Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Review
By ondskapt
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Review
Square Enix
Review Statistics
- Times Read
- 2,842
- Comments
- 32
- Reviews
- Tv
Plot Synopsis
Aoshi101 wrote: Two years after the defeat of Sephiroth by Cloud and his gang, a new danger reappears. This danger is Kadaj. He and his two brothers are out to get the cells of Jenova in order to bring back Sephiroth. Cloud, in order to stop it, must pick up the sword once again and join in the fight. With the help of the Turks and the former President of ShinRa, and his fellow friends, Cloud must prevent this danger and save Midgar and the world once again.
Story & Characters
I dont think I have disliked the story of any of the FF games I played so far. The first movie though (The Spirits Within) and the anime (FF : Unlimited) had quite lame and boring stories, nothing that really got a grip of me and made me interested in the characters fates.
So when I heard that there was going to be a movie based on my favourite game,
FF VII, i got both excited and worried ; what if they screwed this one up too?
Well, I can now say that the worry I had was a complete waste. The story in FF
VII : Advent Children is, as in the original game, just marvellous. I really got
hooked at instant and not a second of the film was boring or uninteresting. Not
one happening or one single piece of dialogue felt unnecessary or a waste of
time, which is a really good sign.
The only thing I can think of complaining at was that the movie was too short,
they could have made it MUCH longer, or maybe done it as a series instead,
because there is so many things more that they could have brought up and showed
to the viewer.
But, now the situation is at it is, and nothing can be done about it. The story that is in the movie is as I mentioned above, amazing, and I cant say that I am the least disappointed.
- Rating
- 9 (very good)
Art
I saw some trailers/teasers for the movie and I was simply stunned by the graphics that they presented, I can easily say that they were the most beautiful things I´ve ever witnessed.
But, I got a little anxious about the artists not being able to keep this amazing graphics throughout the entire movie, that some things would be half-done. But how I was wrong. Every second of the movie is beautiful in the tiniest detail (at least my eyes thought so) and every character, monster, building, well EVERYTHING is like a dream. This is as good as it gets without looking 100% realistic I think. Some things that I was particullary amazed about was all the characters hair, just amazing. Also the monster that they face in the town is stunningly well-done.
- Rating
- 10 (excellent)
Sound
As always when it comes to FF, the music is just amazing. I am a sucker for majestic movie soundtracks, so the fact that I like this one too is quite understandable. I recognize some of it from the FF VII game, which is great, since I loved the soundtrack of that game. The ending theme is the one I love the most, it is absolutely one of the most beautiful themes I have ever heard to a game/movie.
The voices of the characters were well-chosen as well I think, nothing to complain about. If there will be any dubs on it, I wont watch that, since I think that subs is about 100000000 times better than dubs.
- Rating
- 9 (very good)
Presentation
You should by now be able to tell that I am satisfied with the movie. I was anxious that I would once again be disappointed (as I was by The Spirits Within) but I was not, not at all actually.
The movie began very beautifully with Red XIII running, and soon I was dragged into the story and taken on one hell-of-a-ride for approximately 1,5 hours. The movie both had serious moments (flashbacks of Aeris etc.) and humorous moments (Reno anyone?), which I think is great, since it brings the essence of FF to the moviescreen. The Spirits Within was not a very humour-filled movie and was, well how shall I say it, a plague to watch with the lame story and boring characters.
As I mentioned before, the entire movie is a joy for both eyes, ears and mind to
watch, and from time to time I got that special nostalgic feelign which reminded
me just of how great FF VII and the world in it is.
People that havent played FF VII at all should do that first, before watching
this movie, or else it can be quite difficult to understand with all the
flashbacks and so.
Well, lets get to the final point. FF VII : Advent Children is without doubt the greatest animated movie I have ever seen, and probably ever will se too. It is also one of my favourite movies ever. I simply love it, and I will see it many, many times more.
- Rating
- 9 (very good)
Final Verdict
9.17 (very good)
Reviewed by ondskapt, 2y 40wk ago
Only members can post replies, please register.
very good rewiev..
Eww...another biased AC review...
I would have rated the story lower at like 7 perhaps, mainly beacuse I didn't get a chance to play FF7, and the fact that many characters didn't have much development. But I still loved watching the movie, overall decent review.
I didn't play the game either, but I feel that if they had developed the characters any further, I'd be spinning in confusion. Further developing already developed characters? Then people would complain at the slightest out-of-character moments....
which is why you play the game or else you won't get it at all.
I freakin' loved it, and I can't wait to see what else comes out!
this movie was one of my top 10 films. i loved everyrhing about:details,characters,story and best of all the fight scenes. i can't wait for the sequal of this movie.
This movie was awesome I loved the way they did Sephiroth and the fight scenes and music were beautiful
I don't think it's possible to give much of a character development when they are already developed back in 1997 in a span of an average 60 hours. This is supposed to be a direct sequal, and I'm sure it is quite self explainatory that prior knowledge of FF7 is needed to bring the movie to a higher level.
