Talera vs Advent Children
Posted 15th June 2011 at 12:49 PM by Talera
So on the weekend I watched Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It should be noted I watched the 2005 version and not the revised edition which had more information inserted for people who haven’t played the game.
I was looking forward to this as I found the game play frustrating. The thing I found most enticing about the Final Fantasy games was actually the storyline/plot. The concept of having it purely that and with gorgeous animation was something I looked forward to.
The movie takes place about 2 years after the game ends. While the movie introduces the concepts of Jenova and the Lifestream well, it only provides minimal information regarding Sephiroth and Shinra. It also provides no information on Cloud or his connection with Tifa and the other characters. For this reason alone I think it would not be a movie suited for those who have not played the game. My understanding is the revised edition rectifies some of this, but not to a level for those who have not been exposed to Final Fantasy to get full benefit from the film.
Having played the game (in fact FF7 was the first one I ever played) I enjoyed it immensely. Admittedly it did not flow as well as I would have liked and did come across as a bunch of cut scenes put together but really this did not detract from my enjoyment that much. The animation was, in my opinion, very apt given the subject of the film ultimately being the game franchise. In fact it almost made me want to pull out that old game until I remembered the whole chocobo irritation.
It isn’t a long film and went well for entertaining me on a lazy Sunday afternoon while I was making my pumpkin soup. The movie is very story based instead of trying to accrue tension and so the periodic pausing did not cause issues.
