24 April 2006

14 September 2005

25 April 2006

(Spoilers for those who have not completed Final Fantasy VII!)

Introduction

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is set two years after Final Fantasy VII. Cloud and company have saved the world from the disastrous reign of Shinra, and stopped Meteor and Sephiroth from destroying the planet, but is it enough? Two years later a new terror has struck, in the ruins of Midgar the people are slowly rebuilding Midgar, but a terrible illness called Geostigma is spreading throughout the city, killing everyone in it's wake, with no cure in sight. And the children are always the first to suffer...
Whilst a group of young rebels, named Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj, are stealing sick children and Materia, the glowing orbs with mystical powers, for their own selfish reasons; the Reunion....
So Cloud steps forward, along with his old friends, to stop the horror that is destroying Midgar all over again.

FFVII: Advent Children is Square-Enix's CGI movie, the sequel to FFVII, out now on DVD and UMD.

By FFFreak.

Plot - 9/10
Graphics - 10/10
Music - 7/10
Acting - 7/10
Replay - 8/10
Overall - 8/10

Plot - 9/10

The story of FFVII: Advent Children is fairly straight forward, although has some great twists toward the end.
It is based two years after the events of FFVII, but after everything the planet and it's inhabitant's have been through, all is not at peace.
You are introduced to the world of FFVII through the words of Marlene, the story details of the original game are simplified to help viewers who are new to FFVII, however, whether this is enough to properly explain the fine details of FFVII to someone who has never played it, I'm not sure.
Two years have passed, and a lethal illness named Geostigma has spread throughout the ruins of Midgar, anyone who falls ill to it will slowly die. Nobody knows where the disease with no cure came from, but it is surely the signs of something far more sinister.
A troublesome group made up of three young men, called Yazoo, Loz and Kadaj, are searching Midgar for their "Mother" and will let nothing get in the way of the Reunion...
On the outskirts of Midgar is a lone warrior, his old sword silent, his name is Cloud. But can this man face the destiny of a hero again to save his friends, let go of a memory and rid the world of a new threat, the threat of the true meaning behind Geostigma and the Reunion...

Plot development is rather weak and the story doesn't seem to take any strong direction, with half the movie containing mostly incredible battle scenes, but that's what we want isn't it? ^.~
But if you think about it, there wasn't much they could do with the story anyway, it finished in FFVII, so think of this as an ending movie; the last battle.
The movie has many references to the original game, like Loz's mobilephone ringtone being the victory music after winning a battle in FFVII and flashbacks to Aeris / Aerith and Sephiroth, which may be confusing to newcomers. Even though there is an introduction to the world of FFVII in the beginning of this film, there isn't enough to fully understand the plot, and people who have never played FFVII may be lost or rather bored, particularly at long plot development scenes.
Although even huge Final Fantasy fans may be confused with the new characters, like Kadaj and his his gang, "Where did they come from?" is a common question.
But despite some flaws, Square-Enix did a very good job, keeping the old feel of FFVII very well and coming up with an adequate plot that is pretty well rooted in the original story, the major twists at the end definitely make up for what the story lacked.

Graphics - 10/10

The graphics in FFVII: Advent Children are simply amazing. Every detail is carefully animated and the backgrounds look incredible, let alone the characters!
The battle scenes are jaw dropping, the action is incredibly fast-paced with no time to blink, even the laws of gravity are cast aside so that the character's can jump huge distances and land perfectly. Although this may annoy some people, I think it adds to the whole visual experience, and gives that surreal feel that a Final Fantasy sequel needs.
Even the camera movements are creative, moving in a way that would not be possible in live-action films, which really gives the movie a unique touch. The character's are animated brilliantly, emotions really come through and attention is put into every strand of hair.
Another achievement in Advent Children would have to be Cloud's motorbike, it's fantastic, the design is awesome and it's looks so real! You can see a lot of work went into it.
Overall the animation is excellent, although it's done in a surreal way so that you know that it's not live-action while watching, but you just don't care, it's that amazing.

Even if you've never played a Final Fantasy game, get this movie for the graphics, because you won't want to blink while watching this superb animation!

Music - 7/10

I love the way they re-mixed some of the old Final Fantasy VII music for this film, but sadly the rest of the music let the movie down.
Particularly the music for the battle scenes, which seemed a little naff at times. The rock music style I think was a good idea, but the arrangement didn't sound very professional, so it didn't quite work.
Even some of the remixed songs seemed strange, it was a real shame.
They were good songs, just not arranged well enough.

Acting - 7/10

As for the acting, the actors playing the character's suited their roles, but their acting was a little rusty, making you want to turn the sound off at times.
The actor's voices fit the character's they were playing, Cloud, Aeris / Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, Barret, Vincent and (Highlight for spoiler!) *Sephiroth* all had fantastic voices, just how I imagined them. Then character's like Tifa, Kadaj, Reno, Red XIII and Cait SIth had pretty good voices, but their acting let their character's down at times. Red XIII and Cait SIth being the exceptions, they never sounded good, I was very surprised at their voices.
So after the first watch you may just end up watching it in Japanese with English subtitles, depends on your oppinion.

Replay - 8/10

Replay is pretty high, because you just want to see those amazing visuals again and again! Every time you watch it, you notice something different, a detail in the background, a reference to the original game a part of the plot that you missed before. And then there are the special features on the DVD with loads of documentaries and reviews and a short timeline of the events of FFVII, edited beyong understanding at times, but good if you haven't played the game before or want to refresh your memory.

Overall - 8/10

Overall FFVII: Advent Children was very enjoyable, it was great to see my favourite characters animated so brilliantly and this time accompanied with voices to bring them to life. Although it had it's disappointing flaws, I would still recommend it to all of my friend's. Great movie, now all you need is a copy of it. ^.^

Review written by FFFreak.