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Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within (Special Edition)
Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within (Special Edition)
- Movies & TV > Movies
- Alec Baldwin
- Final Fantasy
- action
- Fantasy
Hironobu Sakaguchi's film is taken from the popular Final Fantasy video game franchise, which is particularly well suited to film adaptation with its series of original stories, but the movie features entirely new characters and settings. And like Toy Story and Shrek, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is completely computer generated. Unlike those cartoon comedies, though, The Spirits Within is a serious science fiction drama with astonishingly human digital actors. Aki, the female lead, appeared in a full-page spread in Maxim magazine's Hot 100 list--and was indistinguishable from the real-life models. The setting and conflict make for incredible action, but it's the larger issues, character interaction, and human elements that really make the movie shine. The Spirits Within is not simply a science fiction movie, in the same way that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is not simply a kung fu flick. The result is a fantastic summer movie with better action and more emotion than Pearl Harbor, and actors more lifelike than those in that other video game movie, Tomb Raider. --Mike Fehlauer
Jim Henson Fantasy Film Collection (Labyrinth / The Dark Crystal / MirrorMask)
The genius of Jim Henson is well represented by the imaginative creatures he brings to this trio of live-action fantasy films. This awesome collector's box set includes The Dark Crystal (1982/93 min.), a classic tale of good vs. evil in a world where truth and balance have been shattered; Labyrinth (1986/101 min.) in which a young girl enters a fantasyland to save her little brother; and MirrorMask (2005/104 min.) in which Helena tries to prevent darkness from blanketing her world forever. 3 DVDs. Color/PG.
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6 Comments
Simple Values – Spectacular Production,
‘Final Fantasy’ is a computer game that has gone through countless versions and editions. Taken as a whole, this mythos is probably one of the best know games in its genre. It is clear from the beginning of this film that Sony and Hironbu Sakaguchi (producer, director, and writer) were intent on topping an already brilliant history of graphic accomplishments. In a sense, ‘The Spirits Within’ represents a piece of history in the making. It is the first film that presents a startling approximation of life using only automation.
The plot is simple. An asteroid falling to earth carries within it a host of phantom creatures that seem hell bent on destroying earthly life. Civilization has been reduced to living in shielded enclaves, and it is only a matter of time before the planet becomes a haunted wasteland. Aki Ross and her mentor, Dr. Sid, are working on the creation of a neutralizing ‘wave’ based on the eight basic phantom life forms. General Hein does not trust Dr. Sid’s theories about a Gaia, or planetary spirit, and wants to use a huge orbital laser cannon to destroy the original meteor, possible destroying the earth in the process. The conflict between these points of view and their shattering effects on the planet are the meat of the film.
Captain Gray Edwards, once Aki’s lover, crystallizes this struggle between the material world of violent reaction and the spiritual world of growth and synthesis. The film plays a bit like an evolved ‘Starship Troopers.’ In many ways, it presents the same visual image, and deals with the same issues. The problem for the director and the viewer is to get past the magnificent graphic work to experience the abiding spiritual faith that is its meaning. Ironically, the film itself is a metaphor for the issues it expresses.
It is almost futile to discuss the film’s animation and design. They are so far above what we are used to that the required superlatives sound trite. In essence, the animation staff set out to create something that is even more real than life, and to a great extent, they have succeeded. This hyperrealism, combined with an almost ballet like feeling of choreography create a sense of moment that makes this seem far more than an action film. The overall animation is carefully balanced so as to keep the focus on the characters. Even so, this film has such a sensory effect that the viewer is tempted to forget the plot and simply observe the screen.
The primary DVD provides the film and a whole set of commentaries (directing crew, animation and staging, composer, and production staff), plus the usual trailers, etc. In the special edition, a second disk adds an extensive ‘Making of…’ segment, the entire screenplay and some analysis of character, vehicle, and prop design. Technically, this is an important film, despite its simplistic plot and characters. For the first time, the definition of what is acting and what is animation is being challenged in a thought provoking fashion.
