Dec 14, 2008
A lot of people say you have to have played the game to enjoy this movie. I only played the game for a few hours when I was a kid and watched Last Order before I watched the movie; the game was too difficult for me at the age so I put it away. The only characters I knew about were Barret, Cloud and Tifa. I didn't have any high expectations of the movie, but wow was I surprised.
The dialogue, graphics, design, music and battle scenes are some of the best I’ve ever seen. I was so confused by the story but in a
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good way, there was so much I didn't know so many mysteries and I knew there was a tens of hours long game where could find my answers. So after watching the movie I was so stoked, I had to pick up the game from where I left. After beating it I loved it. Even though I didn't get all my answers (Like who tell hell Kadaj and gang really are), I'm still happy. I think it’s better if some things aren’t told; it makes it more interesting even after it’s over. Seeing how the characters developed to what they are in Advent Children was a great joy.
Even though the story was confusing, I loved every second of the movie. Watching the most beautiful art, epic and beautiful music and epic scenes I've ever seen put together in something I can only describe as a masterpiece is a feeling I can’t describe with words. The CG (Computer Graphics) looks really good. In many CG movies the character movements and facial expressions tend to look unnatural and very doll like, though in Advent Children this is not a problem. Movements and facial expressions are very well done which make its look much more alive.
The music is mainly composed by Nobuo Uematsu with support from various other composers from Square Enix. The soundtrack consists mostly of re-arranged scores from the original Final Fantasy VII. Hearing some of the finest gaming musical pieces re-arranged and even perfected will make any fan and not yet fan happy. The new scores exclusively for the movie are really good. Pieces like Cloud smiles and divinity II shows clearly what Uematsu does best.
There are a lot of memorable scenes in the movie, the meetings with Aerith and the battle scenes and all the scenes where the character supports our hero. The main theme of the movie is obviously “No man is an island”. This has been done before but I can’t recall seeing it as beautiful done as in Advent Children. Cloud is depressed and just want to shut everyone out, carrying all the burdens for himself. He doesn’t want to be alone but, can’t face his friends because he’s ashamed of himself and feel guilty. He blames the death of important friends on himself, because he couldn’t save them. As the movie progress our main character slowly comes to realize he’s not alone. His friends are watching him and supporting him (even from death) and they don’t blame him as long as he does his best.
The story doesn’t have any deep plot and much is clearly fan service which is not a bad thing. The battles are enough to make you forget about the plot and there are many of them. Anyone one with a playful mind and a love for high paced acrobatic action with super powers will enjoy the battles. The characters do crazy jumps, cut through amazingly large objects disobeying physical laws like nothing. This is only done by our heroes of course since they are not normal people and have years of battle experiences. Some people who lack imagination will be disrupted by the action, they seem to forget that it’s fantasy. The essence of fantasy is to go beyond the boundaries of reality and Advent Children does this very well.
Character design is done by Tetsuya Nomura the man behind the original character design of FFVII. Not only has the music gotten a proper facelift also the characters. They look better than ever. A lot of the characters have a very bishoujo and bishounen look. Everyone looks excessively handsome. Even though a lot looks very realistic Square has managed to keep an anime style to the characters mostly because of the haircuts and eyes.
To sum it up, fans of Nobuo's music and Tetsuya's design won't be disappointed. Anyone with a playful mind and love for epicness will love the battles. You like handsome characters? We got them. You don’t mind fan service and don’t feel like there’s a need for a bigger cause for something to exist? Then you won’t mind the story. Advent Children is mostly about eye and ear candy. Remember being a fan of FFVII doesn't necessarily determine how much you will enjoy this movie. A lot of fans have been very disappointed by the movie and a lot of non fans have enjoyed the movie and vice versa.
If I would have scored the movie the day I watched it I would have given it a nine out of ten but since then I’ve grown to like and appreciate to movie even more. Because this movie is really one of a kind.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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