FF7: Advent Kids

[Rock_dash]

Also, I wonder if you're thinking of that fake FF6 sequel that poppped up for April Fool's day years ago. I don't remember much about it except that Shadow was supposed to go without his mask, and one of the new characters was a chef with a command like 'Chop Suey' or something like that.

I....don't believe so, no. Wow....and people thought it was true?

On the otherh and, I guess Squenix did come up with Quina.

Hey, it fooled me. Granted I was like ten at the time

[Christwriter]

If you like FF7, the Advent Children movie ROCKS (Note: You're getting the ravings I'm not allowed to talk to my brother about). It has most of the music from the game (only song I didn't hear was the boss fight theme), all the characters, fight scenes are defenately cool, and the animation is incredible. It has the feel of the game...effectively, it's a continuation of the ending movie of the game...starts off with a redo of the end scene and goes on from there.

If you've got no idea what FF7 is...it's still a good way to spend time, but without the ff7 backstory, the movie will probably be lacking in the story department. They didn't have character development as much as they built off the characters developed in the game, and the same goes for the story. Little backstory is given in the movie, so you sort of HAVE to have played the game, or at least read many spoilers beforehand. And there are several sequences that streign credibility (the jumping-boost-Cloud thing at the end being the number one). Advent Children is defenately NOT a stand-alone movie, at least not if you want it to make sense. If you liked FF7 the way my family does (it was our TV entertainment for a solid month) then you won't care.

CW

[Dotty]

When I watched AC for the first time, there was two people watching that didn't play FF7. One didn't like it, and one thought it was great....and he made pop come out my noise when he commented when Red XIII talked....as he only talks once in the movie, and without warning.

"A talking Catdog? Now I've seen everything!"

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

"A talking Catdog? Now I've seen everything!"

Truly this is the modern age.

[Noman]

I saw the thing as soon as it was fan subbed.

Overall, I think I liked it. I sort of expected a contrived storyline, but it's so pretty! The fights and the animation are so awesome, that you just appreciate the artistry and cleverness of them and sort of gloss over the sub-par plot that's going on.

Reno and Rude are hilarious. And it's really cool when everyone from the game shows up. It's not so cool when they sort of don't do anything else, leaving the more emo characters to deal with their uninteresting guilt issues.

As pretty as the fights are, and as nifty as they look, towards the end of the movie it becomes a sensory overload. So much crap is happening, there are so many changes of perspective, the laws of physics have been broken so badly to the point that your brain is exhausted and the ridiculous fight scene just becomes boring and unfulfilling just because so much shit is happening in it.

So my overall:

Plot: Typical anime cliches
Visuals: Really nifty until they overdo it
Clever moments: They are there and they are pretty wonderful. But they kind of go away at the end.

Final grade: B-

It's worth seeing, but you leave wishing it could have been better.

[Noman]

As cool an RPG as FF7 is, they do not have good characters. Basically, it's just a bunch of flat and dimensionless characters that have a whole lot of shit happen to them.

[Mon Ami]

Dun know about you guys but I do not think I will ever be able to create something that looks THAT good...so I give two thumbs up just for the very effort of what the people at Square Onix do >>:

Mmmmmm Bahamut....

[MixedMyth]

Okay, I FINALLY saw the thing dubbed. And I have to say, I don't know what all the complaining has been about. The voices, with the exception of a few instances, were FINE. Really.

I'd seen it subbed earlier, and the plot made no sense. So I religated the movie to eye candy with no plot status. But after watching the dub, I see there IS real plot and it actually does make sense. This isn't to say that the movie isn't fighting style fan service- it is. But there's more than a skelletal plot and truly builds off of leads from the game. I appreciate that.

In fact, eye candy aside I would say that the area that the movie excels at that I did not expect it to would be in characterization. They really nailed the characters nicely, and their interactions with each other. This is was not at all apparent from the sub I saw.

I do kind of feel sorry for Red XIII. He only had one line in the entire movie.


But yes. GREAT movie if you've played the game. Probably isn't if you havn't. But then, who would pick it up if they didn't recognize it?

[The Neko]

I played the game and thought it was terrible. So the "if you played the game, you'll love it" theory seems to only have relevance for certain people. The game was decent, and I wonder why so many people won't let it die. It's been almost a decade.

