Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within: Difference between revisions

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'''''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within''''' is a computer animated science fiction [[Film]] by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the [[Running Gag|kitten-stranglingly popular]] ''[[~~Final Fantasy (Franchise)|~~Final Fantasy]]'' series of role-playing games.

'''''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within''''' is a computer animated science fiction [[Film]] by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the [[Running Gag|kitten-stranglingly popular]] ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series of role-playing games.

In the year 2065, Earth has been overrun by an alien infestation. The remaining humans live in "barrier cities" all over the world while trying to free their planet from the Phantoms, spectral alien beings which decimate everything in their path. Dr. Aki Ross, alongside her old mentor Dr. Sid, hopes to unlock the secret behind these Phantoms and find a way to destroy them without harming Earth -- but General Hein has a plan of his own to annihilate the Phantoms with a huge space cannon, even at the risk of destroying the planet.

Although bearing the ''[[~~Final Fantasy (Franchise)|~~Final Fantasy]]'' title, this movie bears [[In Name Only|close-to-zero connection]] to the video game franchise of the same name. It was the first feature film to attempt photorealistic CGI characters (with [[Uncanny Valley|less than desired results]]), and it was a huge [[Box Office Bomb]] (only bringing in slightly over $30 million in domestic box office earnings with a budget of around $140 million). ''Spirits Within'' almost single-handedly ended Square Pictures' existence as an independent entity; the film also nearly killed Squaresoft's merger negotiations with Enix (which almost balked at the idea of merging with Square after it had just lost a substantial sum of money). In an ironic twist, ''Spirits Within'' ended up being the most critically acclaimed movie based on a video game on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].

Although bearing the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' title, this movie bears [[In Name Only|close-to-zero connection]] to the video game franchise of the same name. It was the first feature film to attempt photorealistic CGI characters (with [[Uncanny Valley|less than desired results]]), and it was a huge [[Box Office Bomb]] (only bringing in slightly over $30 million in domestic box office earnings with a budget of around $140 million). ''Spirits Within'' almost single-handedly ended Square Pictures' existence as an independent entity; the film also nearly killed Squaresoft's merger negotiations with Enix (which almost balked at the idea of merging with Square after it had just lost a substantial sum of money). In an ironic twist, ''Spirits Within'' ended up being the most critically acclaimed movie based on a video game on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].

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=== This movie contains examples of: ===

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* [[Animated Actors]]: Hironobu had intended for Aki to appear as a digital actress in a number of feature pictures. However, the failure of her debut film cut her career tragically short, though she did have a photo spread in Maxim magazine.

* [[Apocalypse How]]: Earth has ''already'' suffered a Class 4 before the movie even starts, and the Leonid meteor is revealed to be the result of a Class X.

* [[Armor Is ~~Useless|Armor is~~ Useless]]: The soldiers wear all of this heavy armor that does nothing to protect them.

* [[Armor Is Useless]]: The soldiers wear all of this heavy armor that does nothing to protect them.

* [[Author Existence Failure]]: Some people might at least consider the film's use of incredibly realistic CGI to be the cornerstone for an [[Award Snub]] for Best Visual Effects. However, it couldn't have won ''any'' awards; Square Pictures was disbanded before the Oscars that year.

* [[Big Applesauce]]: Most of the action takes place in and around New York City.

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* [[Death Is Dramatic]]

* [[Decontamination Chamber]]: The domed cities have decon protocols to keep out the phantoms that haunt the outside world. Though, for some reason people with enough clout get to skip them if they feel like it.

* [[Doing in ~~The~~ Wizard]]: When you see people complaining about the fantastic elements of the series having been "stripped out" of this movie, what they actually mean is that they are disappointed that Grey and company aren't casting Watera and Meltdown on anything, and Omega Weapon isn't the [[Big Bad]]. If you pay attention, magic (of a form) is pretty much the ''only'' element of the Final Fantasy mythos that isn't left out, beyond lip service.

* [[Doing in the Wizard]]: When you see people complaining about the fantastic elements of the series having been "stripped out" of this movie, what they actually mean is that they are disappointed that Grey and company aren't casting Watera and Meltdown on anything, and Omega Weapon isn't the [[Big Bad]]. If you pay attention, magic (of a form) is pretty much the ''only'' element of the Final Fantasy mythos that isn't left out, beyond lip service.

* [[Domed Hometown]]: The City.

* [[Dynamic Entry]]: Gotta give it to DEEP EYES --they know how to make an entrance.

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* [[Frothy Mugs of Water]]

* [[General Ripper]]: General Hein, Played by James Woods.

* [[Gotta Catch Em All]]: The Eight Spirits needed to create the anti-Phantom wave. (Although, to the writers' credit, several of these spirits have already been collected as the film opens - specifically five have already been collected and the sixth one is collected in the opening scene. This is a double [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[~~Final Fantasy I (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy I]]'' and ''[[~~Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy IV]]'', which open in a similar way.)

* [[Gotta Catch Em All]]: The Eight Spirits needed to create the anti-Phantom wave. (Although, to the writers' credit, several of these spirits have already been collected as the film opens - specifically five have already been collected and the sixth one is collected in the opening scene. This is a double [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Final Fantasy I]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', which open in a similar way.)

