I went to see Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within more out of curiosity than anything. While the previews made it look like it had the potential to be a fully different way of presenting a movie I couldn't shake the feeling that the effects were going to be the only thing presented to engage the audiences' attention. It's sort of like going to a funeral just to see if the person actually had any friends or not, or possibly going to a wedding of a couple you know are doomed for divorce but you still end up attending just so you can say you were there for the beginning of the end. Morbid curiosity isn't the greatest way to pitch a movie, but it got my butt planted in a seat to see Final Fantasy so I guess it worked to some extent.

While I was expecting some sort of action/adventure movie set to a computer beat, I instead got a serious, stately paced, pretentious, pre-Star Wars style science fiction movie. At some point it was decided that science fiction movies equaled jittery editing, violent action, and a tongue-in-cheek style with a knowing wink at the camera. They were action movies with a few more effects and a different wardrobe. Final Fantasy, however, takes itself very seriously, is full of itself, and moves at it's own huge pace. It's the sort of pretentious movie making technique that has almost gone out of style. True, most of the films made in that style didn't work either, but it's good to see that Final Fantasy is trying to be something other than the current disposable popcorn movies stuffed into the cineplex.

When I mention pretentious science fiction films, I mean that as a compliment. Films such as Forbidden Planet and 2001 work because they never let up in the belief that they're stating serious, important things. With both A.I. and Final Fantasy hitting the theaters this summer it looks like we might be experiencing a revival of science fiction films that are puffed up on themselves. I can but hope.

So how well did the individual pieces of the movie work? The voice acting varied in quality from good to wooden. Plus, there was a real sense that the voices were recorded separately. I know this is a common practice making a film of this nature, but the lack of interaction between the voices in some scenes was quite noticeable. This wasn't a problem when the characters were spouting awkward exposition like "we must find the seventh and eighth spirits in order to save the Gaia" but when the characters were supposed to be expressing their feelings for each other it made for some teetering scenes.

While the film's musical score is merely adequate, a golden opportunity was missed by not having Rush do the sound-track. Not only is a science fiction epic with no grounding in reality practically begging for a prog rock sound-track, the objectivist outlook found on most Rush albums would of been a good counter-balance to the overly love-in cosmic theme of the film.

Checking around the internet [which -admittedly- is a poor method of determining anything] I've noticed that admitted fans of the Final Fantasy games are disappointed in the movie because it doesn't feel like the series of games from which it takes it's name. Considering there is little to nothing that links the games together it's odd that they can find any sort of disparity between the Final Fantasy games and the Final Fantasy movie. The only major thing that links the games together is the name which is what the movie draws upon; it looks better in the press releases to state that the movie has some sort of pedigree instead of coming in from left field. Besides, putting a little distance between Final Fantasy and it's origins is probably not the worst decision. What the FF games seem to be about is wandering around in an attempt to figure out where the next plot point is, getting into random fights, and stealing the money and equipment from the people you kill. The whole thing sort of works in the context of the game if you don't think about it very much. If the movie had featured the characters ganging up on something, beating it to death, and then had them rifle through it's pockets and taking any money they found or possibly stripping it of clothes they liked and then immediately putting them on it would of been a pixel-perfect recreation of the game experience, regardless of how the audience would of taken the character's actions. Trying to identify with somewhat life-like CGI characters is hard enough, but if they had been doing something as grotesque as trying on the boots of someone they had just killed any sort of empathy would of gone out the window.

Another common trait found in the Final Fantasy games is that at some point the characters will either have the secrets of life, the universe and everything explained to them or will have to directly go and punch out God. Final Fantasy keeps this tradition alive by basing the movie on the characters' quest to find the eight spirits that will heal the Gaia life force of the planet and drive away some extra-terrestrial spirits. Or something like that. Really, the whole thing is a mess. There were some good, original ideas in the story, but a good chunk of them were either not developed enough or were buried by bad exposition. It's no worse than a lot of summer fare but that's hardly an excuse.

None of that, however, was used when trying to pitch the movie. Instead the attempt to create a realistic CGI world was hailed as the reason to see the film. Sure enough, they're right. For every jerky character movement there was a shot that looked disturbingly life-like. The film becomes an eerie exercise in judging what looks real and what doesn't. Traditional animated films and previous CGI films have been attempts to create the impression of life with a few lines or some lines of computer programming. Final Fantasy, however, tries to create the illusion of life and it occasionally comes close. It's the damndest thing to witness.

What also struck me while watching the film was how much CGI effects have clogged up modern movie-making. Certain parts of the film -a stray control panel here, a monster there- would register with me as the type of effect that could be seen in a live-action movie. Thus, even though the entire film was cut from the same cloth, those segments would somehow feel more "real" with the characters somehow super-imposed on it. It was a strange sensation.

I also give credit to the film-makers for not only trying something different, but for doing so in such a weird way. The movie features an antagonist who is suicidal, villains who are misunderstood, and a climax that featured various spirits coming together to find peace. The whole film has a very Japanese, non-action feel to it. This movie would of been unpopular even if had been a live-action production. Still, there's something to be admired about a film that tries this hard to be it's own thing. Not only were the film makers trying to create a totally different style of film, they tried to make it an action film with romance and the explanation for life itself. Wow! Compare this to some of the recent Hollywood output such as The Mummy Returns. Not only did that film somehow look less realistic, it was obvious nobody involved with it gave a damn. Even if it doesn't fully work, an earnest attempt to try something new is something that should be applauded.

Final Fantasy is a mess, but it's an amazing, worthwhile mess. In the end it's a shame the movie wasn't as alive as it hoped to be but it tried to reach beyond current limits and for that it should be applauded.

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