The Final Fantasy series is a long withstanding one, a series of which nearly anyone who has played a video game should know.
The original Final Fantasy was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in the mid-1980s by a company known as Square. The lead designer of the project, Hironobu Sakaguchi, wanted to get out of the game design business and pledged that this project would indeed be his last, hence the name he gave the game. It would be his final fantasy.However, when the game was released in both Japan and America, it was so successful that Sakaguchi-san decided to return to make another game, and another game and another, which finally brings the total to Final Fantasy X, recently released on the PlayStation 2 in Japan, and coming to the United States next January. Of course, both Final Fantasy XI and XII are planned for future releases, but exact dates have not been given.
The Final Fantasy franchise has built a name for itself, primarily from the beauty of the games themselves. Each new addition to the series presents new graphical flairs that have been wowing its audiences for nearly a decade and a half. With each new game came a new generation of beautifully rendered cut scenes that helped push the game’s story along.
The popularity of the games created Square Studios, a completely new division of the company devoted to the creation of full-length feature films. Although Square Studios has several popular series of games under its belt, they chose, for obvious reasons, to mold the first film out of the Final Fantasy universe.
The hype behind the movie was incredible. From the very first rumors that it was in the works until the last few days before it was scheduled to hit theaters, fans of Final Fantasy were on the edges of their seats. Then the movie came out, and everything changed.
“Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,” is, hands down, the most visually astounding completely computer generated motion picture ever created. With its ambitious $100 million budget, it is not difficult to see why. Pixar’s films, which are distributed by Disney, are the only real competition against it. Rated PG-13, though, this film certainly offered something that “A Bug’s Life” and “Toy Story 2” never offered: something for the older audiences.
With very little offensive language or adult situations, the movie mainly earns its rating through the violent, conflicts between humans and other worldly creatures. Again, as stated above, the film looks amazing; casual moviegoers who went into the theater sometimes had a hard time even being able to distinguish that the characters on screen were not real. The subtle attention to every detail in the movie makes it look more realistic than anything before it. Unfortunately, after the first week or so in theaters, people stopped going to see it. Critics despised its contrived and ordinary story. It certainly didn’t have the blockbuster effect that Columbia Pictures, who put up a lot of money for it, hoped it would. The movie, unfortunately, was a failure, and Square Studios has posted a tremendous loss for this fiscal year.
Because of this fiasco, Square Pictures closed its doors; the company could not afford to keep its doors open anymore. Unlike the video game series, which will continue to expand for decades to come, this truly is the final Final Fantasy film.
However, not all hope is lost. For those who want to watch the film but didn’t get around to it while it was showing in theaters, the DVD version was released on Tuesday. Even though the movie received incredibly poor reviews, many critics are encouraging people to take a second look at the DVD. It comes as a special edition and spans two complete DVDs.
On the first disc, there is the full widescreen edition of the film, commentary from five people who worked on the project, including the co-director and lead artist, an isolated score track, storyboards and animated menus.
Found on the second disc are several lengthy (and interesting) documentaries and workshops, an editing room that allows viewers to re-edit a few of the scenes from the movies, DVD-ROM only content (for use with a PC or Mac), and more hidden easter eggs to uncover.
The “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” DVD is certainly a collector’s item for those who find the franchise fascinating. Despite the weak story, it could be a while before we see such a beautifully, visually realized film, especially now that Square is out of the movie business.
The MSRP for this film is $29.95, but thrifty shopping will land you a copy for much cheaper. It is also available to rent at both Movie Gallery and Blockbuster in Starkville.