Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Micransix Crappy film

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

lanettediax If you want to see a movie with exceptional over-the-top, beautifully crafted computer animated characters and gravity defying fight scenes: FFVII: Advent Children is it!! The plot could have been explained a bit more thoroughly throughout the movie, but it does deliver the basics, which is enough to get an idea of the main idea. Questionably, the movie wanted us to believe that the 3 male villains are "young and violent," as described by Rufus Shinra speaking to Cloud, however, I thought the villains were very likeable and in some ways adorable. For example, Kadaj could have killed Reno and Rude when he broke in to speak to Mr. Shinra. Loz could have killed Tifa after he overpowered her. Yazoo and Loz could have hurt or even killed any of the children and Yazoo and Loz could have most likely killed Reno and Rude (using their gunblades) during their battle scene in Midgar. I'm NOT saying that I would have wanted any of those scenarios to actually happen, as I really liked all of the characters and I was glad no one was hurt. In another scene, during Kadaj's death, he is crying believing the voice he hears is "Mother" and that he finally found her. Oh yeah, such a badass villain there! But my point is, if you have villains, make them truly evil. In FFVII, the writers had the guts to kill off Areith by the villain Sephiroth. No matter how cool Sephiroth is, I despise him for this very reason. Overall, this movie is beautifully crafted, with loveable character (even the villains) and humorous at times. I hope at some point, these villains are brought back (hey, why not, it's anime after all) and used again for primary antagonist or even make them protagonist for another FFVII story. This movie is definitely worth seeing! For kids, watch the original FFVII: Advent Children. For older children/adults, watch the Complete version.

Mihai Toma After the population gets infected with an incurable disease, the faith and trust of Cloud, an ex-warrior who fought in an epic battle to defeat Sephiroth, are at their lowest. Also infected, he must find a way to get rid of all bad thoughts and save the world once again as new enemies arrive and are up to no good. Set two years after the crash of Shin-Ra company, this movie presents the adventures of Cloud and his friends in their attempt to eliminate the enemies who threaten the planet while also trying to fix his mental issues.It's a movie which you can tell from the beginning that it's targeted to a small audience. It assumes that the viewer already knows about the characters and their past adventures and doesn't even bother to at least try and explain the basics. Although it is visually stunning, with great sound and special effects, it features a mediocre plot which simply drags it down more than it would have deserved. You can have the greatest visuals, the best universe and the best sound to impress anybody who looks at it, but from my point of view, the most important part of any movie, especially when it comes to animations, is by far the story. And this is exactly where this movie fails, big time actually. Besides the disappointment that it does not have almost any link to the story from the game and that it doesn't move a muscle to explain a bit what is going on, it simply lets the viewer down in any single way in terms of plot. It's linear, predictable, full of repetitive and even boring fight scenes which don't do it any good. And, as the entire movie, the finale is easy to predict and gives almost no satisfaction because of this.It's a shame that the producers decided to focus so much on the visuals, which I will say again that are simply astonishing, and go along with a mediocre and very easy to guess plot. It is apparently intended only for hard-core fans of the series and this, in my opinion, is a big letdown.

hoxjennifer I watched this as a non-FFVII player (yes, I'm outside of the target audience but a movie's a movie right?) I have always admired the Final Fantasy series from afar... even though I've never played the games, I've always admired the artwork, the animation and the music... (My personal favourite is FFX - Lulu is absolutely stunning, my favourite character!) The first time I watched it, the storyline was confusing as someone who had never played the games, so I needed some background before watching. The action is exciting, but can be a little drawn out and long (I watched the "complete" version of the film, so maybe that's why they were long). Nonethless, for a movie produced 10 years ago, the animation is absolutely stunning and gorgeous. The characters really come to life - hair texture and especially eyes are well done. The storyline is beautiful, but if you are going into this having not played the game, you might need to do some background reading before-hand.

dlpburke I am being generous giving this abomination a 2. It's getting 2 because the characters were portrayed more or less like in the game (which was, for the most part, a well written fiction), and the graphics were nice.Everything else about this film is wrong. Like with reviewing all terrible things, it's hard to know where to begin.1. Localization is BAD. Let's start with my title: "Dilly Dally, Shilly Shally". This is a symptom of a terrible localization. You'd think that after the original game's problematic localization that at least THIS would be up to scratch... but no. I won't waste your time telling you what the Japanese was meant to convey—just Google it and find out. The nonsensical phrase above indicates the localization team was either on drugs or mentally deficient. The whole localization is poor. It's actually a slight improvement to watch this film in Japanese with English subs. I say 'slight' because that won't fix the crap script, plot, pacing, or anything else, sadly.2. The plot makes absolutely no sense. Part of the reason is that Final Fantasy VII is a massive game with a huge story and, any sequel, even if well scripted, would likely need to be three hours long to tell a coherent tale. No effort was attempted. I watched the "Complete" version of this film and timed the amount of scenes dedicated to meaningless, out of control, and totally implausible battle sequences— it came to around 1/3 of the film. When you see things like this, you should instantly be aware that the writers are compensating for a lack-luster story. In this case, they are also appealing to FF7 fanboys, who will buy anything Final Fantasy as long as it has cool graphics. Square Enix has churned out a lot of Sequel-Prequel cash-ins since 1997. And fans just keep on biting.3. The pacing is dire. The film is so busy trying to disguise its short-comings with battle sequences that it forgets to tell a story or have a proper narrative. No sooner are your characters in a setting where some meaningful dialogue can take place than something happens to thrust you into another coma inducing battle sequence.4. The film is written like it is a game. Sigh... The genres are completely different, but some morons at Square Enix (including some of the original staff) thought that it would be a good idea to use game elements in a film. As a result, physics, gravity, logic, and reason are thrown out of the window. Characters are smashed into walls at 100 mph without a scratch... Look, I'm getting fed up with this review already. Just like the film, it's boring me. Needless to say, if you are intelligent enough to understand why believability matters to a fiction, you are too intelligent to watch this insulting film. In the game, battle elements are often treated as non-story elements because that's desirable—a player uses logic to decide how to interpret the battle in the wider scheme of things. The story in the game maintained the suspension of disbelief and didn't go too far, too often. This pile of rubbish doesn't care. Unfortunately, I have had the misfortune of debating this issue on a fan forum, and the overwhelming majority agreed that logic doesn't matter and that any and all things that happen in a story are acceptable. Little wonder, then, that these same people praise and defend this garbage.5. Apart from Cloud (who is now an emo), the characters were well designed and acted like their game counterparts. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end. The game versions had proper motivations and lengthy conversations. This film just wants to get you to the next battle sequence. It doesn't help that the fanboy servicing required numerous retcons (like dead characters returning - itself a sign of lazy, crap writing) to take place, and for every established former character to make an appearance, no matter the justification.I am one of the biggest FF7 fans. I have recently finished a complete relocalization for the original game, found here: http://goo.gl/QBrX7B. But unlike some fans, I am not deluded by fanboyism. I know the short comings of the game and of this movie (if you can call it that). This film was made for the sole purpose of exploiting mindless fanboys - to make a quick buck. And on that front, it worked. If you aren't familiar with the game, I dread to think how much worse this film will be for you.This film is an ABSOLUTE example of what NOT TO DO.