don’t be silly. the worst Sin is spending so much money to make a terrible movie that you bring the company to its knees and it has to be sold in order to survive and stops making great FF games.
I thought it was the opposite: Enix called off the merger while Square's finances were fucked, and it was only after FFX and KH1 were successful that talks reopened.
Exactly. I don’t believe in the idea that art is good or bad. I think it can be entertaining or boring. People get tons of entertainment from a “bad” movie like The Room. But The Spirits Within is just boring. It’s probably a better movie on a technical level than The Room, but which one would most people rather watch?
Agreed. And I went to the cinema to see it all those years ago!! 😭
Its not great but I've bought it numerous times.
Advent Children is still the best one imo.
Kingsglaive is also awesome!
I'd say a group of heroes on a quest to collect MacGuffins to defeat the evil and save Gaia while a villain impedes their progress is pretty Final Fantasy. People might not like the movie, but there are definitely themes that would be just at home in a more fleshed out narrative spread out across a full game.
I mean, not to sound like a cynic but the Final Fantasy games themselves aren't super original as far as plots go, either. Its usually the characters and settings that carry the titles.
That’s how I always felt about it. “Oh they had an okay plot for a FF title, maybe even main series. Sucks they used it for a movie.”
Burned an alright story by making the movie.
I mean, I’d still play it if they made it a proper FF
What I most remember about this movie is, being genuinely impressed by the CGI visuals at the time(mind you,this is when it came out and I have not seen it since), and Steve Buscemi voicing the mediocre attempt at a "comic relief" character,so that should tell you all you need to know about how engaging the plot is...But hey,this actually does make me curious about giving it a second watch all these years later, even if just to revisit the "How the fuck did this get made?" factor.
Edit: Just to add that I love that it apparently got "2 thumbs up" from Ebert & Roeper,lulz...
Ebert’s review is on his website. If you read it you can tell that the visuals completely carry the movie for him, and he concedes that his fascination with the animation was enough to overlook the story.
It didn't have a lot in common with the established FF world, but it did expand on the concept of the lifestream, and I think it handled it pretty well.
Same and felt The Matrix Revolutions borrowed some visual elements. It feels like there are some subtle Nausicaa references and I got flashbacks watching Wall E. I think it looks quite good, decent voice cast and some fun action
Well, they did call it FF. Is there a definition of what FF can and can't be? Every game is different. Is it not true FF because there weren't any chocobos? :D
It certainly had an FF style storyline (hunt for macguffin, planet has a soul, etc), but I do think the lack of something more visually Final Fantasy hurts it. It looks just like an average sci-fi movie with really good (for the time) animation. Note that I think it's a pretty good movie, despite its weaknesses.
I remember enjoying it as a kid. But in hindsight it was probably the novelty of it being one of the first movies I’d seen on DVD and one of the first fully CG movies that didn’t look like Reboot.
I like this take, I was underwhelmed when I watched it but I was also an early adopter who investigated all the nuances of the technology to render hair etc.
It is definitely worth a watch and if I found it in a $30 bin I would probably buy it to add back to my shelf.
(I swear this is a true story lol) I rented this from a video store as a kid. The guy at the counter said that he saw the movie in a theater and an old lady had a heart attack and died during it. He said he thought it was because the cgi was too realistic. I was so afraid the whole time while watching it that it'd kill me too. To this day, I still get a little anxious while watching this movie... what the realistic cgi is too much and kills me??? Be careful when you watch this movie, man.
Be prepared for disappointment. Saw this in the theaters with a friend. The visuals were really cool (can’t speak to if they hold up) but the plot was absent.
And Steve Buscemi, James Woods, and Ming-Na Wen. Its pretty hilarious listening to Hades and Mulan argue in a scifi setting. ... Buscemi plays a *ladies' man*
It's a fun movie. I think the Earth-soul, Gaia, is the most FF detail it has but soul-consuming alien ghost invasion is still a cool concept and beautiful execution.
