Advent Children Reviews

[Knuckles]

This thread is for members of SEF to leave a review on Advent Children. Reviews must be a minimum of two paragraphs, contain likes and dislikes, an overall assessment, and a score out of 10. A link to your review and score will then be added to this first post, and all the scores will then be averaged to get the overall scoring.

Please do not post anything other than a review in this thread. For discussion, or more information, please check out the Final Fantasy Game Reviews - Discussion Topic

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Reviewers:

Emerald Materia - 6 / 10
Lulah - 10 / 10
Blankz - 9 / 10
Luvfinalfantasy - 10 / 10
Gokuvs18 - 10 / 10
Goldie - 6.5 / 10
AndrAia - 6 / 10
Amaru - 9 / 10
KX250 - 7 / 10
Sep4irOth - 9 / 10

Average Score:

8 / 10

[Emerald Materia]

Well I just got the DVD. When the movie was first leaked I openly told everyone I was utterly disappointed. Now that the english version has come out there are a few differences. The storyline did not change (Sadly), although it was portrayed slightly better in the English version. The voice actors for Loz and Yazoo were disappointing. I will say that Reno and Rude were much funnier in this version. Cool. Visual effects were as I have said before fantastic. This movie has lossed points based on the fact that the storyline was too thin and the fact that everyone except Cloud, Tifa, and Kadaj were completely unimportant to the storyline.

I give this movie a 6/10.

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[Lulah]

I'm totally addicted to watching AC.

I can't find any fault in it at all. I love all the characters and their voices. I thought that Yazoo, who is my favourite character, had a very cool voice in the Japanese version, but I think the English voice works just as well, it's very sexy. The storyline wasn't important to me, I just love to watch the fighting lol, and the visuals are amazing. The whole thing has blown me away. I've watched it too many times to mention now, and when it's finished I'm left feeling on a 'high'.

The music with it is amazing, it all fits so well with each scene. There are so many emotions in this film, and it has everything to make it one of those films that I will watch over and over again.

I so wish they would make a game of it, although I know it will never happen.

I can honestly say that if I had to chose between owning this film or owning FFXII I would chose AC.

I give it 10/10

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[Blankz]

i think the movie was great and is a great way to show the charaters and story to ff7 the voices were very good too
i would give it 9/10

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[Luvfinalfantasy]

I love AC! It's my favorite movie. I really enjoyed watching the japanese version. Which I saw in September. I saw the english version this past week. I really enjoyed it. I really liked alot of the voices besides Tifa's at some parts. The graphics are amazing. I thought the movie was done really well.

The music..the music was sooo good. I love the music soo much. It fits well with all the scenes.

I'm going to give it a 10/10.

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[gokuvs18]

Well I waited for this to come out in the US for 1. I don't beleive in bootlegging and 2.I didn't want to read the bottom of the screen the whole time. So lets start with the two different versions. If you hear someone talk about how god awful the english version is don't listen to them. Both are pretty much the same. The dialouge is pretty much the same with very little changes, most are just for a better understanding for a english audience. For example when Reno and Rude see Bahamut in the english version Reno goes "Hello" and Rude goes "Hell no". In Japanese Reno says "Holy" and Rude says "Shit". So not that big a deal, the story doesn't change at all. You might as well watch in english so you can enjoy the movie and not worry about reading the bottom of the screen.

For voices I liked them all. All of them fit the characters well. The one thing I didn't like was how they didn't show the other characters a lot. It was mostly Cloud, Tifa, and Kadaj. I'm not really complaining though because that Bahamut fight with all of them was awsome. Also you can get to know the characters better. Before this movie I never really liked the Turks, but now since I got to see them better I have to say Reno is pretty cool. All in all I loved this movie and its my new favorite movie. If you can get past the fact that it doesn't show the other characters as much as Cloud then you should no problem liking this movie.

10/10

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[Goldie]

Before i review I'll give you a little context - I'm a person whos a fan of final fantasy, but has not played FF7. I know enough about ff7 to get the general idea of the storyline before seeing the movie. Out of the population on this forum, I'm probably one of the members closer to what non fans will think on the movie. Also, i hadn't watched any of the leaked footage on the internet or seen what the japanese voices are like. I've only watched the film once, so my opinions may change in the future as i get to know the storyline better. There will be unmarked spoilers.