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|So much potential, but wasted…,
There have been many reviews about this movie that have ranged from excellent to shoddy, but mine will fall in the middle for a couple of reasons I will get to. I’ll tell you what I found cool and what I found to be lacking. First off, I saw this movie in a digital projection theater. The colors were mind-blowing to say the least. I was constantly losing track of the story because I couldn’t take my focus off the spectacular animation. The animation is so rich and textured…let’s just say that you have never seen anything like it-real or fabricated. It truly is amazing. The voice casting is perfect. No slackers anywhere. The idea for the story is very innovative, not just some traditional sci-fi retread. But (and there always is a but), the actual dialogue and character development are lacking. Baldwin sometimes seems like a romantic distraction for Ming Na. Is Woods’ character supposed to be a sympathetic bad guy because he talks about his family before he commits his bad deeds? Come on, I know 13-year-olds who don’t fall for that. The question I was left with was: “Why invest all this money in voice talent, if you give them nothing to work with?” It’s a testament to the actors that they were able to pull so much out of the dialogue considering what they had to work with. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, so I won’t say anything else about it. …I enjoyed all the characters for the most part, but I wish there was more to enjoy. I know sometimes that character development is lost because the studios want to get to the next big action event, but when people don’t have anything invested in the characters, it just becomes a lot noise. It’s too bad because, like I said, there was plenty of sources to draw upon.
Bottom line: The best animation to date, but sorely lacking character and plot development.
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|An under-appreciated, and totally underrated movie,
One of the best computer generated films I have ever seen. Final Fantasy – the Spirits Within was a joy to watch.
It was exciting, funny, poignant, exciting, romantic, joyful, future hopeful and totally mesmerising from start to finish.
With great actors voicing the animated heroes, we are treated to a state of the art adventure in which earth has been decimated by alien phantoms and the only hope for the survival of the human race are eight earth bound energy-spirits that can stop what only be described as Armageddon.
The exquisite Dr Aki Ross along with cynical but mostly good hearted Captain Edwards and his band of disparate marines set out to find these spirits before the megalomaniac General Hein can ruin any chance Earth has for survival.
The graphics are absolutely stunning, the animated characters look so life like you find yourself doing a double take all the time. Aki Ross is especially life like and Captain Edwards positively smoulders on screen but then his character is voiced over by the sexy Alec Baldwin who can still make any red blood female go weak at the knees!
The ending is superb as well as being heart breaking; no one can forget the scene when Captain Edwards lays down his life for the woman he loves and not just to save the world. Romance at its best in my opinion, animated or not!
I also just love the combining of philosophy, nature, science and technology together and the musical score gets a ten out of ten too.
I wish I could have seen this film on the big screen but I only got to see it when it came out on DVD.
A much underrated, under appreciated film that is yet again far too intelligent for your average moronic movie goer.
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|Puppets and CGI,
Of course, we all remember Jim Henson for bringing us those fuzzy, adorable animal puppets and their variety show.
But Henson also produced some very memorable, intriguing fantasy films, and after his death his production company has continued that tradition. “The Jim Henson Family Film Collection” brings together three classic films from Henson and his company, as well as an accompanying book of unknown content.
“Labyrinth” becomes a problem for teenage Sarah, who is stuck babysitting her crying baby stepbrother. But when she idly wished that the goblins would steal him, she never expected it to happen — or that the Goblin King Jareth (David Bowie) would challenge her if she tries to get her brother back.
Now Sarah has only thirteen hours to navigate a changing, hazardous maze, with Jareth’s castle at the center of it. To find her way, she will have to befriend strange creatures and avoid lethal bogs, nasty fairies, head-jugglers, and finally Jareth himself — or her brother will be turned into a goblin himself.
“The Dark Crystal” is the heart of this movie, where on another world, there are two strange races — the enormous, gentle, peaceful Mystics, and the nasty, vulture-like, vicious Skekses. They are somehow connected to a massive crystal that was broken long ago, and now a shard is missing from it. What’s more, three suns are about to come into conjunction, and the shard has to be back in place.
The Mystics have cared for one of the last Gelflings, an orphan named Jen. As the conjunction approaches, they send him out to find the lost shard. Along the way, Jen finds new friends who assist him in his quest, including another Gelfling. But can they avoid the Skekses? And what will happen when the suns line up, and the crystal is completed?
These movies were created in whole by Jim Henson, and even in the darker moments, they have his unmistakeable stamp. More recent — and quite different in tone — is “Mirrormask,” which instead has the stamp of writer Neil Gaiman, and seems like a warped “Alice in Wonderland.” But Henson’s production company does a great job with all the weird special effects.
In “Mirrormask,” we’re introduced to Helena (Stephanie Leonidas), a young circus girl who longs for a “normal” life, and makes elaborate, otherworldly drawings. But one night her mother collapses, and needs life-saving surgery. The guilt-ridden Helena is suddenly whisked into a world that looks very like her drawings, where everyone has a mask — and the beautiful queen of light (who looks a lot like Helena’s mom) is in a coma.
Helena is determined to wake the queen, and gets juggler Valentine (Jason Barry) to accompany her on her quest for the mysterious Mirrormask. But the stakes become higher when the forces of darkness — and their eerie queen — target Helena, and she finds that a dark duplicate of herself has taken over her life. Now Helena must somehow defeat the dark forces, with her mother’s life — and her own — hanging in the balance.