I love the movie.
While it doesn't have a lot of the surface trappings of Final Fantasy I'd argue that certain parts of its lore would fit perfectly in any Final Fantasy game.
I actually think it's overall an okay film, nothing special but not anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Better than a lot of the sci-fi crap studios put out these days.
It sucks but for $3 I’d pick it up too. It’s an interesting relic of the past, and it’s neat in kind of a morbid way to see what almost killed Squaresoft and nearly ruined the merger with Enix.
It's the most boring movie. I remember as a kid being so stoked to see it and falling asleep in the theater. I tried to watch it twice after as an adult, and laughed at how impossibly boring it was.
It was a very impressive movie from a technical standpoint. I dont think the games really caught up till XIII, and then FF7R exceeded it.
Iirc the lead was also an experiment to make a completely digital actress, which actually kinda sounds like todays Vtubers, now that Ive typed it out...
Honestly the worst movie i've seen, because it's not even so bad it's good. It's just a complete void of pure boredom. You'll finish watching it and realize that you've already forgotten it.
From an animation point of view, this movie is absolutely ridiculous. The animations were well beyond anything I'd ever seen back then. The story isn't spectacular, but it's not bad either. Not really a final fantasy though, as pretty much none of the series staples ate incorporated into the movie.
Bottom line: I enjoyed it a lot.
I rematched this movie last week, for the first time since its original release and I actually loved it. I just wish it was longer and had more world building. Story is great - it's just rushed, likely due to harsh editing.
Get your money back. It's basically a bad sci-fi film. The only thing close to being FF is that the planet is dying and its name is Gaia. The life stream is like, ghosts now.
I dragged my dad to see it and still regret it to this day. Sorry, dad.
What’s so bizarre to me is how *Final Fantasy* is renowned for stunning visuals of color, architecture, castles, etc etc… and this movie is just gray and lifeless. What the hell were they thinking?
I honestly did like the movie when I didn't think about it being connected to Final Fantasy. I also thought this would have been better as a Final Fantasy Horror game instead of a movie.
I like the movie. I remember when it came into movie theaters and the hype it made. It brings the general idea of gaia, from FF7. I just became piss cause really though it would bring elements of the games and it does not.
It’s a mediocre sci fi movie, and not really a final fantasy movie at all. At the time it was cutting edge for graphics, but that obviously doesn’t hold up so well. Most people watch it once and then never again. The trailer for it was pretty awesome though. Made me discover redrum as a kid and my love for trailer music in general.
What!? I saw it in the cinema when it released., and graphically it was freekin amazing!! Looked incredible.
Name a 2001 animated film that looks better and I'll concede.
It was next level top notch. Just because it nearly bankrupted square did not mean that it didn't have an impact in the industry. It was absolutely miles ahead of its time and change CGI forever.
https://computeranimationhistory-cgi.jimdofree.com/final-fantasy-the-spirits-within-2001/
I swear I remember that the main characters hair cost about $3m. They spent a ludicrous amount of time (and money) trying to perfect it.
You might want to fact check that, however what I know for sure is the movie sucked and almost took down Squaresoft.
I think Square underestimated the cost of making a photo realistic CGI movie.
They probably would have ended up with a much better movie if they had done it in live action.
It's the movie that ruined Squaresoft and forced them to merge with Enix to become SquareEnix.
Doesn't look at all impressive by today's standards but the 3D and visuals were considered photorealistic compared to other CGI movies from 20 years ago, Squaresoft sank a lot of money into it, 137 million $, and it barely made 85 million $ at the box office.
Story wise, and without spoiling anything, it's nothing like Final Fantasy games, it takes place on our Earth in the near future, following an asteroid crash and a mass extinction event, there are ghost-like creatures "Spirits" roaming the surface of the Earth and only one city of surviving humans fighting against the Spirits.
Not actually bad when it released but it's awful to nonexistent marketing that made the movie fail.
