Angels_Review
It's rather hard to talk about a show like this because it's mostly like a range of different episodes. They may all contain the Matrix like style but there really isn't much that connects them. From the story to the animation, each part is different and told in its own way. The movie gets more and more confusing as the stories keep going, making it hard to get what is going on. There isn't an indication of if you are inside the Matrix or outside it. All I could understand was how pretty the animations were at points and how 'crappy' they were in others. The whole mix of samurai to space age, to computer simulations that look so real that it could be live action, all of that just seemed a little overboard.Question, why does it start out with a man and women undressing each other with katanas? Is it just for sexual looks or is there actually a reason for it? Can someone answer this part for me? The animation was all over the place from CG to Cartoon, to whatever. I felt rather bombarded by all the different art styles just as it happened in 'Dante's Inferno: An animated epic'. The only thing that saved this a little was that the stories were not all linked to one storyline like Dante. When I say Crappy artwork, I don't mean bad artwork. I just mean stuff that really doesn't look right in my eyes. The style that is so loaded with detail that you can see almost every line in the face right next to stuff that is very simplified. I may not be using the right word for it but I have no other idea what to use for it. Now the detail work pretty much is nice in the CG part, but I thought it never worked in the cartoon part of the show.The voices are actually pretty well done and one of the only fluid parts of the show. They have voices that work out rather well for the mood that the 'scene' is trying to show. If it's intense, it sounds intense, if it's slow, it has that feeling. Some of the characters sound like they were voiced by some of the voice actors that were even in the matrix itself.
ziga321
If you like the original series, especially the story and premise there is a good chance you will like this one even more.In 'second renaissance', it explains the war between the humans and people. This short is somehow very violent, but beneath all the violence is hidden a message.In 'world record' things become more philosophical. This short ask a question whatever would happen if somebody would break his own body/mental limits. In it we follow the runner, whom runs so fast the he breaks his own 'chains' and wakes up on the other side in one of those "beds", the same one Neo wakes up in the movie. Very good short, with visuals that go well to the short story feel. My favorite.In 'beyond' we follow some young children's who find some old hut with BUGS in the systems. Not that crawling little creatures, but mechanical/system bugs, like time and gravity getting reversed. Very good short. Probably my second favorite.The others, i remember 'detective story and 'kid's story' which are also good.As I said this is simply a must watch for any fan of the original series.
Imdbidia
Animatrix is a collection of nine animated shorts related to different aspects of Matrix. The stories are directly or indirectly related to what happens in the movie, filling-in some unexplained facts, and exploring the matrix from an outsider-insider point of view."Final Flight of the Osiris" (Andy Jones) is a literal transcription of an episode in the movie. The animation itself is amazing, and the opening scene extremely sexy, but the virtuosity of the video-game animation is not paired with a creative approach. I suspect, it was included in the compilation to catch the eye of those video-gamers who might end buying the Matrix's video-game."Program" (Yoshiaki Kawajiri) is an Akira-style short animation piece. The use of basic colors (white, red, black and gray, traditional Japanese elements (castles, samurais, swords, bamboo, silhouettes), and an edgy Manga action creates a visually astonishing piece of animation. It re-creates Cypher's betrayal of his crew of renegades, but giving it a medieval-Japan-Samurai twist."World Record" (Takeshi Koike) is an original piece that uses the matrix concept to expand it on its own, unconnected to any direct episode in the movie. It is about the awakening to the reality of the matrix by the main character, a famous Afro-American runner. The piece is shot in a mix of grays, blacks, beige and yellow colors, and uses shading brilliantly. The backgrounds are very artsy, according to Koike they were inspired by Gaudi's architecture. I found the piece, despite being made by a Japanese, very American in its vibe and energy, in the drawing of the characters and their personalities; still, there is a powerful unique narrative that is very Japanese, that tries to tell a story without forgetting technical innovation. Terrific is the way the movement of the athlete is captured, slowed and micro-analyzed, and also the fact that the Afro-Americans are not drawn in brown colors but in different shades of gray. Supercool."The Second Renaissance 1 and 2" (Mahiro Maeda) fill in the missing story of what happened to the Human Race until they became dominated by the machines. In another words, it offers a mythology of the Matrix that was only hinted in the movie. It uses colorful Mandalas (with a mix of Buddhist and Brahman elements)attached to the female goddess-narrator, but has subdued colors when the documentary-like piece fill the viewer with the details of the war between humans and machines. It has a terrific story-telling, and it is very