By Joan Ong
INQUIRER.net
I GET a chill down my spine every time I see the word “children” in a movie title. (Blame it on the 1984 Hollywood movie, “Children of the Corn.”)
“Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” was no exception. But this time, the chill wasn’t brought about by the sight of angst-ridden zombie children carving out the insides of adults. Instead, it was a pleasant kind of chill.
Enter the computer-animated world of “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” — the movie sequel to Final Fantasy VII, the PlayStation and PC role-playing game — where the visuals are absolutely breathtaking and would definitely send chills down your spine right from the opening credits. The images are beautifully crafted to the tiniest pixel and the action scenes make all the laws of physics jump out the window.
The events in “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” take place two years after those in Final Fantasy VII, the video game. This time, a man named Kadaj is seeking a Reunion with Jenova, a seemingly dormant entity that has given him great power, and is known to be the cause of the spreading disease called “Geostigma.” Cloud, a former mercenary, and his band of merry men and women are out to stop him.
That’s putting it mildly.
Unfortunately, while the movie triumphed in visuals, it fell short in the presentation of the plot — the film was drowning in details — or maybe I’m just not a Final Fantasy fan? I got lost in the narration of Shinra, the Lifestream, and Jenova at the beginning of the movie, and got more questions than answers as the story unfolded and more characters popped into the picture. What’s Shinra Corporation? Who’s saying “We’re friends, right?” to Cloud, the lead protagonist? Who or what’s Jenova exactly? Who was the girl at the end of the film? I must admit I had to seek the help of Google, as well as watch the special Final Fantasy VII featurette that came with the DVD, in order to understand this mess of flashbacks.
In short, “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” would probably be more appreciated by the video game fans of the Final Fantasy series. As a stand-alone movie to a Final Fantasy virgin like me, it would seem like an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of details, details and more details that offer little or no explanation — and have I mentioned that the graphics is stunning?
Nevertheless, if you’re simply looking for animated CG eye candy with fancy action and a cool soundtrack, “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” is definitely a must-watch. After all, it won Best Anime Feature in the First American Anime Awards during the New York Comic Con in February 2007.
Editor’s note: For another take on “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children,” check out this review.
Copyrights: © Sony Pictures Television International. All Rights Reserved. © 2005 Square Enix Co., LTD. All Rights Reserved. Character Design: Tetsuya Nomura
See it now on Animax.
September 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
[…] Joan Ong’s “Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children” review in Couch […]
September 20th, 2007 at 5:19 am
it really was a great movie if only for the visuals. but if you didn’t know the story of the game you won’t understand the most of the details in the movie. but i thought it was a great movie nonetheless.
September 20th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
[…] Couch Potatoes : Catch ‘Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children’ on Animax […]
October 1st, 2007 at 5:35 pm
There’s another addition to the famous series which is Final Fantasy VII: Last Order. It’s sort of a prequel to the video game that focuses on Cloud’s soldier days. The animation may be different from advent children but HEY we are talking about FF7 here.