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 Final
Fantasy
 
Final
Fantasy is considered the Final Frontier by fans of the animation
genre. With its claim to be the apex of CGI technology, animation
buffs have been frothing at the bit for its arrival.
They wont be disappointed. Every detail around the "cast"
faces, from the wrinkles, which looked natural, to the hair, which
bounced believably about, was detailed perfection, and awe inspiring.
But,
unlike many of the digitally ingenious "cartoons" we've
seen in the past few years, Toy Story (1&2), Shrek etc, FF
lacked a soul and had no character. For all it's brilliant animation
tricks, ominous digitally breathtaking landscapes, liquid monsters
and fancy space-age gizmos, the "people" were too mannequin-like
to really feel like you were watching anything but an un-interactive
video game you parlayed at Best Buy in the new arrivals bin.
The
story takes place on a bleak dismal Earth, 2065. We've been invaded
by phantom spirits from outer space that enjoy feasting on souls
or nesting in our bodies, hoping to later, feast on our souls…
creep-o-rama central! One brilliant scientist, Aki Ross, is working
with her mentor on the key to the spirit sucking aliens' destruction-
without having been familiar with the role-playing game the film's
based on, I think I needed a degree in metaphysics to follow the
theory the two are engineering.
Aki
is searching for eight spirit specimens hidden around the world
that will implement their "world saving" plan when she
bumps into an old flame, Captain Gray Edwards (voiced by Alec
Baldwin). Gray looks as if his animators "borrowed"
quite a bit of pixel DNA from fleshy actor, (scrumptious) Ben
Affleck. The handsomest cartoon I've ever seen. He's a Laura Croft
for the gals, if you will.
So
now while we are trying to decipher the where and whats of the
spirit aliens and scientific  jargon
being spat at us faster than popcorn's being shoveled into our
confused hungry faces, we have a silly love story between the
two in blossom as Armageddon heads Earth's way.
Snore.
FF
delivered what it had promised; luring crowds this weekend with
it's state of the art super-rich animation. But, after the haze
of "ohs" and "ahs" dissipated, the storyline
thinly entertained leaving you feeling as if you didn't quite
get your games worth. I can always stay home and pop in a CGI
game for a visual treat, here I expected a little more depth in
character and I'm not referencing the DPIs either. Think of FF
as the Ying and Yang of movies; completely visually stunning,
while utterly mentally mundane and you'll enjoy it.
I like Warner Bros. and The Pink panther so I'm no expert on animation.
I prefer happy, slappy cartoons to dark end-of-the-world schtuff
like this. Besides, the world they "painted" was so
miserable and depressing who'd fight one second to stay alive.
No malls, no cinemas, and no Wolfgang pucks!! What's the point
then I ask you?
Snack
Recommendation: Uber large popcorn and Junior mints.
Starring
the voices of: Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Matt
McKenzie, Ming-Na, Ving Rhames and Donald Sutherland
Directed
by: Hironobu Sakaguchi
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