universal in a way. It uses elements of all religions, shows humans from different religions and cultures, depicts the violent acts of the humans using embedded references to tragic events happened in recent wars (WWII, Vietnam, Irak) and offers an unadorned, still entertaining, view of the sins of the modern human race."Beyond" (Koji Morimoto) is a beautiful naturalistic short, Ghibli-Studio-like in the use of colors, shadows and lighting, the magic realism of of daily life, and the virtuosity of the drawing. The episode has a connection to the Matrix, the cat appearing from another dimension in the movie, is the one here. But that is is. Morimoto creates for us an error in the matrix program affecting a house visited for the characters in this movie. The house is sort of enchanted, and visitors can levitate. It replies with verisimilitude to the question, how would humans notice a loop in the program? how would affect them? Simply wonderful."Kid's Story" (Shinichiro Watanabe) tells about the awakening to the reality of an American teen student who has been contacted by Neo. It has a lucid dream approach and has some lyric moments. However, this is mostly an escape story, full of action and angst. The animation style is a bit weird, as it the movie was constantly blur. This is intentional, and it is used to tell the viewer that our character is in a reality that is not dream, still not completely awake. The piece is extremely dynamic, with a great music, and some poetic moments, but not as engaging as the others."A Detective Story" (Shinichiro Watanabe) is a masterpiece of animation, drawn in a grainy BW that mimics ink-drawing, but adding some cut-out colors, typical of some American comics for adults. It also replicates the mood and style of the detective B-movies of the 50s, but mixed with a retro-futuristic Chinatown approach the matrix (very Dark-City in a way). It is super-stylish and engaging, linked to the movie by the search of Trinity. The music is very jazzy, perfect for a 1950s sort of film. I would have liked to be longer and a bit more daring, so much I enjoyed it!"Matriculated" (Peter Chung) is a very psychedelic, hallucinogenic, colorful and philosophical piece of animation, and the most daring, from a narrative point of view, of the lot. It does reverse the matrix principles of the machines using a program mimicking human reality and subconscious world to put them at their service. In this short, the renegades reprogram the captured machines and connect them to their consciousness so it tricks the machine thinking that is a program and that they are also machines. It explores the concept of universal consciousness, and how machines could be fooled. It is a very Asimov approach to the story.Animatrix is funky, artistic, and very entertaining. Not for small kids, though. The main problem with the compilation is that the quality of the pieces varies enormously, and that you need to watch it after the Matrix (the movie), and understand the intricacies of the matrix itself to comprehend the stories in the shorts. It is not rocket-science, but if you haven't done that, the movie won't work for you. Animatrix is a companion to the film, therefore, watching it on its own could be disappointing, unless you are interested in animation per se.
Rapturous Rich
If anyone was left thinking this was just another attempt to make money from the hugely successful film franchise then they can think again. This collection of nine ten-minute long films serves a far greater purpose than to just line the Wachowskis' pockets that little bit more. They go from filling the gap between the first and second film, to telling us, in detail, how it all came to be like this, to how different people escape from the matrix in their own personal ways, to glitches in the system and how some humans try tactics different to all out offensive in their part fighting the war. The collection runs for 90 minutes and each film is different to the next not from just plot but to style, approach and narrative too. Each director brings their own personal touch and their own ideas of The Matrix to the screen with them and it pays off tremendously where many collaborative film collections have usually fallen short and / or been abandoned due to creative conflicts. This is more than just synergy at work here; the Wachowskis are trying to share more of their fantastic creation with us, and giving other directors the chance to help them. While the anime idea was a move which has proved a little niche, but extraordinary all the same.In conclusion, The Animatrix is a great expansion on the mystery and awe surrounding the matrix and its origins, without completely throwing it out there and still keeping some cards to play later and things for us to find out ourselves yet, the Wachowskis are undoubtedly two of the most gifted creative minds in the film world today. Who else has a franchise so celebrated and brimming with awe and wonder which still feels fresh no matter how many times you watch it? George Lucas can wipe away that hopeful smile on his face for sure, because that title belongs to Larry and Andy Wachowski, and rightfully so. Their ability to even apply their film's ideas to things otherwise outside of it is an inspiring achievement and further cements them as surely some kind of demi-gods of cinema. The fact that they have still got fresh and interesting ideas means we could very well have The Matrix around for a lot longer than anyone first anticipated.Read the full review (with an in-depth look at each film/episode) at http://www.broken-sky.org/raw/?page_id=291
