Ceray

There aren't many video game players that I know of who haven't heard of Final Fantasy, and there aren't any RPG maniacs that I've met that haven't heard of Final Fantasy VII. The seventh installment of the never-ending Final Fantasy series is the most famous, and for a while I had no idea why, since I had never played the game. When the sequel, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was announced, I had no idea what it was to be about, but since I was consumed with Final Fantasy X, X-2 and the Kingdom Hearts series, I decided to give the movie a shot. Final FantasyVII: Advent Children takes place two years after the events of the game. It follows Cloud, who is still mourning the death of Aerith/Aeris and a trio of mini Sephiroth clone things as they try to obtain "Mother" and wreak destruction on the entire planet. Goody. Story - Well, I can say that anyone who has no idea about the events of Final Fantasy VII might be confused on the events and people that are mentioned, or it could be just my mother, but it's fairly easy to keep up with, so long as you're paying attention. While I did enjoy the story, it just seemed a little like your typical villian wants to destory the world because of some personal reason and hero, or slight anti-hero in Cloud's case, goes and takes down villian for some personal reason, so that took away from the inital enjoyment. Score - 8 Animation - ...Dude, this is Square Enix we're talking here. Square Enix the video game company. Do I have to say anything else? ....Fine, I will. Okay, the last Final Fantasy movie, The Spirits Within, it was a flop, why? Well, I think that it looked too darn REAL, and when you're making something animated or with CGI (that's it right?), you don't want it to look real! The whole point is for it not to look real, if it's going too look real then you're better off using real actors. When AC came around they learned that you can't make them look too real. Now, while the characters can be mistaken for real people, they still hold that animated air around them (it's all in the hair). And that, my dears, makes for some awesome animation. Satisfied? Score - 10 Sound - Well, the background music is well. I have the feeling that some of it are different versions of the soundtrack from the game, but again, I can't be sure. The piano compositions that play at certain points of the movie are simply beautiful, particularly the one, Cloud Smiles... I think that's it's name anyway. The remixed version of One-Winged Angel, is simply awesome, and it proves that you can mix a mad rock band with a orchestra. I wasn't fond of the ending song that plays during the credits (the one with the vocals), so I seldom watch the credits because of that... I watched the dub version, and I loved it, I thought everyone's voices suited their apparent character... Kadaj sounding like a crazy boy dude, Cloud sounding like some... well, you get it, don't you? Though my mind doesn't agree with Aerith's voice... Score - 9 Character - Well, I'd say the characterization for this is fairly well, particularly Cloud, since because the end while he does show some acceptance with what's happened and what he's been told over and over again, he still seems like the same...stoic Cloud. Ahm. Yeah. I'll use Kadaj as an example again, he's a good character because you see him, and when he's in your mind you can't put him out of character, unless you're some rabid fangirl... But... yeah. Since this is a movie a character can't really grow in the allowed time period (I assume the movie takes place during maybe... three or four days?), so I can't say much... Unless we're talking Cloud, and we did already. Score - 9 Enjoyment - ...I can say with a straight face that I enjoyed this movie. After all, you're not going to watch a movie that you don't like eighty times, now are you? I liked the actions scenes, and the animation the most... And particularly Reno... Okay, moving on. Score - 9 All In All... Yay! - Animation, baby! Those graphics can be synonymous with... eye candy. I think they are, too. Nay! - Story needs to be indepth, and should maybe a little easier for the... non fans to follow... Eheheh... Overall Score - 9

Venneh

Title: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Anime(?): AC is a digitally animated film that was released in 2005 by Square-Enix (famous for the Final Fantasies, duhr!), and directed by Tetsuya Nomura (Kingdom Hearts, FFVIII, FFX, duhr!). The original version was released in Japan in 2005, and it finally made its way Stateside in April of 2006 thanks to Squenix NA and Sony. There have been several super-deluxe ultimate editions released, as is Squenix's habit, and I'm not even going to bother covering those. Story: I would assume that you know this, but maybe you've been hiding under a rock. Basically, it's two years afterthe Planet was almost destroyed by Meteor and Sephiroth, and now there's this disease called Geostigma striking the children, and Cloud's living life as a delivery man and being generally emo and such before he gets dragged back into things c/o three silver-haired men (ZOMG SEPHIROTHS?!). In case you couldn't sense the sarcasm permeating the review up until this point, I'm not terribly impressed with this movie. The plot is very lacking, and I expect more from Squenix because I know they can deliver better than this. No one gets any development (except Cloud, and that's only to from emo to zomgkickyourassSEPHIROTH!), which is disappointing, especially because we have the three silver-hairs who could've been developed pretty nicely, but are pretty much cardboard cutouts. This applies to the rest of the cast, too. The plot is essentially something I could have found on Fanfiction.net, and about as well thought-out/executed, too. It boils down to Cloud emo, fight, fight, Cloud emo, silver-haired guys, fight, fight, Cloud emo, fight for the kids, fight, fight zomgsephiroth! Come on, Squenix! You've done better than this! Basically, it was very obvious that they did this simply to milk FFVII for everything that it's worth. Art: It's Squenix, so it's guaranteed that the visuals are going to be astoundingly beautiful, which they are. The guys look prettier than the girls, for crying out loud! I have a problem with the way they chose to cut this, though. Several people, both in the AC thread and in earlier reviews, have compared the editing to that of a music video. And it's not that far off. The cuts are very confusing, as are the angles, and it takes a few viewings to get used to it. Music: It basically comes down to strings and choir background vocals mixed with hard rock. Not all that impressive, really. There are some good tracks ('For the Reunion', 'Aeris' Theme', whatever that one song is that plays during Tifa and Loz's fight, the AC version of One-Winged Angel), but it's not enough to save most of the soundtrack from repetition. Decent, overall. Length: The repetition of the plot causes this to drag a little, despite how fast it moves along. The dragging is really obvious at the end, which is similar to Return of the King's in how long it takes to wrap up. Nomura admits this was originally planned as a twenty-minute short, but it just ended up expanding and expanding, and you can tell that it got a little bloated as it did. Seiyuu: This is one of the saving graces of the film. I could watch this just for Rufus and Kadaj's seiyuu. And there are some top-tier seiyuu (Maaya Sakamoto as Aeris, most notably, and the guy who did Roy Mustang as Sephiroth) as well, and everyone else in the production carries their roles wonderfully. Dub: However, what I said above doesn't go for the dub. The voices are amazingly bland when compared to their Japanese counterparts. Aeris and Tifa's voice actresses, most notably, deliver their lines like robots. The only ones who get close to their Japanese counterparts' performances are Kadaj and Sephiroth, and even those are pale imitations at best. Performances like these are the reason I went to/usually stick to subs. Overall: This was a disappointment to me, especially after I went out of my way to get a legal version. I'm hoping this doesn't carry over to the other Compilation of FFVII titles (though, from what I know thus far, Last Order didn't fare much better than this, and I've heard the same for Dirge of Cerberus, while the recently-released Crisis Core is said to be the best of the bunch). I know you're trying to get everything you can out of this, Squenix, but really, could you at least try for some quality? Story: 6/10 Art: 8/10 Music: 8/10 Length: 6/10 Seiyuu: 10/10 Dub: 4/10 Overall: 42/60; 70% (D)