The Spirits Within [The Spirits Within] Who Else Actually Liked This Movie?

Do you like The Spirits Within?

  • Yes! It was great for its time.

    Votes: 8 50.0%
  • No! It deserved to bomb.

    Votes: 8 50.0%

  • Total voters
    16

AuronX

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So I agree with the general consensus that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within should not have had the first part of its title (maybe instead something like "The Spirits Within - From the makers of Final Fantasy") but setting that aside, I actually found the film to be extremely good, and I think it has gotten better with age. As time has gone on, certain elements have been added to various FF games that resemble things seen in TSW, making it as a whole more relevant to the series than at its launch. The storyline wasn't perfect, but FF creators aren't used to packing a story into such a short time frame, and I think they did a decent job considering that fact. It's definitely a better storyline than Advent Children. The music was great, the graphics were great. More than a decade later they still occasionally wow me with their realism, and I read a while back about a test that was done which demonstrated that TSW models are still fairly complex to render on modern hardware. They didn't completely nail the photorealism, but even the worst looking things in the movie still look very good, and the best looking things in it will make you wipe your eyes and take a second glance before you are sure what you're looking at isn't real.

Plus, get this: back in the late 90s, someone makes a movie with killer graphics and it is the worst bomb in hollywood history. Back in the late 00s, someone makes a movie with killer graphics that mimics many aspects of TSW and it makes billions. Yes, I'm referring to Avatar. Seriously, take the two movies and compare them side by side. Numerous shots from Avatar and the overall pacing of the plot are identical to that of TSW, right down to the backdrop for the credits being a flyover of the 3D landscape. The villains in both films are even strikingly similar in their "do whatever it takes to get the job done" mentality that ends up being their own destruction.

If you ask me, TSW suffered from being too far ahead of its time, not from low production values. In a strange way, it really defined the 90s for me even though I didn't first see the movie until just a few years ago. I saw the trailers on the TV though, and remember feeling excited from them because it made me feel like I was living in the middle of a huge technological boom--and I was. And even now, the movie has a distinct 90s feel to it despite the up-to-date visuals.

So yeah...I actually liked The Spirits Within. Anyone else out there in the same boat?
 
Its good. But you might aswell called it legend of zelda. Or even more realistic view star ocean etc.

Too Ahead of its time? I doubt it. It got good reviews but it didnt sell because it tried to give itself a finalfantasy brand. Its like a action movie pushing itself off a a chick flick. It wont go well.

You really arent giving many options. Were limited by two very specific choices. Overall i say it deserved to bomb. But
 
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You really arent giving many options. Were limited by two very specific choices. Overall i say it deserved to bomb. But

That's because I asked a very specific question ;)

If you're somewhere in between you don't have to vote; I just put the poll up because I was interested to see how many people had strong feelings in either direction.
 
It's definitely a better storyline than Advent Children.

Did you see the complete version, or are you basing that off the crumby short version? :humph:

I voted for the "it deserved to bomb" option, but I wanted to vote for the "This bland thing made me fall asleep" option. I thought it was pretty boring. It seemed more like a Metroid movie than a Final Fantasy. I don't think it had anything to do with the games, but hey, I wasn't awake to notice, so... :sleep:
 
That's because I asked a very specific question ;)

If you're somewhere in between you don't have to vote; I just put the poll up because I was interested to see how many people had strong feelings in either direction.

not really. you're not leaving us with much room. we have to say Either "yes" and "it was ahead of its time" or "no" and "it deserved to bomb". Basically we have to choose the opinions you leave for us.

you might aswell be leaving a poll saying

"yes, i have an open mind"

and

"no, i dont care"
 
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Did you see the complete version, or are you basing that off the crumby short version? :humph:

I voted for the "it deserved to bomb" option, but I wanted to vote for the "This bland thing made me fall asleep" option. I thought it was pretty boring. It seemed more like a Metroid movie than a Final Fantasy. I don't think it had anything to do with the games, but hey, I wasn't awake to notice, so... :sleep:

Yes, I saw the complete version. Don't get me wrong, I liked AC too, but the storyline was basically an excuse to arrange all of the battle sequences. It worked well enough and made an entertaining movie, but The Spirits Within definitely had the more solid foundation/execution in regards to story between the two films.

not really. you're not leaving us with much room. we have to say Either "yes" and "it was ahead of its time" or "no" and "it deserved to bomb"

you might aswell be leaving a poll saying

"yes, i have an open mind"

and

"no, i dont care"

:wtf:

...ok, for one thing, the poll says "it was great for its time" not "it was ahead of its time". "Great for its time" merely acknowledges that it was a pioneering effort, which I think everyone can agree on. For another thing, I was just going for something more interesting than a bland old 'yes' and 'no'. Ultimately I don't think the voting options change your opinion, which you shared in a post as you would have done anyway...maybe let's do more focusing on the thread topic and less picking apart symantics for the sake of disagreeing, please?
 