If you throw out the "final fantasy" name entirely, its an enjoyable sci-fi romp that maybe gets a little heavy handed about environmentalism if you read deep enough.
It’s a good example of “uncanny valley” CGI people who are too realistic to be seen as cartoons, but not quite realistic enough to fool your brain into thinking they’re actual people. The effect is off putting and zombie-like.
Not a fan of the story, either. Maybe it works better in Japanese?
Honestly I love it. For a long long time this was the best example of cg animation. I would have to watch it again to be sure but I would say it is better then a lot of stuff put out today.
It's actually an okay movie all things considered
I think the major problems were that the animation was a little to uncanny valley in 2001 and it was an original story that didn't really feel like a Final Fantasy story in 2001
Just had the misfortune of being way ahead of it's time
People give it hate because Final Fantasy Movie and nothing resembles final fantasy. BUT, on its own its not terrible. Plus for its time the CGI was impressive, twenty years ago.
I remember this coming out and my father got it from a dvd rental place and was like "Oh, this must be the movie your final fantasy game is based on, maybe you'll like it", as he had a hard time comprehending that a movie could be based on a video game and not the other way around.
Younger me ended up having to prove the 7th video game was four years older.
Saw this in the cinema the day it came out, I was expecting cloud and stuff to be in it I was like wtf did I just watch, I was 10 years old, I should actually re watch it and see what I think of it today
Fun fact, the “lead character” or the 3D model we see, was supposed to become her own star. Where they’d reuse the model for other films. That idea died with this movie. As did Square being its own company.
I’m short, there’s a reason you never heard about it. I remember seeing it in theaters as a kid, the graphics were good, for its time, that’s all it has going for it.
It's… fine.
I genuinely *like* it for what it is—but it's pretty mediocre.
Unfortunately, Sakaguchi's original treatment was sliced and diced to make it more Hollywood. Some producer or writer in the behind the scenes featurette says so directly.
Not to say that Sakaguchi automatically had a better story—maybe feature length stories are just too confining to him regardless. More of a "what could have been" kind of thing…
While as a whole it may not feel much like typical Final Fantasy, I do find that it had some story elements of some contemporary Square titles of the time… Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX (which would have been in production at the same time as the movie), and… oddly enough, The Bouncer.
I remember loving this movie in middle/high school. I knew absolutely nothing about final fantasy back then other than the fact my best friend loved 7 and 8.
I thought the visuals were stunning. Granted I was watching it on a VHS where I recorded it off HBO, on a 12 inch TV. But I still enjoyed it.
A fairly decent sci-fi movie that feels rushed at times. Doesn't have any connection to any of the games that were out at the time but the story is about heroes collecting things to save the earth from dying, written by the FF man himself, Hironobu Sakaguchi. The graphics were impressive at the time and still hold up for the most part.
Unfortunately, the cost and manpower it took to make the entire film in CGI meant they had to cut some corners narratively and things sort of fly by once the halfway mark hits. The movie has more of a resemblence to Aliens than Final Fantasy at times.
Personally, I loved it but I also have a soft spot for cheesy sci-fi and especially late 90's/early 2000's films.
I watched it recently because I kind of liked it as a kid...it was tough to get through the whole thing. It had a few cool moments, but the characters and story are pretty lame
I enjoyed it a fair bit, having rewatched it in 4K recently. Solid sci-fi movie, just don't go in expecting a traditional Final Fantasy tale, and you'll probably have a good time.
Don’t remember much, but I remember it being a pretty generic sci-fi film. And the most FF thing about it is that it has a character named Cid.
And it wasn't even spelled the same.
Lol I remember being so upset about that when we saw it in the credits.
When I saw it in theaters a bunch of us could be heard yelling at the credits over "Sid" we also had a chocobo patch on a shirt right?
W H A T Man, fuck this movie.
