Introduction
The year is 2065, and the planet of Earth is far removed from the place that it was in the past. Deadly alien creatures known as Phantoms have appeared all over the planet, and mere contact with these entities is lethal, whether it be an instant death or a prolonged decline. In order to try and salvage what little of the human race is left, large force-field barriers have been constructed around certain cities to repel the Phantoms.
Seeking a more permanent solution to this invasion are scientists Aki Ross and her mentor, Dr. Sid, whose investigations have revealed that there exists a form of spiritual, Gaia energy that can eradicate the Phantom's presence from this world. Aki and Sid aren't alone in their quest through Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within; the human council and the military squad "Deep Eyes" are ready to help. Not everyone is convinced of this plan though.
Aki, Sid, Grey, and their allies have to band together against forces both alien and human if they are to have any chance at restoring peace to Earth. An enemy whose mere touch is fatal, the Phantoms appear the more dangerous enemy, but as they will come to find out, their human nemeses are also not to be trifled with.
Audience reviews
12 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Yung_Warrior
The project was unsound from the beginning - even today, making a fully CGI animated film like this costs too much to be profitable and is not particularly convincing as a realistic art style besides. Final Fantasy is an outlandish sci-fi and fantasy video game series - why not make a film like this using traditional animation? Not only would it have looked better, it would have served the narrative better, as this story centers around nature versus technology. Hell, they could have made this movie live-action with the same cast for 140 million dollars and it would probably have made more money and reached a wider audience. But then it would not be on MAL to review, I suppose.
Anyways, despite the fact that the film is based on a video game series, this plotline is entirely original, with…
Read at the sourceexplicit707
First and foremost you must take Final Fantasy out of your head when you watch this. I saw this film when it was released in theaters. I remember walking out at the end and simply repeating "That was not Final Fantasy." The only thing that links this to the Final Fantasy series is the person responsible for it. Other than that, it is best to view it as a unique film. That being said, it wasn't bad at all.
Visually this was a masterpiece. It really should have changed the industry instead of bankrupting a studio. It was filled with the most beautiful computer animation that had been done at that time. The music score was perfect for the film as well. There was not one piece that was out of place. If you are talking art and sound, then it gets a 10 in both categories. Even the voice acting…
Read at the sourceRevious
First off spirit within is CG but don't let that turn you away it's possibly the best CG you wil have seen in a film, shame it bankrupted Square Pictures but that beside the point.
Not only is the artwork fantastic but the story and acting is'nt half-bad either whether watched in japanese or english.Something i do have to point out is that it does slow down at some points and even borders on you know what's going to happen next
All in all this is one film to watch, if you liked this you may also want to watch Advent Children also a very well done film
Read at the sourceWorld_of_Cassia
Where in the world do I begin with this train wreck of a movie?
The plot is the essentially a clone of other Final Fantasy movies and has more or less the same story arc we've all seen a thousand times before in sci-fi and anime. What makes all those other countless identical films superior to this one is exposition. Flashbacks, memories, narrative storytelling, correlated events - all of these are what give a tale depth and interest. Sadly, none of that is seen here, just a series of events given in one block of time. The closest we ever come to any dimension added to the characters are the little tidbits they happen to drop in conversation with others. However, without compelling imagery, the words are just as flat as the script on which they were written.
The one saving grace is the…
Read at the sourceGoodEnoughForMe
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is an intriguing film. Released back in 2001, it was a bit of an unmitigated disaster for Square, costing them a lot of money. To this day, many people consider the later animated film by Square, Advent Children, to be vastly superior (although they are very different). However, whereas Advent Children was a lamefest of no plot and character development, The Spirits Within maintains some level of story and characterization.