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Gray Edwards}} sacrificed himself as a medium needed to physically transmit the completed spirit into the alien Gaia.

** Ryan performed one in order to draw the Meta Phantom away from the Black Boa.

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* [[Kill Sat]]: The Zeus space cannon.

* [[Kill Them All]]: {{spoiler|Only Dr. Aki and Dr. Sid manage to survive in the end.}}

* [[The Lifestream]]: The planetary gaia force is pretty much directly modeled after the ''[[~~Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy VII]]'' concept.

* [[The Lifestream]]: The planetary gaia force is pretty much directly modeled after the ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' concept.

* [[Metaphysical Fuel]]: "Bio-etheric energy" which is produced by living things. The OVO-Packs used as batteries [[All There in the Manual|supposedly harvest this energy from bacteria]], though the Eight Spirits (extracted from more complex lifeforms) [[Powered By a Forsaken Child|have to be sacrificed]] for the Spirit Wave to work.

* [[Metaphysical Fuel]]: "Bio-etheric energy" which is produced by living things. The OVO-Packs used as batteries [[All There in the Manual|supposedly harvest this energy from bacteria]], though the Eight Spirits (extracted from more complex lifeforms) [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|have to be sacrificed]] for the Spirit Wave to work.

* [[Mickey Mousing]]: The first appearance of the Zeus Cannon takes this to such (ear-shattering) extremes it borders on [[Narm]].

* [[Mook Lieutenant]]: Major Elliott.

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* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: General Hein, realizing that he accidentally let the Phantoms into a major population center.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: Several references to the game series, including a Chocobo embroidered on one of Aki's shirts, and some of the Phantoms are based on creatures and bosses from the series.

** Hein is named after a major boss in [[~~Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy III]].

** Hein is named after a major boss in [[Final Fantasy III]].

* [[No Flow in CGI]]: Averted a little too well with Aki's hair.

* [[Non-Action Guy|Non-Action Girl]]: Aki isn't a [[Distressed Damsel]], but she's clearly a non-combatant scientist who hangs around with four very competent soldiers.

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* [[Pillar of Light]]

* [[Power Crystal]]: The common series tie-in element is worked into the movie as being part of the life-support device Aki has embedded in her chest.

* [[Powered By a Forsaken Child]]: The fifth spirit is collected from a dying child.

* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: The fifth spirit is collected from a dying child.

* [[Preview Piggybacking]]: The soundtrack contained a preview for ''[[~~Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy X]]''.

* [[Preview Piggybacking]]: The soundtrack contained a preview for ''[[Final Fantasy X]]''.

* [[Psychic Dreams for Everyone]]: They started haunting Aki at first, but then she shared them with Gray...

* [[Putting On the Reich]]: The Soldiers under the leadership of General Hein.

* [[Putting on the Reich]]: The Soldiers under the leadership of General Hein.

* [[Random Encounters]]: One of the few things seemingly taken from the source material, the movie comes up with an explanation of why monsters can just pop up out of the ground at any time.

* [[Real Is Brown]]: A sad foretelling of what many video games would be.

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* [[Shouting Shooter]]

* [[Shout-Out]]: Two tiny, easily-missed references to Chocobos hidden in the background in the entire movie.

** Also, General Hein and his flying dungeon/KillSat are a very obvious reference to [[~~Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy III]], although most Americans wouldn't be able to recognize it as such until about 8 years after the movie came out.

** Also, General Hein and his flying dungeon/KillSat are a very obvious reference to [[Final Fantasy III]], although most Americans wouldn't be able to recognize it as such until about 8 years after the movie came out.

** Every FF has a Cid. ''The Spirits Within'' addresses it with a '''S'''id.

** The Deep Eyes are a subtle shout-out, as well. The squad contains four members; four is the traditional number of party members in an ''FF'' game, with Aki functioning as a [[Guest Star Party Member]].

** The Leonid Meteor is actually [[Final Fantasy V ~~(Video Game)~~|a chunk of a]] [[Death World]] [[Final Fantasy V ~~(Video Game)~~|being used as a means of transportation for monsters.]]

** The Leonid Meteor is actually [[Final Fantasy V|a chunk of a]] [[Death World]] [[Final Fantasy V|being used as a means of transportation for monsters.]]

** Gaia from ''The Spirits Within'' = The Lifestream from ''[[~~Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|~~Final Fantasy VII]]''

** Gaia from ''The Spirits Within'' = The Lifestream from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''

* [[Soft Glass]]: Played straight.

* [[Soul Cutting Blade]]: The phantoms.

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* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: General Hein, though he takes to his task with such zeal he becomes a [[Knight Templar]].

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: One of the biggest publicity points about the film was Aki's strands of hair being individually animated -- which resulted in Aki jerking her head around wildly whenever she talked (so the animators would have plenty of chances to show her hair moving). This led to several reviewers joking about Square creating "the world's first virtual [[George Clooney]]."

** Even if the movie had been successful, this would have eventually been overtaken by the much more practical use of hair/fur/etc simulation programs such as used in ''[[Monsters Inc.]]''

** Even if the movie had been successful, this would have eventually been overtaken by the much more practical use of hair/fur/etc simulation programs such as used in ''[[Monsters, Inc.]]''

* [[The Worm Guy]]: Aki.

* [[You Shall Not Pass]]