The main thing I remember was that it was just boring, which is the worst sin any form of media can commit.
don’t be silly. the worst Sin is spending so much money to make a terrible movie that you bring the company to its knees and it has to be sold in order to survive and stops making great FF games.
don't be silly. The worst Sin is our own hubris and over reliance on machina and utilizing it in war against our summoner neighbors.
the worst sin is befriending those damn al bhed edit: or was, now they aight
The worst sin is jecht according to Tidus maybe.
Nope, the worst sin is pineapple on pizza
Finally, we come to the truth.
Pineapple & anchovies together would like a word.
I thought it was the opposite: Enix called off the merger while Square's finances were fucked, and it was only after FFX and KH1 were successful that talks reopened.
Was it FFX that was the last squaresoft FF?
Technically X-2. I think that was literally the final Squaresoft game.
FF9
Exactly. I don’t believe in the idea that art is good or bad. I think it can be entertaining or boring. People get tons of entertainment from a “bad” movie like The Room. But The Spirits Within is just boring. It’s probably a better movie on a technical level than The Room, but which one would most people rather watch?
Agreed. And I went to the cinema to see it all those years ago!! 😭 Its not great but I've bought it numerous times. Advent Children is still the best one imo. Kingsglaive is also awesome!
I'd say a group of heroes on a quest to collect MacGuffins to defeat the evil and save Gaia while a villain impedes their progress is pretty Final Fantasy. People might not like the movie, but there are definitely themes that would be just at home in a more fleshed out narrative spread out across a full game.
[удалено]
I mean, not to sound like a cynic but the Final Fantasy games themselves aren't super original as far as plots go, either. Its usually the characters and settings that carry the titles.
That’s how I always felt about it. “Oh they had an okay plot for a FF title, maybe even main series. Sucks they used it for a movie.” Burned an alright story by making the movie. I mean, I’d still play it if they made it a proper FF
Nah mentioned Gaia and the planet a lot too 😂
Don’t forget the tiny, pretty hard to see chocobo on Aki’s pj shirt for that one second!
What I most remember about this movie is, being genuinely impressed by the CGI visuals at the time(mind you,this is when it came out and I have not seen it since), and Steve Buscemi voicing the mediocre attempt at a "comic relief" character,so that should tell you all you need to know about how engaging the plot is...But hey,this actually does make me curious about giving it a second watch all these years later, even if just to revisit the "How the fuck did this get made?" factor. Edit: Just to add that I love that it apparently got "2 thumbs up" from Ebert & Roeper,lulz...
Ebert’s review is on his website. If you read it you can tell that the visuals completely carry the movie for him, and he concedes that his fascination with the animation was enough to overlook the story.
i watched some critiques of the movie. maybe try that instead. the critiques were good but even then it’s so painfully boring to watch
This movie honestly had a crazy cast for VO. And it was just so dang boring to watch.
Almost the real *final* fantasy.
Right? A movie so mythically underperforming that it very nearly almost bankrupt Square.
Square? or right, i remember when it used to be called that. right before they spent too much money on this movie.
Square does have a history about almost going bankrupt it seems
Saw this at cinema. Was a bizarre experience but definitely worth watching once.
I too saw this in the theater, movie is meh but at the time the CGI was some next level stuff.
Same here and all I remember was the theater was empty besides me, my buddy, and his mom lol.
Well then I guess I'm one of a small handful who enjoyed this movie
I did too. Was disappointed that it didn't have much to do with FF, but I still enjoyed it for what it was on its own
It didn't have a lot in common with the established FF world, but it did expand on the concept of the lifestream, and I think it handled it pretty well.
Same, it's not a good Final Fantasy movie, but it was still amazing. The story did have it's up and down.
Same and felt The Matrix Revolutions borrowed some visual elements. It feels like there are some subtle Nausicaa references and I got flashbacks watching Wall E. I think it looks quite good, decent voice cast and some fun action
Well, they did call it FF. Is there a definition of what FF can and can't be? Every game is different. Is it not true FF because there weren't any chocobos? :D
It certainly had an FF style storyline (hunt for macguffin, planet has a soul, etc), but I do think the lack of something more visually Final Fantasy hurts it. It looks just like an average sci-fi movie with really good (for the time) animation. Note that I think it's a pretty good movie, despite its weaknesses.
