Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I can still clearly remember when Final Fantasy was first released back in 2001. It was kind of a strange movie release 'cause nobody raved about it. Nobody marvelled at it. And nobody (including myself) went to see it. Final Fantasy came and went without even as much as a whimper. It was a weird phenomenon. Final Fantasy was "The-Movie-That-Wasn't".Over the years about the only thing, anywhere near to an opinion, that I've heard about Final Fantasy is that it is unbelievably "boring". Yeah, B_O_R_I_N_G! I guess word-of-mouth of this sort kept people away in droves. It's really amazing sometimes what one, little word like "boring" can do to the fate of a flick.Well, I, for one, certainly didn't find Final Fantasy "boring". To be honest, the story was a bit dry, the action a bit slow at times, but, all-in-all, it did hold my interest for the most part. Yeah, I'll admit that "War Of the Worlds", it ain't. But, hey, I didn't expect it to be, anyways. So, I wasn't disappointed.Where Final Fantasy excels (to the 10th power) is visually. It is an absolute delight to behold. The attention to detail in all the computer-generated imagery is nothing less than fantastic.Any short-comings that Final Fantasy's story may have will be immediately forgiven if you simply treat this movie as basically a feast for the eyes. If you do so, then you won't feel let down when the story doesn't meet any of your preconceived expectations, or if it doesn't go accelerating into high-gear.Final Fantasy's story is set in the future. Natch. The year is 2065. Mankind is on the brink of total extinction after our Earth is infested with alien Phantom-Spirits that feed ravenously on the human life-force.Our quickly dwindling human population is forced to live within great, domed cities. These cities are now the last and only refuge for Man. A specially engineered force-field engulfing the entire city shields these last remaining citizens from being totally annihilated by the ferocious Phantom-Spirits.Top scientists within the city are frantically searching for a means to successfully combat these menacing spirits, yet retain and protect our planet's fragile environment.WOW!! Now, does that sound "boring" to you!?.....Check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised at how non-boring Final Fantasy really is...... :)

Okay, at first I thought that it was going to be a pretty bad film, since it is based on a video game (And I hate video games) but then I read that this movie didn't had anything in common with the video game franchise in which this was supposedly inspired.Anyway, this was very good film, not only because it had a incredibly animation (Not like the boring and bland CGI crap that you see in most of the animated flicks released every year) but also, because it had a very interesting plot, combining science fiction with mysticism...And also, it had lots of aliens, all of them with an unique and fascinating look.This movie had many beautiful sequences, I liked specially the "dream" scenes, that take place in one alien planet. Also, I liked how it was deconstructed the whole concept of "alien invaders" that appeared in so many films... Apparently, one of the animators from the great movie "Avatar", Andy Jones, worked in this film too, so no wonder why the animation was so good.It is true that not even the best animation could replace the emotion of real actors, but despite that, I still believe that this movie is a great achievement for the cartoon world. Hey, at least it is much better than the overrated kiddie crap that came every single year. And considering that it was inspired in a video game, it could have been very much worse: This could have been anime.

I have to be perfectly honest with you fellow IMDb reviewers. I went to the movies with a girl I was getting lucky with. We went to watch this movie because it had a long duration and because I had to warm things up with her. She ended up liking it very much and I almost fell asleep. But don't get me wrong, the movie isn't bad at all. It has a charming lead female character, an interesting plot, spectacular f/x, and it tries to follow perfect the best of the video game.The problem in my opinion with this movie is that it looks a lot like the video games. The animation is really great but it isn't something you haven't seen before. It feels like a video game, and it lacks of that special punch some movies of these kind need.I recommend it strictly for fans of the video game.

Final Fantasy, as many know, is a series of video games that has spanned over two decades and is arguably the most successful video game franchise of all time. Final Fantasy (the original) was released in 1987 and since then 13 games have been released, including one sequel as well as countless spin-offs and two in-development projects. Growing up with Final Fantasy I grew to love everything about the series. The stories, the game play, everything little thing. When Squaresoft (now Square Enix) released Final Fantasy VIII I was given a copy for Christmas '99. It was the first FF game that I played through entirely and since has been my favorite of the FF games. I've played em all, beat em all and loved em all.When I first saw the trailer for this film my first thought was (I was only ten) "OMG! MOM! WE HAVE TO GO AND SEE THIS!" On the day of its release, July 11th, 2001 I believe my mother took me to see this at the beautiful Cinemark in Moosic. Even at that age I wasn't deceived by Hollywood in that they merely took the name Final Fantasy in order to market a product that had no relation to its source whatsoever.The movie follows Aki Ross, a scientist in a future Earth inhabited by Phantoms. Phantoms are alien like creatures. Remaining survivors live in "barrier cities" as they struggle to save humanity and the planet. In certain Final Fantasy games, especially FF VII, saving a dying planet is the main problem you face. Oddly enough this is the only relation The Spirits Within has to the Final Fantasy gaming series. Also there is a power hungry military man named Hein who is dead set on using a space cannon to destroy the Phantoms. Problem with this is the cannon would cause extreme harm to the planet and probably kill it but he's from the military so we can excuse him for lacking intelligence or humanity.Like I said before, the creators of this film only took the name Final Fantasy to help sell this movie to fans of the series. As a stand alone film it is exceptional in its class of CGI/sci-fi blend. Unfortunately I have to give this film a low rating because of its failure to rely on source material or follow any story in the FF galaxy. Even the story to FFX (which IMO was the weakest of the games) would have served this film much better. I always think about Stephen King's novels when I watch this movie. King has written very, very great novels in his time but the majority that are made into films are just crap. Why, because they don't follow the story of the original and they try to make it "Hollywood-style" and it just doesn't work. If a book is a national bestseller, why change it for a movie? If a game is an international bestseller like FF, why make a movie called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within if the film is devoid of any spirit that was within the games? A five for a film that is great on its own but with a name of something entirely different.