in the whole movie is some kind of pseudo Jedi/Neo Matrixian, 90% of the action shots are either robbed from one of the Matrix movies or are trying to one-up them (for a REALLY blatant example, look at when the Shinra President and one of the 3 white haired "brothers" are falling out of the window of that skyscraper and they're shooting at each other in slow motion as they're falling... remind you of a certain scene from the Matrix Reloaded?).

And there's another problem. It's all action. Where's the character pieces, the heart of the story? It's just not there.

Here was the grandest opportunity for them to really give FF VII the wrap-up it deserved that even the developers of the original game admitted--due to time constraints & firm deadlines--they were unable to provide in the game itself.

Squeezing in Barret, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid, and Cait Sith (and why would the Shinra controller of Cait Sith still be bothering to remote control the Cait Sith robot 2 years after FFVII anyway? no explanation offered) is great to make fans go "ooooh! That's so-and-so from the game, that's tight!" but just throwing them into the movie with nothing to do is criminal.

They should have tightened the movie, take out half of the action scenes (which admittedly are remarkable) and focus more on Cloud's guilt towards Aeris (they were really on to something with this at the first flashback to Aeris in the movie, but then kind of just orphaned that subplot) and finally resolving the relationship between Cloud and Tifa, something they've left dangling since the middle of FF VII and isn't so much as even acknowledged in this movie.

It's almost like a 90-something minute preview for a movie we didn't get, I dunno.

And one last thing... I know Square-Enix is more or less a family-oriented company... but where's the blood? Everyone in the movie is a superman/superwoman that never so much as receives a scratch! Sephiroth's Great Katana is plunged into Cloud's shoulder and not even a drop of blood, people are pummeled left and right, slashed and cut... no scratches, no blood, NO POINT. Even the actual game of FF VII had a fair share of blood... look at Sephiroth after you beat him one on one in the last scene in the game. In this movie, Cloud basically does an Omnislash on him in their rematch and defeats him and he's still floating there... not a single blemish or scratch. C'mon... I would expect more even of a PG movie.

After the initial glow of "oooo, look at the pretty fight scenes" wears off there's really not that much left.