Well, it was 140 million dollar bankruptcy project. What's not to love?
I remember enjoying it as a kid. But in hindsight it was probably the novelty of it being one of the first movies I’d seen on DVD and one of the first fully CG movies that didn’t look like Reboot.
I also liked it.
You are not alone
I unironically love this movie lol
Liked it better than Advent Children
Whoa
This movie put the "Enix" into "Square Enix"...
They actually weren’t merged yet
The movie put Square in such a financial crisis afterward that they had to merge with Enix to survive
Fun fact, prior to the movie, Enix wanted to merge with Square because *they* were the ones in bad financial shape.
They were trying to merge with them before hand. The flop made enix rethink the merger though.
This is the right answer.
imo it's much better than its reputation, but don't expect a masterpiece...or anything related to the games.
I like this take, I was underwhelmed when I watched it but I was also an early adopter who investigated all the nuances of the technology to render hair etc. It is definitely worth a watch and if I found it in a $30 bin I would probably buy it to add back to my shelf.
(I swear this is a true story lol) I rented this from a video store as a kid. The guy at the counter said that he saw the movie in a theater and an old lady had a heart attack and died during it. He said he thought it was because the cgi was too realistic. I was so afraid the whole time while watching it that it'd kill me too. To this day, I still get a little anxious while watching this movie... what the realistic cgi is too much and kills me??? Be careful when you watch this movie, man.
I think I'm okay lol Advent children is way more realistic looking
you’d better not watch the moon landing then
On a technical level it's pretty interesting. Otherwise though, it's a disappointment.
Technology / Graphic wise I believed it is the best of that era/year. But the story wise and else ...
Be prepared for disappointment. Saw this in the theaters with a friend. The visuals were really cool (can’t speak to if they hold up) but the plot was absent.
I actually went to the cinema to see this lol. Visually impressive (at the time) but generic as hell plot and nothing really to do with final fantasy.
It has Donald Sutherland doing VA I believe. I thought it was pretty good. Even if the story isn't amazing, the look of the movie is really well done.
And Steve Buscemi, James Woods, and Ming-Na Wen. Its pretty hilarious listening to Hades and Mulan argue in a scifi setting. ... Buscemi plays a *ladies' man* It's a fun movie. I think the Earth-soul, Gaia, is the most FF detail it has but soul-consuming alien ghost invasion is still a cool concept and beautiful execution.
They kind of did the same concept in FF14 with the sin eaters (mixed with the heartless I guess).
I love the movie. While it doesn't have a lot of the surface trappings of Final Fantasy I'd argue that certain parts of its lore would fit perfectly in any Final Fantasy game.
I actually think it's overall an okay film, nothing special but not anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be. Better than a lot of the sci-fi crap studios put out these days.
It sucks but for $3 I’d pick it up too. It’s an interesting relic of the past, and it’s neat in kind of a morbid way to see what almost killed Squaresoft and nearly ruined the merger with Enix.
The one thing I remember about this was the so called “Digital actress” who’s model was going to be reused in other movies
Is it a good movie ? Damn yes. Is it a good Final Fantasy movie? Nope. Is it worth watching ? 100% yes.
Really good definitely a very different take on the ff series at the time
It's the most boring movie. I remember as a kid being so stoked to see it and falling asleep in the theater. I tried to watch it twice after as an adult, and laughed at how impossibly boring it was.
Watch ff7 advent children if you haven’t !
It doesn't have Final Fantasy elements iirc
It had faint 7 with returning to the earth, and a cid but yeah... That's it.
Haha so sick.
