The Final Fantasy series of games on PlayStation have been amongst the most popular of RPGs, for both their game play and graphics. While the earlier games look positively primitive, with their 2D pixel graphics, each new release saw the quality jump in leaps and bounds, like its characters. Even on the PS1, the cut scenes were a marvel to behold, and on the PS2 they rivalled any CGI released in the cinema at the time. For fans of the games, Final Fantasy VII has always been the most popular because of the great characters, storyline and for being the first one in 3D. With this is mind it makes sense it should have been chosen for a feature-length film.
Square-Enix’s first animated Final Fantasy film, THE SPIRITS WITHIN, met with mixed reception from both critics and fans alike. Personally I found the film astounding, from a technical point of view, and the story was certainly no worse than a lot of other sci-fi with living actors. Square’s following film release was the short, FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS, on THE ANIMATRIX DVD. Again, this was a technically stupendous piece of work. As anyone who has ever tried to animate realistic human movement and facial expressions will tell you, it ain’t easy. Being a short, based on a popular and existing story concept, it worked really well.
ADVENT CHILDREN seems to be a culmination of everything the creators learned from their experiences on those movie projects and cut scenes from the newer games, and the animation is stunning. Where the SPIRITS WITHIN and ANIMATRIX animations tried to make the people as realistic as possible, this film incorporates anime conventions and characterisations that give the animators a little more leeway. But watching a movie just for its stunning visuals is not always a guarantee of good entertainment – unless you have consumed illicit substances beforehand.
For anyone not familiar with the story and characters from the game, this film may be a little hard to follow, or will at least reduce your comprehension of who is who and what is what. For those not familiar with the original story, the Blu-ray has a compilation of scenes from the game to bring the viewer up to speed.
Set two years after the events of the game, Cloud Strife, a former soldier for Shinra, now leads a solitary life travelling the Planet as a transporter, still burdened with emotional scars from his last battle. Weighed down by memories of loved ones he has lost, he is devoid of hope as he ventures to save the children struck down with the deadly disease Geostigma. We follow Cloud on his journey to uncover the truth about the origins of this plague. As destruction reigns in the city and our heroes are locked in battle, a familiar face returns – Sephiroth.
Anyone who has read my reviews of other legacy Blu-ray releases will know that I have been somewhat underwhelmed by the promised quality, especially compared with up-scaled DVD. If you already have the DVD version of this film there doesn’t seem a lot of sense in buying this re-release, but if you don’t have it in your collection already then get it on Blu-ray because it really does look spectacular. CGI has certainly improved in the two years since this first came out, but the quality of the animation and its texturing more than stands up to the test of hi-def.
For the hordes of FINAL FANTASY fans, as well aficionados of anime this is one Blu-ray release worth treating yourself to, and making the most of your PS3.
FINAL FANTASY: ADVENT CHILDREN is out now on Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and is available from major retailers including Amazon