A look back ~ Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

RPGC Community The FFCompendium Forum
#1

There was a good amount of hype for FF: TSW’s release, especially in the gaming world, but the movie flopped so badly that Square abandoned their studio venture and they lost millions. Even Square fanboys bashed the movie.

I went to the (local) premiere when it came out in theaters, back in summer 2001. Hard to believe it was 6 years ago now. I’ve always felt that one word did a good job summarizing the movie for me: “soulless”. I didn’t care for the characters, didn’t care when they died, and just didn’t find it interesting.

Fast forward to yesterday - I watched the movie again for the first time since the release. Having no expectations, I really enjoyed it. Visually stunning with a decent amount of suspense, and I’d like to even watch it again. I’d have to say I enjoyed it more than most anime I’ve watched, whatever that’s worth.

Just wondering if anyone else has revisited the movie, or if anyone actually liked it back when it came out.

#2

I actually liked it >.>

The Mario Brothers made a better movie though.

#3

I liked it. I consider it a really good movie (though I haven’t seen it since, I need to watch it now!). The reason people didn’t like it I think is because they thought it would be based on the games. I remember my cousin looking at a poll about how badly he was looking forward to the movie, "So much that not even a herd of chocobo could keep me away.

#4

I liked it quite a bit the first time. Then again, I see movies rarely enough that they nearly always bowl me over. I thought the animation was astounding. It was gorgeous. The plot was a bit thin, but not awful.

#5

I probably wouldn’t watch them again unless they showed up on something like RiffTracks.

#6

I recall liking it, but being dissappointed due to the hype. I haven’t bothered trying to rewatch it because I’m too indifferent.

#7

Locke, I watched TSW twice with an interval of about five years, but unlike you, I enjoyed the film more on my first try. Mind you, the characters depth, or the storyline were completely eclipsed then by this visually stunning cinematic achievement. Hold on…
That last statement sounds like a typical copy/paste line from some game review.
Ok, just to be more authentic, I’ll say that I went into a “ Wow, that’s so cool!” state of mind during the screening.
Watching TSW again, a few years later, and trying to appreciate this film for its content, not just its visual impact, I was somewhat disappointed. I cant even put my finger on what exactly let me down that time. Maybe watching the Advent Children countless times somehow rewired my cinema appreciation brain circuits. AC, now that was a sophisticated and intriguing masterpiece. :wink:

#8

During AC I had nostalgic chills several times during the movie, especially from the music. Most of the time I was thinking “why can’t they do this for VI!” I wasn’t going to even bother with AC, but I watched it to prepare myself for Dirge of Cerberus. I’ll have to check it out again one of these days.

I didn’t even consider AC when watching TSW. Mostly what I remember from AC were the ridiculous fight sequences with people flying around that I couldn’t even follow. I’d like to watch both titles again.

#9

I remember being disappointed. I didn’t like the “Kill 'em all” attitude; on the technical aspect, none of the characters looked perfectly human (though this was merely too-high expectations on my part) except Dr. Sid, who I felt didn’t entirely act human. Also, it didn’t have anything to do with Final Fantasy except the name, which[STRIKE], even worse,[/STRIKE] was more apropos than FF1’s “Square’s about to go down the sinkhole, let’s throw everything we’ve got into this one game and go out with a blaze of glory! It’s a ‘fantasy’ RPG, and since this’ll be our last game ever … let’s call it … Final Fantasy!” (Though, come to think of it, it’s probably somewhat fitting that way, too, since it was singlehandedly responsible for Square Pictures going down the tubes. Video-game-movie-haters avoided it because they thought it was “just another crappy video game movie”, diehard FF fans avoided it because they knew it wouldn’t have anything from the games they liked, and … well … it wasn’t really that brilliant and sometimes fell straight into the Uncanny Valley.)

#10

I enjoyed AC quite a bit as well. It was a bit disappointing that everyone besides Cloud got like no screen time, but it was cool. :sunglasses:

#11

Oh, I could rant on about AC, too. :wink:

(Just one thing, though: did anyone else notice how Zack is never any actual help in the story? It’s like, he just shows up there at the end to wave, like to reassure Cloud that Aerith has a girlfriend in the afterlife or whatever.)

#12

Well, to be fair he didn’t have much a point in the original FF7 either.

#13

One of the things that didn’t settle to well with me about AC was the fact that characters like Rufus and Scarlet (in name only) seemed to gain the ability to spontaneously revive from certain death.

#14

Rufus was never shown actually dying, and in modern media that’s practically a guarantee that he isn’t dead. And where did Scarlet survive?

#15

Now I’m not too sure on this, but I think that the Turks mention her along with Rufus right around the start of the Migard battle sequence.

Her status in that comment was that she and Rufus were both wounded, but alive.

#16

I’m pretty sure in DoC she’s mentioned along with Heidigger as having perished at the end of FF7.

#17

I don’t own a copy of AC so I can’t confirm whether or not it was referenced. (I watched it for about 45-60 mins in an EB Games store shortly after it came out on DVD. Basically between the fight in the church/garden that Cloud drops in on in the original game to just before Sephiroth performed his grand entrance)

Also doesn’t DoC take place after AC? My original point is that some of these characters can and do spontaneously reanimate every so often (and deanimate). So maybe someone may have used a Phoenix Down on her and Rufus at some point or maybe they’re clones or some kind of weird thing.

#18

Like I said, I’m pretty damn sure Scarlet was never mentioned in AC. I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that any other characters “spontaneously reanimate”. Unless you’re talking about Jenova, but she’s hardly a regular “character”.

#19

Yeah, all it showed was rufus in his office, and than his office getting blown to hell.

Now, I thought the storyline to TSW was awful the first time through, but yeah, it was very pretty.

Made me wonder why it was called Final Fantasy: TSW too.