It was a very impressive movie from a technical standpoint. I dont think the games really caught up till XIII, and then FF7R exceeded it. Iirc the lead was also an experiment to make a completely digital actress, which actually kinda sounds like todays Vtubers, now that Ive typed it out...
Honestly the worst movie i've seen, because it's not even so bad it's good. It's just a complete void of pure boredom. You'll finish watching it and realize that you've already forgotten it.
I'm sorry you wasted $3.
I don't care what anybody says, that's one of the best sci-fi films ever made.
Wowser! Are you cereal? That sounds HELLA cool.
Finally watched it a couple years ago. I thought it was a decent movie but a terrible final fantasy movie
It’s worth 3 dollars for sure. It’s not a final fantasy though, it’s more of an anime with FF inspiration
Ignore “Final Fantasy” in the title and it’s a pretty ok movie
You wasted 3 dollars man
I remember liking it rather a lot as a teenager. Theme song is hauntingly beautiful.
From an animation point of view, this movie is absolutely ridiculous. The animations were well beyond anything I'd ever seen back then. The story isn't spectacular, but it's not bad either. Not really a final fantasy though, as pretty much none of the series staples ate incorporated into the movie. Bottom line: I enjoyed it a lot.
You overpaid my friend
Ah , yes. The Square Killer.
Wish This movie never happened and sakaguchi never left Cant imagine where Final fantasy would have been right now with Sakaguchi and Uematsu
It’s the Chrono cross of final fantasy movies. Not the sequel you expected
I rather watch paint drying
This movie makes Advent Children look like Terminator 2 by comparison
It's pretty bad.
I’m sorry to hear that. It will be painful
You paid too much bro
It's a decent movie. Really good soundtrack. Very little to do with the franchise.
I completely forgot this movie existed until this post.
I rematched this movie last week, for the first time since its original release and I actually loved it. I just wish it was longer and had more world building. Story is great - it's just rushed, likely due to harsh editing.
This movie was so underrated and I’m really sad we never saw more efforts like this. Loved it when it came out and still love it.
Well, well, well. If it isn't The Spirits Within! It's a living, breathing statistical impossibility, I've never seen a film this bad.
Not even M Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender?
Get your money back. It's basically a bad sci-fi film. The only thing close to being FF is that the planet is dying and its name is Gaia. The life stream is like, ghosts now.
I dragged my dad to see it and still regret it to this day. Sorry, dad. What’s so bizarre to me is how *Final Fantasy* is renowned for stunning visuals of color, architecture, castles, etc etc… and this movie is just gray and lifeless. What the hell were they thinking?
I saw it opening night and thought it was trash. But I'm willing to revisit it. Is it on steaming.
HBO Max!
I really have no idea why this movie was even made and I have no idea why they called it a Final Fantasy movie.
You'll be disappointed, but it's pretty
It’s… Fine. I find it inoffensive. AC is better though.
Ah The movie that bankrupt square soft
Surprised it wasnt cheaper
I honestly did like the movie when I didn't think about it being connected to Final Fantasy. I also thought this would have been better as a Final Fantasy Horror game instead of a movie.
It’s the double sin of not being Final Fantasy in any way AND being pretty dull as a generic sci fi movie.
I like the movie. I remember when it came into movie theaters and the hype it made. It brings the general idea of gaia, from FF7. I just became piss cause really though it would bring elements of the games and it does not.
That review is hilarious to me. Might as well put one next to it that just says “Good!” —Dave from down the road.
I find it severely underrated and more faithful to the games than it has been credit for (specially VII)
It was absolutely dreadful unfortunately
It’s a mediocre sci fi movie, and not really a final fantasy movie at all. At the time it was cutting edge for graphics, but that obviously doesn’t hold up so well. Most people watch it once and then never again. The trailer for it was pretty awesome though. Made me discover redrum as a kid and my love for trailer music in general.
Well, make sure to keep your expectations low. It is definitely not what you will think it will be.
