First, a word of warning:
Do not go into FF:SW, expecting it to be your conventional Hollywood Sci-fi shoot\'em up movie, it\'s most definately not. Forget your Independence Day and Aliens cliches and go in with an open mind.
I loved this movie. However, a lot of people in the theatre (including some of my friends) didn\'t - mainly because they were expecting a conventional Hollywood sci-fi action flick with clearly defined bad guys, guns, lots of shooting and a simple plot. Instead, they got a movie with a much more complicated story-line, and a story line that is just as much fantasy, as it is sci-fi.
Much of the story shares a lot with FFVII - it deals with Gaia, the life force of the earth, and the life force within all of us (similar to the lifestream in FFVII). Unfortunately, for those who\'ve never got into fantasy, or never played FFVII it may be a way of approaching a story that may be very awkward.
There isn\'t much to say about the animation that hasn\'t been said - it\'s jaw dropping. There are moments in the movie where you just forget you\'re watching CG - Doctor Cid\'s character (voiced by Donald Sutherland) in particular is astounding. One problem I initially had is with the voices - not the quality of the acting, but the fact that you associate a voice with a certain face. For example, Alec Baldwin does the voice for the lead character (who looks nothing like him) and while this wouldn\'t be a problem in CONVENTIONAL (drawn) animation, FF:SW is so REAL, it\'s a little unnerving at first - but you get used to it.
I don\'t want to give anything away about the story - it\'s brilliant IMO, there\'s action, romance, and I love the way parts of the story are revealed in dream sequences dispersed through the movie, that come together to make sense at the end - it\'s brilliant.
When the credits roll up after a movie I usually just stay in my seat while the crowd in the theatre disperses, and after the movie (and even during, because of some very asinine comments shoulted out) it was clear that many people didn\'t like it or were confused. The majority of the audience were the teeny-bopper crowd that packed The Fast and the Furious, and one guy said; "If I was one of the animators I would have punched out the script writer" - a feeling my friend echoed.
I couldn\'t disagree more - this movie actually tries to break the mould of sci-fi action movies and IMO it does it very well. The amazing animation and the brilliant voice acting are just icing on an already excellent cake.
I will definately be seeing this one again.
