Final Fantasy- The spirits within

For some reason I got it in my head that Final Fantasy- The Spirits Within was dull and poorly produced. After rewatching it a few weeks ago, I honestly can't think of where I got that from.

Even though the animation was created in 1998 (and well before), it still represents leading 3d technique. 10 years later, the animation has hardly been surpassed. In the Disney artist sweatshop vein, square outdid themselves on the detailing. The tiny imperfections on a character's skin, the individually animated 10,000 hairs on Aki's head. A scary amount of work went into the film and it shows.

Also in the production is probably the best group of voice actors in any animated film to date. That may sound like a big claim, but it's really not. Most mainstream modern animated films get big name actors to do the voices and more often than not, they suck. This is a group of some big name actors who actually do a good job. It's incredibly rare.

Finally, the story. When I first watched the movie, it took me a few times through to get exactly what was going on. I was young (12) and the film is pretty complex. When I watched it a few weeks ago I caught everything, and I was able to appreciate the subtleties in dialog and some of the more adult jokes I might not have gotten 10 years ago. It's mostly good, but there are a few melodramatic romantic moments that are like an animated soap opera. I know I have a bit of a bias against love stories, but this stuff is really over the top. Nothin' like zero g nookie to easy the pain of comrades' deaths.