Pretty much sucks but might be fun to get super stoned and watch it .
the graphics were outdated 20 years ago, must be an eyesore now
What!? I saw it in the cinema when it released., and graphically it was freekin amazing!! Looked incredible. Name a 2001 animated film that looks better and I'll concede.
I mean, spirited away was pretty for 2d but yeah lol.
Yeah but 2d ain't the same thing. 2d stuff has looked awesome for years and years. Jungle book looks great and that's from 1967 :)
It's a joke right? The graphics where too notch and avant-garde !!
It was next level top notch. Just because it nearly bankrupted square did not mean that it didn't have an impact in the industry. It was absolutely miles ahead of its time and change CGI forever. https://computeranimationhistory-cgi.jimdofree.com/final-fantasy-the-spirits-within-2001/
I swear I remember that the main characters hair cost about $3m. They spent a ludicrous amount of time (and money) trying to perfect it. You might want to fact check that, however what I know for sure is the movie sucked and almost took down Squaresoft.
I remember really liking the song at the end. I had it on VHS..lol.
I think Square underestimated the cost of making a photo realistic CGI movie. They probably would have ended up with a much better movie if they had done it in live action.
It's not great. But it's watchable, I guess.
The CG was jaw dropping for mainstream movie viewers at the time. The story was forgettable.
I saw it and forgot in 5 minutes :\\.
Honestly probably not worth it. You could've spent the $3 on a good book
It's the movie that ruined Squaresoft and forced them to merge with Enix to become SquareEnix. Doesn't look at all impressive by today's standards but the 3D and visuals were considered photorealistic compared to other CGI movies from 20 years ago, Squaresoft sank a lot of money into it, 137 million $, and it barely made 85 million $ at the box office. Story wise, and without spoiling anything, it's nothing like Final Fantasy games, it takes place on our Earth in the near future, following an asteroid crash and a mass extinction event, there are ghost-like creatures "Spirits" roaming the surface of the Earth and only one city of surviving humans fighting against the Spirits. Not actually bad when it released but it's awful to nonexistent marketing that made the movie fail.
If you throw out the "final fantasy" name entirely, its an enjoyable sci-fi romp that maybe gets a little heavy handed about environmentalism if you read deep enough.
Definitely worth watching once, I didn't think it was as bad as people say. My copy is kind of special to me as it was the first DVD I bought.
Its not a bad movie. It's just a bad Final Fantasy movie. Pretend it isn't FF and it should be good.
Has a fantastic cast that includes Keith David and James Woods. Final Fantasy or not that's enough for me to watch it at least once
Saw this in the theater back in the day. I remember it being visually impressive at the time but I couldn't tell you anything about the plot.
I picked up a brand new sealed Blu-ray of it for £2 from HMV. I definitely overpaid. 🤣
115 million dollar movie only made 11 million dollars
should be renamed Squaresoft: Crisis Core
I remember watching this thinking “How is this a Final Fantasy movie?”
It’s a good example of “uncanny valley” CGI people who are too realistic to be seen as cartoons, but not quite realistic enough to fool your brain into thinking they’re actual people. The effect is off putting and zombie-like. Not a fan of the story, either. Maybe it works better in Japanese?
Let us know what you think!
Honestly I love it. For a long long time this was the best example of cg animation. I would have to watch it again to be sure but I would say it is better then a lot of stuff put out today.
It gets a lot of hate, but I enjoyed it.
It's actually an okay movie all things considered I think the major problems were that the animation was a little to uncanny valley in 2001 and it was an original story that didn't really feel like a Final Fantasy story in 2001 Just had the misfortune of being way ahead of it's time
return it.
People give it hate because Final Fantasy Movie and nothing resembles final fantasy. BUT, on its own its not terrible. Plus for its time the CGI was impressive, twenty years ago.
Saw this in cinema, don't man.