Easily the first thing you will notice about The Spirits Within is that, even today, it looks amazing. You can see the pores and freckles on skin, hair moves independently, the facial expressions and nuances of each character all look fluid and real. After ten years, it still remains as a testament to the capability of CGI as it contin…
Read at the sourceace52387
The Spirits Within is not like Anime at all. It sits at the midpoint between a Square style RPG and a Hollywood blockbuster. Reviewing this on an Anime website as a frequent movie goer and a fan of the Final Fantasy series, my perspective is, as you might expect, a little bit scattered. As an FF fan, this movie is a bit of a disappointment because it lacks a strong fantasy element and limit breaks (lets face it, we all want to see limit breaks). As a Hollywood Sci-fi movie sitting next to something like The Matrix, it is racked with cliches, but an engrossing watch nonetheless. Looking at it as an Anime, it puts the visual/audio of most films to shame, and its western blockbuster style is actually novel. My opinion of this film drastically changes depending on what I evaluate it against. A…
Read at the sourceLizsy
Wow, this was a pretty good movie I have to say, better than I expected. At first, I didn't quite undersatnd where they were going with the story, but then it came all together and I absolutely loved it. It had a supernatural mystery about it and the power of the unconcious mind. It also made me laugh a couple time :P And a bit of romance. The animation was amazing too. Not quite like the movie 5 Centimeters Per Second, but still really great. This is a great movie and I really reccomend it.
Read at the sourcemadbrilliant
I think that if I had seen this movie without noticing the 'Final Fantasy' attached to the beginning, I would have enjoyed it. But there was something about it, as I compared it in my mind to all the amazing and mindblowing games I had played, that could only fall short. I didn't find the characters very sympathetic or engaging. All in all, I would have been fine going my entire life without seeing this film.
Read at the sourceGuyver1
People say the movie is good, some say the movie is bad, it all kind of depends on ones opinion, the movie had its good points as well as the bad points. As far as the story went, it was a decent storyline , it wasnt a great one, but it wasnt a horrible one either. The CGI is absolutely stunning, if you enjoyed the CGI in FF:AC , you will definiately enjoy the CGI in Spirits Within. To be perfectly honest, the characters to me were quite forgettable, i dont recall thier names. As far as enjoyment goes theres one factor you need to consider, if you are a scifi kind of person, then you will love this movie, if you seek action, you may be bored to tears, the movie does have some action, but the movie kind of drags for action fans, but if you are a scifi fan then the movie will seem intresting…
Read at the sourceff7highwind
The very "first" Final Fantasy movie. I thought the story was well done, and it sort of paid homage to the games if anything. The CGI work is incredible and was basically the main appeal in this movie. At the time and even still today it was cutting edge and so realistic that when I first saw the trailer I thought I was watching real actors. The music and sound effects are very well done, but the thing that stands out is the voice work. Square got some big name actors in this film like Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, James Woods and Donald Sutherland so as you would expect, the voices are pretty much flawless. Overall, as long as you don't go into this movie expecting anything Final Fantasy-like then you will enjoy it. Personally, I don't think this should have the name Final Fan…
Read at the sourcekeitybg
Fine, first I want to specify that I watched the anime quite a long ago, a year or two ago I guess. I haven't played the games, so I can say with no mental self-accusations that this was the better part of Final Fantasy movies. For me.
Story - it wasn't something veeery special, still, at least you understood what is going on and that stuff, which in Advent Children was possible only for who has already played the game. There is no game Final Fantasy on this particular story I think and that is one of the good sides, I guess, because you watch it like a separate film, with a different story, different characters and etc. So I must say to the non-fans of Advent Children/people who hasn't played the games - better watch this, I don't say it is a really good movie, but the story is comprehen…
Read at the sourceLirael
Despite what people say, this film was not awful. Okay, it didn't quite match up to the magical, epical, astounding, spellbinding, memorable, groundbreaking quality of the game series, but think of it as a normal SciFi movie and you'll be fine. That's right, SciFi. It's not really what I would classify as fantasy.
The story was quite simple, but decent enough. It had some good qualities, but nothing new. There were a couple of unexpected moments, some romance, action, and some interesting ideas. However, it wasn't nearly as good as what people hoped it to be. I preferred it to Advent Children since it was a story in its own right, but it doesn't compare to the game series.
The animation was astounding; the characters looked almost as real as they possibly could have done. For its time, i…
Read at the source