Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within came out in 2001 when I was only 6 years old. By that time I had played Final Fantasy 7 and 8 and immensely enjoyed those titles. The swords and sorcery and the vast worlds and times I had explored within them had sucked me in. I love the fantasy genre and seeing those same elements in film format was exciting. I wasn't really old enough to understand everything but this was going to be something great. Unfortunately that was not the case with The Spirits Within and it was pretty terrible. 2005 rolled around and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children came out. A huge improvement from The Spirits Within but still just an average film in my opinion. But I know for a fact I had my desktop screen background Tifa posed on the wall in Aerith's church for weeks. Now its 2016 and Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV comes out. This is the second spin off within the Final Fantasy XV universe, the first being the anime Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV. The trailers and the announcement blew me away. I was already excited for the game coming out and we have an anime and a CG movie with Sean Bean, Aaron Paul, and Lena Headey coming before it? Sign me up.
The animation in this movie is beautiful. I mean absolutely stellar. Comparing the progression over time from The Spirits Within to Kingsglaive and you can definitely see the improvement. Movements are fluid and fast, especially during the fight scenes which are some of the coolest I've seen. Magic and swordplay come to life and the effects used are fantastic. The sparks of lightning shooting out from someone's hand and fireballs exploding are colorful and eye catching, keeping you focused on the fight and watching combatants go all out. The attention to detail is pretty great and I applaud the animators for that. Except I also have to knock them down for some of the audio dubbing. Some characters lines either end up being to short or too long to match the lips of the animation and it takes away from moments that are supposed to be dire.
The story takes place in parallel to the events in the game, centering around Noctis' father Regis, the ruler of the kingdom of Lucis and his Kingsglaive; an elite guard that share his magical powers to defend the kingdom from the invading Niflheim empire on the Earth-like world of Eos. There's a really cool fusion of modern day and futuristic technology and the fantasy elements of Final Fantasy. Its like a upgraded version of Final Fantasy VII's Midgar. Soldiers armed with guns, swords and magic go into battle with monsters and airships and other military vehicles and the scale of the battles are epic. In the final fight scene Nyx brings 3 giant stone guardians around the city to life and they start destroying airships and fighting a giant Daemon war machine.
I suggest seeing this movie especially if you want some back story in Final Fantasy XV when the game finally comes out in November. Don't worry though, you can still enjoy the game without seeing the movie, Square Enix has mentioned that the story is self contained. Good job Square Enix, you got some brownie points with me, now all you need to do is announce a Final Fantasy VI remake...
