Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

"It's better than a dream, almost like a rebirth."

The time is almost here -- I sit and wait for the biting cold night.
At the same time for something that I've waited over 2 years for. It's been a wait that can not be described in words. All I know is that it's felt neither good nor bad. In a way it's almost phantasmal or dreamy.

As the darkness descends I take out the candles and jasmine incense, turn down the lights and lit them. Then I finally sit back and watch what is about to be an almost overly euphoric, reincarnated experience. Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children.

The intro shows Midgar - 498 years in the future with overgrown vegetation over the once heavy Mako and smoke filled industrial city. Suddenly we go back into time, and a few years after the events in the game. We see a familiar crater in the snow. A helicopter goes through the thick clouds and fog to investigate at the bottom. This scene, while nothing overly exciting still shows a great amount of detail and feeling put into the movie. Tetsuya Nomura, the infamous Character Designer of the Final Fantasy games is now not only a designer but a director of this movie. Was this a smart move? The last FF movie didn't go to well, and they know that even though the fans are eager for this movie it might leave a bitter taste afterwards still. Or simply just turn out as another flop. Although fear not, because this is as close to perfection as one can get in this sequel to the game. Kazushige Nojima took care of the script, and Yoshinori Kitase took the role as the producer - while Nomura is leading the project. This trio takes animation, feelings and movie production to a whole new level.

Watching the movie, I kind of kept thinking about when it would end -- since I had heard that it would only be around 60 minutes 2 years ago or so. Then it was changed to 90 minutes. This is of course great because I feel 60 minutes wouldn't be enough. And those extra minutes were surely not just fill outs.

Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children takes place 2 years after the game. Citizens of the planet started to suffer from a strange sickness called Geostigma. Cloud Strife felt he had lost something important to him even though he saved the Planet. What is he fighting for this time? Is it a fight that can not be won even if he walks away alone? Will he still be alone and lost with his close and loved ones? Many questions will be asked and pondered about throughout the movie, and afterwards. I think Kazushige did a great job with the script, not only does it have a very interesting and well thought out plot - but it also gives the viewer to have his own answer and vision to the questions and morals of it all in the end.

A few moments into the movie we see a lot of kids without parents, why is it like this? Do they have a plan of their own, are they part of experiments or just crying out to be saved?
The Advent Children will step forward to show us. FF7: AC, never gets dull or slow -- there are no overly long discussions and what really impressed me were the fights. They're well planned and executed perfectly with tons of details and ideas. Combine it with perfect sounds, and excellent voice acting - and then spice it up with quite a lot of comedic scenes and dialogues and you have the best animated movie so far in my opinion.

Take note that it is recommended that you have played Final Fantasy 7 on PlayStation or the PC, thus the movie will give you a greater experience and interpretation - due to the many familiar characters, and environments that are appearing. Also some fine remixed musical pieces from the game are presented superiorly -- which is a very welcome addition.

Even though SquareEnix budget wasn't huge, they managed to beautifully create a movie that gives you that special feeling. It felt good to be back in the world of FF7, to see the different and new areas, and with these excellent graphics. I know that people that haven't played Final Fantasy or expect another FF: Spirits Within movie flop will look down and most likely bash this one as well due to the "lack of content" in their eyes. Although if you haven't played the game and have an open mind I think you should be able to enjoy it. It's hard to say though seeing as I can't put myself in that position. At least I can tell you that it's definitely worth watching if you didn't know that already. Of course I expected it to be very cool and creative, since I'm a huge fan of the FF7 world and characters. Don't think that it's the only RPG that I've played though. Anyway, even though I expected quite a lot from the movie, I was personally blown away and found myself chuckling at some of the crazy fight scenes because it made me feel euphoric literally.

For a rating I'd give it a 96% out of 100%. I can't thank Tetsuya Nomura and his crew enough. If you'll experience what I did, and still are experiencing after seeing the movie you'll know what I mean.

Arigato.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/05