Cinema review - The Spirits Within (From Western Telegraph)

Cinema review - The Spirits Within

Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Starring the voices of: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Steve Buscemi, James Woods, Ving Rhames, Donald Sutherland Cert. PG; Dur. 121 mins

REGULAR moviegoers will be all too aware of the ways in which film animation has changed since Walt Disney sent a certain mouse out in a tugboat.

We recently saw 'Shrek' cross the boundaries of the latest 100% computer generated images full-length feature.

Incredible stuff but you can see it's not real. (I know, its not meant to be.) However, the Holy Grail of computer image technology is the creation of something that is real or at least of such photographic quality that the audience will forget it isn't real. Computer games are at the cutting edge of this work but film hangs on alongside, and in this quest we now have the first film that comes close to that 'real' end.

'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' is a sci-fi movie which boasts the most realistic animation the world has ever seen. Set in 2065 it tells the story of an earth that is not much like our own. A meteorite has released phantom-aliens that steal our souls. Luckily there is a saviour in the shape of scientist Dr Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na) who has a more sensible plan to deal with them.

Will she lead the earth to victory? Will she survive with her own soul intact? Will my popcorn last the entire movie or should I have bought some sweets too?

This is film history and you wouldn't want to miss that would you? It's also true this is a thoroughly unoriginal piece of sci-fi drivel, the like of which the world has lived through about as many times as there are galaxies! It seems they were so carried away with getting the way she moves her hand right, that they left the tea boy to write the script on the back of the sugar bag.

We have close-ups of her hair, which you may or may not know is very difficult to recreate (among other fantastic set pieces). But do what they were attempting to make you do (i.e. forget that none of it is real) then you'll be bored senseless.

Just don't expect it to be the masterpiece of all round filmmaking that it would have been had the scientists given as much time to the art.