...ok, for one thing, the poll says "it was great for its time" not "it was ahead of its time". "Great for its time" merely acknowledges that it was a pioneering effort, which I think everyone can agree on. For another thing, I was just going for something more interesting than a bland old 'yes' and 'no'. Ultimately I don't think the voting options change your opinion, which you shared in a post as you would have done anyway...maybe let's do more focusing on the thread topic and less picking apart symantics for the sake of disagreeing, please?

not exactly. a bland yes or no in the poll allows people to post their own personal reason as to why yes or no. Not exactly, and voting options tend to force others to choose the options you gave them, whether they share it or not.

one could say "no" but also think it was great for its time. Or one might say "it was good, but i didn't appreciate it then" or maybe, one wouldn't even consider the time difference to be relevant.
 
Yes, I saw the complete version. Don't get me wrong, I liked AC too, but the storyline was basically an excuse to arrange all of the battle sequences. It worked well enough and made an entertaining movie, but The Spirits Within definitely had the more solid foundation/execution in regards to story between the two films.

Okay, I'll give you that, and I am tempted to re-watch it so I can find out what yer talking about, but you've gotta understand where I'm coming from:
I bought it expecting something like this:

ff8z.jpg


but I ended up with this:

spirits.jpg


It's like I ordered ice cream, and they gave me a pie. I have nothing against pie, I just wasn't expecting it this time.

I'll go watch the movie :P
 
I was not a fan of this movie at all, the characters wasn't interesting at all, the storyline was muddle around like super badly, and it just wasn't a final fantasy, I think the movie should of have been more like the games, or something like that, then maybe the film might of have been better, sorry but I just preferred Advent Children
 
I think I need to see it again to be honest. I first saw it when I was about nine or something silly and I didn't really get it or understand it so I rubbed it off as dumb and lame.

I remember some girl named Aki ...a Doctor Cid sorry I mean... Sid why that change on the Cid ? So silly and some guy with black hair and pretty, pretty graphics.
:hmph:


I think I sort of hold a grudge towards it because it destroyed SquareSoft and created the Lightning milking cows. Sigh.
:sad3:
 
Personally i think it failed due to it being named final fantasy and thats all the reason i need to not enjoy it and i can definitely see others falling for the same. However i doubt this film was the reason why SE is the way it is.
 
When it was first released, I was way too young to understand what the the hell was going on, but I've seen it a few years ago out of curiosity.

I must say that, for its time, they did great trying to capture realistic humans. The visuals of the landscapes and cities were really astounding for its time as well. Aki was very real to me, and it was impressive.

What I get from the story:
Involves a struggle by Aki and a band of Deep Eyes (futuristic human warriors) to defend the survivors of an alien invasion of Earth. Humans live inside energy shields that protect some of the largest cities...where Aki's team will defend and fight against the aliens.

It was a pretty decent moviem in my opinion. Not the best, but I still enjoyed it.
 
lkrwtf.gif


Serious, guys? Me and the OP are the only people that like it? That is strange :lew: I agree with the OP, it was WAY ahead of it's time. I still think it's got beautiful CGI, wonderful cast, and a brilliant story. As stated in the first post, it is definitely an inspiration for AVATAR, in more ways than one. The story might seem too complex for people, but really, it's actually not. It's like the average FF game, monsters are reeking havoc and people are dying and being pushed to sacrifice bits of the planet in order to save themselves. It's almost exactly like FFVII, too.

Aliens arrived on the planet via a meteor fragment of their old planet, their souls are unable to go to the afterlife due to all the 'spirits' being separated. Aki is trying to reunite the spirits but mad-dog Hein wants to take out the fury of losing his wife (and I believe child) and just blast the mo-fo's to hell with the 'Zeus cannon', but Cid and Aki are against this because it could also kill the planet. So she goes on a journey trying to collect the rest of the spirits before hein can convince everyone to use the cannon. Eventually, Aki finds out she's the last spirit and her lover acts as a medium for her so her spirit can transfer without her being killed in the process.

the planet is restored and the angry spirits are gone.

that's literally the storyline.

brilliant.

but it's not complicated like people say it is.

that said, i loved the film. there's not many older films that i would watch 14-15 years later and still be impressed with, but TSW is one of those films. (holy shit it's almost 15 years old)


Did you see the complete version, or are you basing that off the crumby short version? :humph:
whaaa.gif


What are you talking about, nothing about advent children complete makes the older version crumby or short. The only shit added in AC is zack rubbing it in Cloud's face that he wasn't a soldier, cloud being lectured by an 8 year old, kids running to the church, tifa actually does something, and the scene where tifa touches cloud's shoulder and homeboy don't even acknowledge her. absolutely nothing exists in ACC that completes the story more-so than the original. in fact, i'd say the original is better. in ACC the film touched up CGI to Cloud's face and he looked pale as fucking snow with tired as bags under his eye. the only good thing from ACC is the part they adding during Sephiroth's battle, that shit was bad ass. :lew:
 
I liked this movie, it was quite moving in its own unique way. The storyline wasn't the strongest and characters weren't the most in-depth or developed. It was more of a glimpse or insight into the world and lives of these people and their struggle to preserve it. Like what writers do in short stories, Square Enix focused on two of the three aspects, event and atmosphere (in their case leaving out characterisation) when telling this tale. Although I normally go a whole ton on character development, I liked their approach and found this movie to be engaging if not thought provoking (and a little scary).

Funnily enough, even though I was (still am) a big fan of Final Fantasy, I learned of this movie when listening through Lara Fabian's music on Youtube. Dream Withing was just mesmerising.
 
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