I think I should just admit it to myself, I'm not into animated sci-fi. I've tried getting into it, but no matter what, I end up being bored. Whether it's Japanese (like with "Princess Mononoke") or American ("Titan A.E."), animated science-fiction just doesn't do it for me. Ever single time I watch it, I sit there bored, and I'm forced to unfairly give it a negative review when in all honesty, these movies aren't meant for people like me. There is an audience for these movies, but that doesn't include me.
"Final Fantasy" is the latest attempt at a feature-length science-fiction animated film for American audiences, and this one is most definitely the most ambitious. Being the first computer-animated film to use realistic human characters, this movie cost well over $100 million dollars to make. I'm not so sure if they're gonna get their money back, though. Sci-fi animation is huge in Japan, but in the U.S., it's practically ignored by general audiences. Only fans of Japanese animation (called "anime") or sci-fi geeks seem to care.
"Final Fantasy" is the second movie of the summer to be based on a video game. "Tomb Raider" sucked, but at least I wasn't bored too often. With "Final Fantasy," I yawned numerously. To be fair, "Final Fantasy" isn't a bad movie, and many, I'm sure, will love it, but it's not my kinda movie. I know I'm gonna hear crap about this, because THE biggest complaint I get from my friends about this web site is my review of "Princess Mononoke" (they're anime fans as well as sci-fi geeks). Because of this, I feel as though I can't overemphasize the fact that like "Princess Mononoke," I'm not saying that this is a bad movie, it's simply not the kinda movie I can get into. Okay? Okay!
Despite the fact that the story did nothing for me, "Final Fantasy" is amazing to watch. Although it'll be years before computer-generated human characters look real to me, it's getting really close. Of course, motion capture helped a lot (motion capture is when real people's motions are tracked and recorded into a computer, and then the computer-generated character mimics those movements), but the faces and expressions were amazing. As for the landscapes and backgrounds, phenomenal. On a visual level, "Final Fantasy" offers a lot, but no, it's not perfect. There has been talk from people in Hollywood about how there is fear from actors and actresses about how computer-generated actors will replace real ones in movies. There's no way in hell that's gonna happen. Especially now. There's still something very creepy about computer-generated humans.
"Final Fantasy" was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and although he worked on all the "Final Fantasy" video games, this is his feature-film directorial debut. The story was by Sakaguchi, and the screenplay was by Jeff Vintar (only other credit is he helped write "Long Hello and Short Goodbye," a movie I never heard of) and Al Reinert (helped write "Apollo 13" and the HBO mini-series, "From the Earth to the Moon").
The voice cast was pretty impressive. The main character of "Aki" (who looks a lot like Bridget Fonda) was voiced by Asian actress, Ming-Na (sometimes called Ming-Na Wen), and she was also the voice of "Mulan." Right now, you can see her on "E.R." as "Deb." Alec Baldwin lends his voice in this movie (his character looks like Ben Affleck), and he has another movie out right now that he lent his voice to, "Cats & Dogs." With "Pearl Harbor," that's three movies he's in this summer. Steve Buscemi's voice is also in the movie, along with Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, and Peri Gilpin ("Roz" in the TV show, "Frasier").
Want some unusual trivia? The character of "Aki" featured in "Final Fantasy" (the one who looks like Bridget Fonda, but has Ming-Na's voice) is the first computer-generated entry in Maxim Magazine's Hot 100.
Is "Final Fantasy" a bad movie? No. Did I like it? No. The thing is, this is MY web site, so you're forced to deal with my opinions if you choose to read the reviews. It comes down to what you like. If you like science-fiction, and especially if you like anime, you're probably gonna like this movie a lot. If you're like me, where you like some sci-fi, and you're not into anime at all, you're better off seeing something else.
Scale of 1-10: 3