![]() Much of the movie is spent explaining the Gaia concept and the nature of the aliens. The result was a film that felt a bit too weird for mass audiences, while also in a lot of ways very cliché. The Lifestream came back in this movie as a spirit of a living Earth or “ Gaia” that needed to be rescued. But The Spirits Within ripped-off concepts from Final Fantasy VII like the Lifestream. Instead the film was set in the near-future of Earth in the midst of an alien invasion. The more ridiculous elements of the series like Chocobos and spikey-haired teenagers were removed. This was not just going to be a movie for the fans of the games, but a movie for everybody. It based its plotline on none of the games in the series. The Spirits Within was a compromise somewhere between Final Fantasy and a Western SciFi film like Aliens. Square Pictures thought their experience with PlayStation FMVs and complex storylines would translate to a mass audience. Serious adult animated films were a rarity then as they are now. In 2001 CG animation was known mainly for Toy Story. They even sent out shameless pin-up pictures of Aki in a bikini to Maxim magazine. The star of the movie, Aki Ross, would become a “digital actress”, a reusable character that could appear in later films. Photorealistic CG films were imagined to be a revolution in the industry. The Spirits Within was planned to be the flashship of a new medium of film. Major actors like Alec Baldwin, James Woods, and Donald Sutherland would voice characters. The full power of Sony’s Columbia arm was used to market the film around the world. A whole Square Pictures studio was created in Hawaii. The film was the result of an investment of over a hundred million dollars and four years of work. was attempting something massive with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The Ambitionįifteen years ago, the then-Square Co. It has never met the ambition that it started out with. Yet beyond the graphics and the crazy action scenes, Final Fantasy has never made a good movie. Even today Kingsglaive is so impressive that its visuals could be mistaken for live action. Square Co./Square Enix wanted to to push the envelope of what CG animation could achieve. The shame is that Final Fantasy movies started out looking to be so much more. Kingsglaive will never be anything more than a two hour advertisement for the game. Currently it has a pathetic single-digit score on Rotten Tomatoes. Kingsglaive opened to a buzzsaw of bad reviews. It is the first Final Fantasy movie in over a decade and is a prologue to the upcoming JRPG. Recently the latest film in the series, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, was released. ![]() But most people have already forgotten about The Spirits Within. Gamers today still look back fondly on the storylines of games like Final Fantasy Tactics. They are made to have strong characters, heavy story focus, and exciting cinematics. The games have been trying to be movies since the PlayStation 1 era. But Final Fantasy in particular seems like it should defy the trend. For most video game series, this would be no surprise at all. Square Enix has tried three times to make a great Final Fantasy movie, with limited success.
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