Spirits Within V. Advent Children.

[JesiGash]

I always wanted to know what the general fan base thought of the FF Movies. So, I have decided to start a discussion/debate on it so that everyone can put their 2 cents in...


For me I would have to say that I like S.W. better. The reason for this is because it was a major step/ risk for Director Sakaguchi to take. Not to mention, it was probably either the first or one of the first completely CG movies out when it was released. The story line is a flawless master piece that carries well through out the entire movie. While the end was kind of chessy, I felt that the movie should have brought ina bigger fan base than what it did... Any thoughts?

[quietchat]

Here's the thing: When gamers, anime watchers, readers, t.v. viewers, artists, musicians, so on, they learn that a movie is being made on somthing they love, they expect similarity. Of course that builds some excitment, but the most important thing is that there is faithfulness to what it's based on.

In the case of Advent Children, there were tons and tons of gamers what feel Final Fantasy 7 to be the best in the series. You know the characters, you know who they are, and you expect somthing true to the game, while being amazing. The best thing they did was make it a CGI movie, and with no voices in the original game, it was just a matter of finding people who sound like what you invisioned the people sounding like. Advent Children wasn't the perfect movie by any means, but it was a good movie and it delivered what was expected based on the game.

As for Spirits Within, I've never actually seen the movie. What I heard though is that it has very little to do with the game series, and that it doesn't even take place in a fantasy world. It's in space. They also used real actors. The movie was nothing what anyone would have expected from Final Fantasy, and it would likely be much more enjoyed if it game out as a stand alone movie and without the iconic game for it to be judged alongside.

So in this sense, I say Advent Children.

[SmokedBoo]

Spirits Within had nothing to do with any of the games. It was just similar to them in some aspects, or at least it was to FF 7. Advent Children showed Cloud's regret and depression over losing Aerith, and how that effects the others around him. Plus, the battle between Cloud and Sephiroth was just plain cool.

Advent Children, FTW!!

[Koopaking]

Spirits Within did indeed take a risk, it was severely hyped up and was the first attempt to make a CG film with photo-realistic people rather than in the form of a cartoon type movie. In the end, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Final Fantasy games, it seemed like a standalone Battlestar Galactica type movie. It really wasn't the success Squaresoft wanted it to be, and it nearly bankrupted the company, putting off their merger with Enix for another couple years. I'd say it was an ok movie, but not great.

Advent Children on the other hand, was made specifically for a particular brand of audience: the FFVII crowd. They knew exactly what they wanted, and made it that way, and made it with even more advanced CG than before. They did forego the theater release just to be safe and not lose as much money as before but it did really well because it was actually based on and expanding on the universe from an actual Final Fantasy game.

I'd say Advent Children was better, not only because it was just a better movie, but because it was a real Final Fantasy movie, which Spirits Within definitely wasn't.

[madman]

a complete lest of what spirits within had in common with final fantasy

the name final fantasy
a guy named cid


when it came out i did not know if it was based on the game or not. when i saw it i though it was just some movie that happen to have the same name as final fantasy, i then latter found out that spirits within was "based" on final fantasy and my thought was "how was it based on the games".

[Zaraki]

i only saw advent children both sub and dub versions. so can't really say i like the other one more.

[kylie323]

id have 2 say ff advent chidren i love that film but spirits within is good

[analogZero]

Spirits within, while it was a CGI breakthrough, was a dull disappointment overall. It played off as a load of gimmicks from their games that they saw as marketable. Unfortunately it didn't reflect any particular game, but rather stole snippets and storyline concepts from them. Seeing the ending, which was essentially the ending to ffvii minus aeris (which is what sells the ending), was actually a bit of a turn off. Almost anyone else I knew who watched it, unknowing of what ff was, walked away unphased and likely put it to the back of their mind, and went about their day.

Advent children will take my vote it seems, and though I wouldn't hail it as a great following to the game, it still left me watching it again later. what really skewed me from accepting it as perfection were the villains. It seemed like a tripe concept, like a pitiful excuse to keep things going. But I'm not saying I'm going to pull a better idea out of my hat, because to be honest there isn't one there at the moment. My case, emo clone brothers were kinda gay and emo.
Square was much brighter to release it directly to their demographic on dvd, rather than boast themselves before one and all. They knew who'd want to see it, they knew their high and above standards would be appreciated, and they knew it wouldn't tarnish the reputation of the game that the majority seem to have come to adore.

