So Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within isn't a game in the "technical" sense. But you know what? Sometimes it's less about the ones and the zeroes and more about heart, soul, and achingly great voice-acting--three things that FF:TSW has in absolute abundance. That's why this CGI excursion into the upper limits of imaginative fiction deserves its place on the top 10 Final Fantasy games list.
Like most Final Fantasy iterations, The Spirit Within takes place within its own separate universe--this time a near-earth version of Earth that has been overrun with strange, ethereal creatures known as "phantoms." Contact with these phantoms is lethal to humans, so the humble remains of Earth's government have sought methods of combating this...wait for it...phantom menace. The first option is a gigantic supercannon orbiting the earth that's ready to blast the phantoms to hell and back; the second is by creating a strange energy wave of an opposite frequency to the ones resonating in the phantoms. The only way to perfect this energy wave is by collecting "spirits," which are found in the small pockets of life that still exist on the Earth. If it sounds like confusing sci-fi mumbo jumbo, trust us, it isn't. This is all perfectly valid scientific theory.
Honestly though, the plot of the movie doesn't matter, especially when you consider the stellar English-language voice cast, comprised of a group of relatively unknown film actors. Alec Baldwin (The Cat in the Hat) stars as Capt. Gray Edwards, a fiery, tough-as-nails badass presiding over a squad of similarly-tough-as-nails-but-also-liable-to-toss-in-a-wisecrack-here-and-there squad of badasses, which is comprised of Sgt. Ryan Walker (Ving Rhames, Striptease) and Officer Neil Fleming (Steve Buscemi, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over). The science team is headed by Donald Sutherland's (The Poky Little Puppy's First Christmas) soft-spoken but fiery Dr. Cid, and the film's central character, fiery Dr. Aki Ross, is voiced to utter perfection by Ming-Na (Mulan II).
Much was initially made of The Spirits Within's CGI look, and even now, five years after it was initially released, the movie's characters and settings are just as impressive as they were back then. In fact, we believe this is exactly how the world will look in the year 2065, complete with everyone having huge numbers of moles on their neck and head and freckles everywhere, just like in the movie. There will be a freckles epidemic in 2065. Watch and see.
The Spirits Within is obviously the wellspring from which all CGI movies since have sprung. In fact, heartened by the movie's incredible box-office success in 2001, Square Pictures found the guts to take their CGI prowess to another Final Fantasy film project, reviving the little-known seventh Final Fantasy game into a full-length feature film, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Here's hoping this film helps FFVII gain the attention that the sadly overlooked game deserves.
In summary, we wish we had the power to grow extra appendages, because then we could give Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within three thumbs up. You can find The Spirits Within on DVD, which in some ways makes this film the best kind of game--the kind where you only have to press one button. And that button is "play."
April Fool's TenSpot: Top Ten Final Fantasy Games
We take a look back at all of the Final Fantasy games and select, in order, the ten best ones. Of course, it was all just a joke.