The issue with the film is that when the audience is able to consciously identify where the film is riding on nostalgia and fan-service to putter past the finish line, it's a bad, bad thing.

[Turnsky]

But then, who would pick it up if they didn't recognize it?

me, never played FFVII, possible never will, me, i thought it was great, well choreographed action sequences, nicely done character designs, i'll argue against those who say it was a CG anime picture, it wasn't, the new appleseed movie is:
pure CG, with a toonshader added, just like GiTS's Tachikomas.
but i'm being pedantic, to me, anime is about art style, not about how it seems, don't forget if you say a movie is "anime" by its storyline, one could just as well say the matrix was anime also, due to the influences of anime and manga on that movie.

still, i did like both FF movies, although FFVII tended to fit better with Final Fantasy "canon", don't forget that deep spirituality, is also a part of modern-day final fantasy, and not just about moogles, chocobos, and bigass swords.

[The Neko]

I'd argue that anime has a distinct narrative style with its own clichés.

[Turnsky]

I'd argue that anime has a distinct narrative style, writhe with its own clichés.

as does everything, neko, as does everything.

[Christwriter]

The game was decent, and I wonder why so many people won't let it die. It's been almost a decade.

I don't really see a reason why it HAS to die...and I really wish they'd reissue it, to be honest.

I think the reason why I (and my little brother, who finally watched it last night) loved the movie so much was because it WAS FF7. It dovetailed with the game beautifully, same atmosphere, same everything. That was the very first "modern" game we ever played...The only game I've played that comes as close to novel-quality storytelling was FFX. Add in the first time we ever saw cut-scene graphics like THAT (up till then, all we had was the SNES, Zelda, Megaman and FF1 and 2, and assorted games that have faded into obscurity) the sheer leingth of it...it was unreal for a twelve year old and an eight-year-old. Another part of why I think we liked it so much is it slipped into that zone where we could just enjoy it...it didn't have to be ABOUT anything, it didn't have to be a work of art. It brought back Cloud and the rest of 'em. That was really enough.

Yeah, the movie wasn't "About" much more than an extention of the characters and their story. That was defeantely enough.

CW

[Rock_dash]

...Megaman...and assorted games that have faded into obscurity

Mega Man? Obscure?!

*faints*

[The Neko]

The only game I've played that comes as close to novel-quality storytelling was FFX.

CW

I'd have to disagree there. FFX's plot and storytelling resembled more of the crappy fantasy anime that don't come to the US because they're a dime a dozen. You could localize one and you'd have done them all. It's probably my experience with Japanese literature and popular television that makes me think this way, however.

As far as letting the game die, I meant it more as just accepting the game for what it was and not let the sense of nostalgia cloud one's judgment. That and the creepy obsessive behaviour that most of them display, such as naming their children after characters.

[Nyke]

I just have one thing to say.

Ghaleon > Sephiroth.

That is all.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

Ghaleon was wicked. Lunar is so under-rated.

[Rock_dash]

Ghaleon was freaking badass on all accounts. Well...except for his voice.

[Christwriter]

The only game I've played that comes as close to novel-quality storytelling was FFX.

CW

I'd have to disagree there. FFX's plot and storytelling resembled more of the crappy fantasy anime that don't come to the US because they're a dime a dozen. You could localize one and you'd have done them all. It's probably my experience with Japanese literature and popular television that makes me think this way, however.

As far as letting the game die, I meant it more as just accepting the game for what it was and not let the sense of nostalgia cloud one's judgment. That and the creepy obsessive behaviour that most of them display, such as naming their children after characters.

I said "Close". There were holes in FFX. Just not as many. There was stronger character development than I was used to in a videogame and there were fewer interrupts in the story narritive...it felt more like you were actually involved in a story, rather than having the story be incidental.

If FFX really WERE a novel, it'd be a crappy novel. It was just the first that I'd found that had most of the structure in the right place.

CW

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

FFX is way too structured. The player is lead on a path the whole time from which they can only deviate at the end, and that's limited to a point and click interface for the air ship. It was like watching a bad movie instead of playing an RPG.