I couldnt agree more too this review. Best gamebased movie ever done in human history, for now anyway.
oh wow, I've just wacthed it yesterday, how kool, how excellent ><, love Cloud so much ^^, more than any FFanime I've seen
I am a Final Fantasy fan... but I wonder how anyone can rate the story of final fantasy advent children with 9/10... what is the story? there is a little piece of a "story" at the beginning, another little piece at the end. And the rest is just fighting. I agree the art is amazing, but the story is rather disappointing. It is not a movie filled with that special spirit that was discovered with Final Fantasy 7, the game... Most of the characters just "jumped" in in the fight scene... no conversation what so ever... just jumping and running and throwing and beating... in such a speed that my eyes could hardly follow.
But yes, it's amazing what they can do... the animation... wow....!!! But the story?... I don't really see a real story in there... sorry...
Yep I have to agree with you on that one... Why you ask? Well...
She almost said it all... I'll give both art and music high points but it greatly lacks Story and Presentaion! Didn't you ever consider that people who haven't played the game don't know anything about the story... It would be good if there were flashbacks of what happened before the movie. Especially when Aeris comes out all of a sudden. Some people don't know who she is or what happened to her, but she keeps on popping out all throughout the movie... Nobody who played the game actually knows she died! Anyways FF7 - AC gets high on Animation and Music but lacks a decent presentation of Plot and Story.
P.S. - Some people were even confused on why silver-hair boy turned to Sephiroth all of a sudden by using Jenova's head...
I also agree there wasn't much of a "story" in the movie. I think the movie is more about closure. As for not playing the game and watching the movie, it's still action packed enough it won't bore you to death. Although a little more background story would have helped people in that boat. Also for people who got confused over the characters, there wasn't enough in the movie to fully understand each of the characters, especially Cloud. However, considering this IS a Final Fantasy 7 movie, it is expected most of the people watching the movie are going to be fans and have played the game before. I guess it would've been better off as an OVA or a series. A movie is probably not long enough to pack in all the "goodies" form the game.
One thing I don't like about the movie is, how the put Zack in the ending where we finally see Aeris' face. I bet a lot of people are wondering who the heck that guy is. Again fans would know who that guy is, but there could've been more to explain who he was and his relationship with Cloud.
I think there is story, but it is subtle. 90% of the story/closure story is seen and felt, not heard. One must observe things very closely in the movie, as actions are louder than words. This review is nice, and doesn't contain many spoilers, which puts it above many that I have read.
Yea there is a story that is extremly similar to the one in the game so a lot of it was explaned in the game so you kinda have to pick it back up during the movie to fully understand it, and if you havn't played the game you are kind of just screwed and have to watch it for the kickass fights!
I watched this movie too, its awesome-especially the animation!SUGOI! and lovely review!
An awesome movie that finally did FF right on film. The action scenes and the soundtrack were amazing...
I think the reason why the story lacked so much good rating is because the people wanted more of the story. Not only on the action. But if there was more of the story, I really think it would be very boring for those who'd watch the movie but haven't played the game yet..since they're not going to be able to follow of anything.
But I think Square has so far assumed most of its audience for this movie have already played the game, and they were making sure both ends balance on the scale. I didn't mean there was more action.. well.. there's story in the battle scenes too. They just made sure it won't be boring for both gamers and non-gamers.
Personally i loved it
the animation is absolutely fantasic, but the storyline..... hard to get a hold of....
too sad that FF7:AC's story is kinda weird and the graphics are so well-done. its nice to look at but honestly, i think the creators just didnt have enough time to figure out a real story and ending.
taking into consideration that it takes a long long time to get a movie like this to look this cool i would give FF7:AC an 8.5
but thats just my opinion
Wow... It was really great. The action was good, the camera views made it seem that they were doing things that they weren't supposed to do, but what do you expect? It's FINAL FANTASY!
And Bahamut changed over the years...
, but
he/she was still pwnsome 
The whole point of the movie wasnt to inform you about what was the story and what happend through out the game, It was supposed to be a sequal! a f**king SEQUAL! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO PLAY THE GAME! They wanted this to be a direct Sequal, not a review about what happend in the game! so quite whinning, jeez.
I know what you all should do, GO GET THE FRIGGIN GAME! Dont whine anymore.
BUt i loved this movie! it was good and they ddint mess it up at all. The story in this was a direct link to the game so I thought that was good! 10/10
I just love this movie! I just knew the basic plot of FFVII the game, so I had like no clue what was going on in Advent Children in the beginning. But as I continued to watch the movie, I was drawn into the story, graphics and action that I soon forgot what I didn't know before hand. It's too bad they cut out some parts of the movie that was in the trailer. The graphics were very well done and appeared very realistic.