[SmokedBoo]

The horizon's not looking very bright for Spirits Within. And analog doe sthis count towards our tally of things we agree upon?

[JesiGash]

Then thing I liked about Spirits is that, while not holding very much basis for being named FF, it sakaguchi never intended for it to be based off a game, but rather for a game to be based off it. However, after the immense flop and sakaguchi's voluntary resignment, there was no real opportunity to make the game come into being. The movie was intended to pay for the game, but the revenue was...non existent.

The reason for FF:AC's success was that it had a firm building block to launch from. It even had a mini series as a starting point! While I think both were amazing movies, I have to say, I really wonder what type of FF game would have spawned from SW had it been a success.

[Corwin]

How can you say Spirits Within wasn't related to the FF series? Just b/c it wasn't a direct sequel of a previous game like Advent Children was, it used some of hte classic FF concepts, the monsters, the fight to save humanity, and most importantly, a new story for every new addition to the family. I personally liked Spirits Within, yes of course, I liked Advent Children better, but not just b/c it was related to FFVII, although it was really nice to see familiar characters. Considering what happened with FFX-2, I'm kind of surprised anyone would want Square-Enix to make a sequel again.

[analogZero]

The horizon's not looking very bright for Spirits Within. And analog doe sthis count towards our tally of things we agree upon?

I mean...I change my vote?...

[SmokedBoo]

I mean...I change my vote?...

Don't you dare! You would just be lying to disagree with me.

[Tsvetkova]

Well, I really like them both but I have to side with AC, it was just awesome to see those characters, the action was great...blah blah blah. SW was good too I think, I liked that it was something different when it was put out.

[xantok]

they both had their points... Advent Children would have made no since to anyone who didt play the game.... all these people show up that re his friends... well how did they get to be friends.. ect..

Spirits Within told a complete story so anyone can follow along... however i found it to be kinda boring myself

[Shane03]

I would have to say that both were great movies. Plus having advent children in English subs was good, anime that way is just better i think. An it would be rather awesome if they would make another movie ^ _ ^

[leerock89]

Ya spririts within shouldn't even be considered an FF series, it just has the dam name. Advent Children on the other hand is one of those great anime movies that all FF fans and non FF fans should watch.

[aa32wa]

If SW didn't put on the fake FF tag I wouldn't have felt that I wasted my money watching it when it was released in the cinemas. I think I would have actually enjoyed it instead. I was too distracted by the fact that it had nothing to do with the game series.

As for AC it delivered what fans wanted. If you're going to stick the FF tag on it then the fans should be taken into consideration since it was them that kept the franchise alive in the first place.

[Silverleon]

Sigh, this goes to all of you that say you feel dissapointed about S.W. not having anything to do with the rest of the FF series.
First off: None of the FF series ggames have ANYTHING to do with the last one except for maybe chocobos, so how dare you say it was bad for not having anything to do with the rest of the FF series.
Secondly: The title said Final fantasy "SPIRIT'S WITHIN" didn't have the title of any of the FF games, so you shoud have known that it wouldn't deal with any of them from the title! if you didn't then there's something wrong with you.

Oh! right, if it doesn't have a chocobo it can't be a FF series product right?
JEez people, so just because it didn't have a chocobo and a FF character made it a bed movie?!
In my opinion, it was a pretty well made movie with a pretty good story to it.
So, what if it was meant to be its own Final Fantasy eh? what then? would you still think it didn't have anything to do with the rest after hearing that?....
(out of space)

[Silverleon]

...
Jeez.
Yes i did like FF7: Advent Children better, but come on, you're comparing two movies with about 5-10 years in difference, of course the newer one's gonna be better as the technology is better. (Not to mention the movie was action packed XD)
But that doesn't mean Sporots within sucked.
So, watch it again in the internet or the dvd if you have it, and try watching it as its own Final Fantasy, or as its own independent movie, and see if it reaally was bad or you just didn't like it because it didn't have a chocobo in it.

Yes i went a bit overboard with that :P but i just felt like ranting, haven't done it in a while, and this was the perfect chance to do so as i had a perfectly good reason to do so::D:

[Azmodean]

As I haven't played any of the FF games, I just watched AC as it was a regular movie but I still found it to be a great movie, SW on the other hand I only watched for about 15 minutes then I got uninterested so I have to side with Advent Children. But I will maybe give Spirits Within a second chance in the future and who knows what I will think about it then? :)