Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2006, UMD)

Final Fantasy VII...

There are no other three words in the world of gaming which can, on demand, incite such voracious controversy. There is no other way of saying it; you either loved or hated this game. For millions of gamers this was the gateway into the wonderful world of role playing games. It was also one of the first mainstream games in the genre which relied hugely on pre-rendered cinematics, thanks to the wonderful revolution of CD storage media. Either way, FFVII was, and is still HUGE. It's so big that it's even reached the point that it can support it's own 'cool to hate' movement among the masses, which is a given for anything that's achieved such a place in popular culture.

With something so successful, it's usually inevitable that a sequel will see the light of day. The Final Fantasy series in the past never worked like that. Sure, there was a Final Fantasy VIII, but it was a completely different story in a completely different world, just like every other FF game. Although a follow up to FFVII had been long rumored, Square-Enix chose to shatter their no sequel notion with FFX-2. This showed that they were at least willing to give it a try, and give it a try they did. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was soon announced, but to everyone's surprise (and disappointment), it was a CG movie. This very movie is now upon us. Does Advent Children live up to the hype? Read on to find out.

The first thing that should be noted is this: in order to fully enjoy the film, you must have quite a bit of knowledge about FFVII. Advent Children doesn't simply take place in the same world; it deals with the same characters, plot elements, and the entertainment is based mainly on fanservice, although not your typical kind. This fanservice is based completely off of nostalgia. Hearing the familiar music, watching the old characters interact, and of course, seeing Yuffie running around with all that materia. All of these moments are sure to bring back memories, but just how nostalgic you are will definitely determine how much you like the film. Even though I'm easily one of the bigger FFVII fans (it's my second favorite game, just for the record) I was expecting something much more.

Story
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children takes place just two years after the game ended. Cloud and friends are still alive after their big ordeal with the cataclysmic Sephiroth. A new force is threatening the planet, but this comes in the form of a disease caused by Jenova's remaining cells. Along with this comes a group of silver haired Sephiroth wannabes who are searching for their mother, or rather, a piece of Jenova. With all this chaos it's only natural that Cloud returns as the hero he once was. Now it's personal.

The storyline takes backseat to the action in Advent Children. All moments of dialogue and plot twists simply feel like filler leading to the next fight. In some cases it works, but for the most part it feels like the scenario writers just didn't care. They had a really good idea when this follow-up was planned, but they didn't execute it very well at all. What little that is there is completely predictable, and almost entirely aimed at setting up situations based completely on this fan service that I described earlier in the review. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children not only avoids treading new ground, but it doesn't even handle the pre-established elements well. The whole thing feels unbalanced.

Also annoying is the blatant repetition. The film is completely based off of the fight scenes, but these are terribly uninteresting due to their predictability and repetition. I'll admit that the first few are entertaining, but after that, I almost fell asleep on several occasions. It's obvious that the motorcycle sequence was very popular in the video game, as many of the fight scenes take place aboard the bikes. It wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that these are so frequent, and even less interesting than the rest of the film. It's almost as if the writers knew that such immense eye candy alone could carry these sequences, but for me this just didn't cut it.

Now don't get me wrong, not all the fights are boring and uninspired, but the majority are. Of the higher quality fights I found Tifa's battle in the church to be the most interesting. Although I usually hate comparing action sequences to other movies, I must say that Advent Children gives off a Matrix vibe. Most of the fighting is over the top, as the various characters take a lot of punishment but are still able to get up. Sure it's unrealistic, but it's a CG film based off a video game and so I don't hold this element against the film. Things only become more over-the-top as you near the final sequences of the film. Oh and for the record, the last fight in the film is the most blatant fanservice I've ever seen. I felt cheap just for having watched it.

Easily the most entertaining aspect of the film is in the characters and their interactions with one another. The only time I found myself enjoying the film was when Reno and Rude (the Turks) were on-screen. Reno serves as a slight comic relief, but instead of being annoying, his humor is more of a subtle nature. He's voice acted nicely on both the Japanese and English tracks. The other personalities are also pretty interesting; determined Tifa, the mysterious Vincent, and of course, the overzealous ninja Yuffie. They're all there, and for the most part they're likeable too. I'd definitely say though that Red XIII and Cait Sith weren't given enough dialogue and screentime.

Those behind the film did succeed with what seems to have been their number 1 goal; to create a beautiful movie. The animation and picture quality is absolutely amazing here, and I don't think I've ever animation of such quality. The film is a bit on the dark and dull side quite often, but I'm guessing this method was used to more easily convey the feeling of sadness and loneliness. Probably the best aspect is the fluid animation, which is really the only thing I found enjoyable at all about most of the fight sequences. The characters look extremely nice in this film, with a ton of detail and respect put into designing them. It is quite cool to see all of the characters here, especially because the last time we saw them they were all rendered with few jagged polygons and had blocks for hands.

The audio is also done wonderfully, with many new songs created for the soundtrack. What's also cool is that the music is mostly reworked tracks from the video game. This is another area in which most will feel immense nostalgia. Even better than the music is the voice acting. Oddly enough, both tracks are highly listenable, and you don't miss anything from the experience by listening to one over the other. You've got the choice between both English and Japanese (with subtitles), and the crew has chosen perfectly for each of the roles. You'll be hard pressed to find a weak link in either vocal tracks, and I even recommend watching the twice, once with each track going as there are subtle differences between the two.

I've never been a huge fan of extras, but Final Fantasy VII Advent Children comes chock full of them. The first feature worth mentioning is the Reminiscence of FFVII. This seems to be geared toward those who never played it, as it's purpose is to fill you in on (or refresh) the story for you. The other features worth mentioning are pretty self explanatory; deleted scenes, a making of featurette, trailers, and an early build of the movie. Nothing too spectacular, but again I'm not too big on this kind of stuff so it's not a big deal for me personally.

Final Recommendation
This is a tough one. Fans of Final Fantasy VII have probably already made up their mind about picking this one up, and nothing they read will likely change that. Those unfamiliar with the game will probably not be too interested in the story or characters, but they're sure to enjoy the sheer amount of eye candy. I recommend it, even though I give it a bad rating.