Ok, people will probably hate me for saying this, but I liked the movie. Granted, it's not the best movie in the world, but at least for me it was enjoyable. One thing though: I don't think it should bear the Final Fantasy name because, well, it doesn't have anything to do with Final Fantasy, other than it was made by Square Enix.

naw i dont hate you any way it was just kinda wierd hearing alec baldwens voice with ben afflecs face

I personally thought this movie sucked, granted the CGI was very good for it's time, shame about the rest. Never

I saw this movie twice in theaters, and it was the first DVD I ever owned... it has its flaws, but its a great movie, all in all. Granted, the only relation to FF is that there is a character named Cid (or Sid, rather) and its about the Lifestream... but if you just watch it as a movie... its actually pretty good.

It has a great cast and the action is decent... hell, it even has a better story than Advent Children... in fact, I'm thoroughly convinced that if someone had used a sword in the film, there wouldn't be nearly as much bitching about it as there often seems to be.

But yeah... truth be told, the only reason the film was even made was to capitolize on the popularity of FF that had been created by FF7... but it just wasn't what people were expecting... that doesn't mean it wasn't good, though... jsut not what most were expecting.

This movie was good CGI wise but I didnt get why it had the FF name itself. It is a possibility they wanted to use the name for capitalization, but whatever, it was an alright movie overall

It doesn't just have teh title to bank on the FF fandom, thats the whole reason it was made in teh first place... its not a secret, adn they talk about it breifly in the special features on the DVD... but still... it wasn't that bad.

The whole point of the plot was very Final Fantasy-esque in my opinion.

Just because we don't see Aki casting shell on the party or something of the like, isn't a good reason to dismiss the film as not being worthy of the Final Fantasy title.

The whole idea of the plot was Gaia (The Earth's Spirit/Lifestream) fighting off an alien planet's life force that had infected the Earth, with the help of Humans (Gaia's children), is completely similar to the likes of what has been seen in other Final Fantasy titles, both before and after The Spirits Within.

Doesn't that sound very similar to Geostigma in the much loved Advent Children? Also similar to the invading alien Jenova in the original game?

In my opinion it took the best of VII's storyline and made a realistic movie out of it, set on our own planet, only in the future.

I do wonder if they had Aki jumping 2 or 3 kilometers in the air and killing, huge earth shattering monsters in only 3 hits, if it would've been more enjoyed and gotten better reviews !

There are some very obvious Final Fantasy elements there and I believe that's enough for it to have the title.

Yeah... if there was someone weilding somesort of techno-sword in the scene where they save Aki from the phantoms, and others using similar weapons later... and mayeb if some cast a spell here or there... everyone would've absolutely loved the movie, it would;ve been a celebrated work of the FF franchise, and they wouldn't have had to ever change the storyline or any of the dialog... which, admittedly... would've made a better movie... but basically what I'm saying is... its still a good movie without that stuff.

Does it quite feel like FF? No... would it with the stuff I mentioned? Yes... does that change the fact that the movie is good or bad? No...it shouldn't change the perception. Becasue a movie is only worth its story... and no one can tell me that this didn't have a good one... or at least a better one than FFVII:AC had... that said... you know what AC had that SW didn't? Swords and magic... so there you go.

That's essentially the crux of the matter Takk.

People have placed a huge amount of importance in the presence of alternative weapons such as swords (let's ignore the fact that the main weapon in The Spirits Within, a gun, also features heavily in other Final Fantasy titles - Barret, Vincent, Balthier, Advent Children, X-2 and so on ).

Couple that with the lack of a magic spell or two and suddenly you have a whole bunch of people who dislike the movie as a whole.

For that matter, how much magic use do we actually see in the likes of Advent Children? Kadaj summons Bahamut, Loz (arguably) equips Haste and we see a case of materia lying in the Sector 7 Church. There is perhaps more examples that I have forgotten but the point is, magic doesn't play a major role in the movie. The majority of combat is swordplay.

By having such a narrow definition of what Final Fantasy should be, that is, it must have magic, summons and perhaps a sword featuring, we really limit any potential that could be achieved.

It also means that if Square had to stick to the formula: Final Fantasy = Swords + Magic then any new productions, be it games or movies, will just be more of the same old thing.

I really thought The Spirits Within threw a good mix of new ideas in and really bringing something refreshingly different to the series.

I think most of the criticism this film faces is from a few die-hards that like the comfort of familiar territory.