All three of these movies are classics of one type or another, and each embraces a different kind of fantasy. One is about wanting to be swept into an idyllic fantasy life. One is entirely of another world. And one is about the dangers of the other world.
To top it off, three are coming-of-age stories, whether for a teenage girl or a Muppet Gelfling — they all focus on someone pursuing something that can save what is important to them, and growing as a person along the way. The scripting tends to be tight and a little wry. Sometimes it gets goofy, but well-acted (and in Bowie’s case, well-sung).
What’s more, the styles of each movie change: “Dark Crystal” is very fantastical and serious, even with some gross, dark parts, while “Labyrinth” is more kiddy-friendly and Muppety, with the little chivalrous fox (though Bowie’s tight pants are a BIG distraction). And “Mirrormask” has a different style altogether, with lots of shadowy buildings, eerie lighting, fleshy masks, wide bodies and tentacle-like limbs.
The “Jim Henson Fantasy Films” are a good collection of films, showing off Henson’s more fantastical side. Definitely worth seeing.
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|Nice upgrade at a nice price.,
The Jim Henson company is following the same format they had done with The Storyteller Collection and are putting their three fantasy movies onto a single three disk collection. The movies are The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and MirrorMask. Two of these movies (Dark Crystal and Labyrinth) came from Jim Henson himself while MirrorMask is actually from Neil Gaiman, but produced by the Jim Henson company.
The movies themselves are great. The Dark Crystal takes you into a whole different world in a way that no other film has even come close to accomplishing. Labyrinth takes what Dark Crystal did a step further and makes a storybook fantasy come to life in an incredible way. MirrorMask is just as beautiful as the previous movies, but with more computer generated images than live action animatronics and sets.
What you are getting is essentially the previous releases of these movies collected into this one volume, including all of the awesome bonus features. They say this collection has been mastered in high definition, but I don’t know if that means a significant improvement in video quality from the original release or not. There are no additional features or commentaries on these disks from what you had before. Luckily the original releases came with some very nice documentaries and those are included here. This DVD set also comes with a booklet that is essentially a teaser for the upcoming Dark Crystal manga comic.
I am a little hard pressed to recommend this collection to anybody who already has the movies. It doesn’t offer an additional features that you can’t already get on the separate DVD’s, the whole “remastered” element is debatable, and the one and only thing that would have made this a decent buy (an informative insert booklet) turns out to be just advertising for future merchandise. Personally if you really want a high definition transfer wait until these movies are released on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray (or whatever 1080p format that comes up). Now that the 25th Anniversary Editions of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth are out I really see no reason to get this collection, and considering you can get all three DVD’s separately (with the same features, mind you) at a lower cost the choice is obvious.
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|A Masterpiece Collection,
Everyone of us has a favorite muppet, that is how well Jim Henson stood out as one of the most creative minds for family programing and now his legacy is remembered in a box set of the three non muppet films. These movies are nothing but pure grandure of fantasy used to stimulate the mind and senses. The stories are origional family friendly and a pleasure to watch over and over again. Jim Henson worked with other creative minds of the time such as Rick Callum, Frank Oz and of course one of Jim Hensons’ equils George Lucas. No wonder these movies are so good.
The Dark Crystal, the first of these films is Lord Of The Rings with muppets. Its the story of a dying world and two races of creatures created by the breaking of the keeper of the world, the Dark Crystal. Now it is up to Jen, the last of his race to unite the crystal before the three suns of the planet align. Dark Crystal is an eye popping marvel. It doesn’t move too quickly but that is how Jim Hensons’ work is most of the time. But just watching the fact that there is not a single human in this movie and that its all done through the magic of puppetry and voice acting keeps you in your seat itching to see what happens next.
Labyrinth, probably the fan favorite of the three is the most entertaining in my eyes. Picture a twisted Wizard of Oz, with goblins. It’s the story of a young, but still hot Jennifer Connely as she wishes her baby brother is taken away by the infamous Gobin King (That is David Bowie and yes he is singing!)Now she muse get to the caslte through a puzzeling maze filled with creatures you have never seen anywhere else before her brother becomes a goblin. This movie is great its a must see.
The last one was made long after Jim Henson left us, but the story of Mirrormask stays true to the legacy of Jim Henson storytelling. Filled with stimulating images, crazy creatures and a important moral to lesson to learn.
This collection goes right up there with the great movie trilogies of the past 35 years. It is worth every penny and there is no doubt in my mind you will want to watch them as much as you can.
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