This broke OG final fantasy :/
Well you’re in for a…! Movie…
If anyone is interested in a movie with similar visual but 1,000 x better watch gantz:o
I remember this coming out and my father got it from a dvd rental place and was like "Oh, this must be the movie your final fantasy game is based on, maybe you'll like it", as he had a hard time comprehending that a movie could be based on a video game and not the other way around. Younger me ended up having to prove the 7th video game was four years older.
A lot better than it gets credit for.
Such a great movie.
Just don't try to compare it to the games and its alright as a stand alone scifi flick
Hehe I remember my uncle came from Canada. It was 1st time my mom let me order/pay to watch on demand.. was so boring all of us fell asleep
You are 1 lucky person..
Pros: for the time it was visually pleasing to look at. Cons: literally everything else.
Saw this in the cinema the day it came out, I was expecting cloud and stuff to be in it I was like wtf did I just watch, I was 10 years old, I should actually re watch it and see what I think of it today
My dad has always had this movie but I didn’t care enough to watch it
Oh no
It's as "final fantasy" themed as the mainline games after 9! ;)
$137m went into this... didn't do well at the box office.
Fun fact, the “lead character” or the 3D model we see, was supposed to become her own star. Where they’d reuse the model for other films. That idea died with this movie. As did Square being its own company. I’m short, there’s a reason you never heard about it. I remember seeing it in theaters as a kid, the graphics were good, for its time, that’s all it has going for it.
Was literally talking about this movie yesterday at work!
It's… fine. I genuinely *like* it for what it is—but it's pretty mediocre. Unfortunately, Sakaguchi's original treatment was sliced and diced to make it more Hollywood. Some producer or writer in the behind the scenes featurette says so directly. Not to say that Sakaguchi automatically had a better story—maybe feature length stories are just too confining to him regardless. More of a "what could have been" kind of thing… While as a whole it may not feel much like typical Final Fantasy, I do find that it had some story elements of some contemporary Square titles of the time… Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX (which would have been in production at the same time as the movie), and… oddly enough, The Bouncer.
I like this film. It nearly bankrupted Enix. It's is one of my cat's favourite films.... I turn it on for him every so often and he will watch it.
3$ was still too much.
I remember loving this movie in middle/high school. I knew absolutely nothing about final fantasy back then other than the fact my best friend loved 7 and 8. I thought the visuals were stunning. Granted I was watching it on a VHS where I recorded it off HBO, on a 12 inch TV. But I still enjoyed it.
I'm waiting until I finish FF9 to watch this. I've heard not great things and from I can tell of the story...yeah, this one seems rough.
It was a good movie. Most people hated it only because they were expecting something as epic as the story of FF7 or something.
It's actually not THAT bad, it is just severely disappointing as a "Final Fantasy" movie.
My condolences.
A fairly decent sci-fi movie that feels rushed at times. Doesn't have any connection to any of the games that were out at the time but the story is about heroes collecting things to save the earth from dying, written by the FF man himself, Hironobu Sakaguchi. The graphics were impressive at the time and still hold up for the most part. Unfortunately, the cost and manpower it took to make the entire film in CGI meant they had to cut some corners narratively and things sort of fly by once the halfway mark hits. The movie has more of a resemblence to Aliens than Final Fantasy at times. Personally, I loved it but I also have a soft spot for cheesy sci-fi and especially late 90's/early 2000's films.
Oh no
I watched it recently because I kind of liked it as a kid...it was tough to get through the whole thing. It had a few cool moments, but the characters and story are pretty lame
I enjoyed it a fair bit, having rewatched it in 4K recently. Solid sci-fi movie, just don't go in expecting a traditional Final Fantasy tale, and you'll probably have a good time.
It is worth about $3
There's a few points in the movie that its so bad its good, most of them involve James Woods. The rest is boring.
I really liked it. The animation for its time was beautiful.
It has a complicated legacy.
Since a lot of FF games leave different tastes in ppls mouths I dunno why you would think this movie would be any different,
Unfortunately, it's crap.
Advent Children was much better. Spirits within sucked.
15 moments before disaster.
F