(NOTE TO READER: If you happen to read this review, whether in-full, or just a skim, please rate the review. I will appreciate the feedback, negative or positive, and will return the gesture if you have made your own review.)
Ah, Final Fantasy VII...
When this game premiered back in 1997, it happened in a very memorable, and enjoyable time in my life. I enjoyed every bit of completing 100% of the game, and had been looking forward to the release of this movie for many years following its initial announcement.
To appreciate this review, and to have any interest in reading it thoroughly, I'd have to recommend that you're also a fan of the FFVII game, as I'll be very detailed for this review in particular. To the Mainstreamer just interested in some insight, just check out the bold/underlined segments.
First of all, it is
notmandatory to have played the game to
enjoythis movie. However, you
willget the maximum enjoyment out of it if you
didplay the game.
Animation:
Oh how beautiful it is. AC is a sumptuous visual masterpiece. The CG in this is simply
best I've seen to date, and I don't expect too much to surpass it in the very near future.
Every frame of Advent Children teems with the love of its creators. From the opening sequence of an older Red XIII overlooking the grassy remains of midgar, to the final credits, you will be in awe of the amount of effort that went into making everything in the world of FFVII come brilliantly to life.
The action sequences are just amazing. For anyone who has not played the game, it is worth it to watch this just to see the fantastic action in this movie. Even after I have seen AC for the ...15th time? It's still enjoyable to skip the story sequences just to watch the amazing fight sequences, that tie in absolutely perfectly with it's epic soundtrack...
Sound:
Nobuo Uematsu has become a household name, not just for video gamers, but for the multimedia mainstream as well. The breathtaking soundtracks of the Final Fantasy games has wowed people all over the world in CD form, as well as live orchestral concerts.
AC is no exception to this. Many of the original tunes that made the bestselling FFVII game soundtrack so popular, are back and better than ever.
The Black Mages (Uematsu's personal Rock/Metal band) lend their awesome sound to most of the music, and charge every battle scene with high energy, high intensity guitar riffs, alongside Uematsu's organ work. The remix of "One Winged Angel" and how it so harmoniusly goes with the action and dialogue in this movies final battle still gives me chills every time I see it.
The Voice cast all played their roles well too. I was extremely happy with the choices made for most all the characters. The characters sounded pretty much how you would imagine them too. That's saying alot, considering they're
taking characters the target audience for the movie is very intimate with, and giving them something integral to a movie, that the 1997 game version lacked .. voices.
Story:
To truly appreciate the story of FFVII:AC, you have to have played the game, otherwise AC becomes a glorified, visually impressive slugfest. The story takes place 3 years after the events at the end of FFVII.
The entire premise of the story is fairly simple in this sequel. The same characters are placed in a world now plagued by a disease which was the aftermath of the end of the game. (Which they explain in a lengthy dialogue at the beginning of the movie) The characters are back to their normal lives, when suddenly a new gang of villains with extraordinary power and an evil agenda show up and attack Cloud.
From there on, it's a quest to find out who they are, how they tie into this new disease plaguing the planet, and what their ultimate goal is. Your typical "Good vs Evil, fight the bad guys, save the world" epic, just with characters that a target audience is familiar with.
The unfortunate thing is that this story will more than likely have a lackluster appeal to anyone who has not played the FFVII game. AC was made more as a fanservice project anyway, but ended up becoming a mainstream phenomenon in the process, due to its insane amount of hype.
Character:
People who are not fans of the game are going to have a
veryhard time connecting with the main characters. There is little to no development whatsoever for about 75% of the cast, and the one's who
doreceive development get it minimally at best. It's obvious Square wanted to wow the mainstream with breathtaking visuals, while relying on the very appearence of its beloved characters to carry this movie into the homes of its already rock solid fanbase.
Almost all of the characters in AC premiered originally in the game. There's a problem here though. They made newcomer Denzel one of the main characters in the movie. Even as a fanservice based movie, most fans went into this one wondering
who the heck this kid is...
In order to understand Denzel's story, you
haveto go and read up on it... it isn't mentioned at all in the game, or even in any backstory during the film itself...he's just kind of there, and for some reason, plays an important role.
Mandatory research to understand a character or parts of a story is a big no-no, especially for a movie with the goal AC had.
Some characters were given the proper amount of screentime, and were mirror images of their game counterparts. (Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Aeris, Vincent, Marlene) but some characters were overdeveloped (The Turks, as much as I like them, did not play as integral a role in the game as some of the poorly underdeveloped characters in the movie) some characters receiving very little screentime (Cid, Barret, Yuffie) and others almost none at all (Red XIII had ONE line in this movie.)
It was important for them to develop the newcomers (Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo) and they did that very well. To be honest, I liked the direction they took AC in, but
as a movie made for fanservice, it may put some viewers off.
Probably the single biggest turnoff to most fans, was that in the ONE battle the other characters aside from Cloud and Tifa got to take part in, they couldn't even put a single scratch on the enemy, rendering the team virtually useless. I suppose this was done to illustrate Cloud's new strength... at least that's the only explanation I can come up with.
Value:
Now here is a hard one. To judge this from an unbiased Point of View.
I have purchased this movie at probably a quarter the amount I would have paid for it. For any fan of the Final Fantasy series, this is an absolute MUST own.
For a mainstream viewer not familiar with the FF games, it is still going to be a fun experience to watch with a group of friends and just absorb the amazing visual and audio experience. However, the Characters and the Story will be forgettable almost as soon as you've stopped the film, when you take away the games preset nostalgia factor.
Enjoyment:
This movie will be enjoyed once for it's impressive and unique visual effect to the casual viewer.
To a fan however...the fact I wrote such a large scale review speaks for itself. As a fan of the FF series for the last decade, I loved every minute of AC, and if I could give an '11' for what Square tried to do, I would. This is the fanservice that fanatics have been waiting for.