My opinion on the film is that it is interesting, visually appealing and made with beautiful graphics. They have conquered the fine line, where the characters look realistic, but do justice to their anime style character designs. They look real enough so that you think you could touch them, but pretty enough to hold the visual interest of the fans. Though the lip synching is occasionly off, the voice actors do a great job in matching it well (considering that Japanese also speak in different rythms to english, they seem to pause oddly mid sentence etc). The english voice actors have also been chosen well except for a few exceptions. Cloud speaks with a soft understatement, which is nice considering they could have chosen a 'tough guy' voice which wouldn't have suited the point at all. Perhaps the voices that don't suit their characters are that of Kadaj, Loz and Red XIII. The setting is crazily detailed and natural materials such as leather and water have been mastered outstandingly. The 'fiend' designs are especially impressive, as they look like they could harm the characters and also that they do come from that world. The ending, with the rain and the dissapearance of Kadaj, was beautiful and had me 'oooo, ahhhing' at the visual effects.

Advent Children will fall down for broad audiences, and maybe even fan audiences, because of three main factors.

Firstly, this does not feel like a film, but one looooooooong fmv. Though they have done very well, Nomura and his team show their lack of experience in feature films when it comes to pacing. Though they control the beginning well, after a while they approach every scene like it is a FMV - FMV's are mostly used to either introduce a character, to show setting or to show an action scene in a very fast and condensed minute. Too much is happening visually, as if they need to cram it in before the 'game disk runs out of space'. I can't really explain thoroughly what i mean, but if you watch the film again and think about the differences between an FMV and a movie, you will see how Advent Children is more like an FMV than a movie. Also, though they pick some outstanding pieces of music in some areas, in other areas they pick the completely wrong music.

The second problem is character development. We don't get very much. Obviously, fans will care about these characters even before they watch the film from already existing material (FF7 games). But the movie doesn't push anyone but Cloud forward here. The bad guys are not well developed. Kadaj and Loz do get some minor development, and are interesting in those moments (best quote: NO! I am not crying), but we just don't know enough about them to feel threatened. The smaller, long haired man (Yazoo) in the trio gets no development at all. These three are simply eye candy - they appeal visually and lead the way for a reason for the Sephiroth to make his appearance.

Thirdly their are too many action sequences, which probably ties into the above point. Some of the scenes 'worked', but others were too over the top, too fast. Sometimes it gets too over the top, and takes away from the beauty of previous scenes or the total assault on your eyeballs makes it hard to absorb what is going on. On one side, it will make things interesting a second time as their will be more I didn't notice, but on the other side in the long run it would have been better if they had kept control.

As a final thing, I'm glad Sephiroth appeared in the movie. I'm not even a fan, but near the end i started thinking 'he is going to appear, isn't he?'. I'm glad he didn't come back in actuality, but through another person (Kadaj). Its made me realise the appeal of Sephiroth - and that is anticipation and mystery. The character has an aura that inspires interest. On the flipside, and a complaint of many non sephiroth fans, his writing is not that great. Sephiroth is more a villian of visual appeal and 'legend', rather than substance. His parting words were good though.

I give it a 6.5/10

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[AndrAIa]

I agree with Goldie on most points. I've seen both the Japanese and the English version of Advent Children. Because I love Final Fantasy so much, I hesitate in saying that I didn't like the movie; however, I just wasn't too impressed with what they did. After all the hype and anticipation, it was a let down for me.

Visually, the graphics were AMAZING! They were realistic to an extent but still looked anime-like to preserve the fact that the characters are not real (sorry, that's a bit repetitive). I also enjoyed the music immensely. My favorite song plays in the scene where Cloud rides into the Forgotten City on his bike to rescue the orphans.

On the flip side, the storyline disappointed me. There was little to no depth whatsoever. No character development, which left an ignorant audience lost and confused for most of the film. It ran completely like an FMV and nothing like a movie. In a way, this makes sense because that's how the movie started out.

Overall, I give the movie a 6/10.

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[Knuckles]

'The Best Fan Service Ever Created.'
Written by Amaru

Advent Children is an amazing accomplishment. What first began life as a short 15 minute retrospective piece on Cloud, quickly turned into a full CGI movie. After The Spirits Within, it was quite easy to understand any and all hesitations with this project, but from the general consensus, it was well misplaced hesitation. Unlike their last movie endeavour, Advent Children provided fans with everything that was lacking in it. A fantasy setting, weapons, monsters, magic, abilities ... and to top it all off ... it was based on one of the most loved Final Fantasy games.

When reviewing this film, people need to remember the first fact in my beginning paragraph. This is fan service, so those who have not played Final Fantasy VII will gain little out of it, and more importantly, this is not a FFVII sequel film, it is a Cloud sequel film. It started off life as just his focus, and it maintained this stance. If everyone goes in with those two key facts in mind, then this film is going to blow them away.

First of all, the CGI is completely gorgeous. There is no other word for it. From the facial expressions, to movements, to speach, it is poetry in motion to watch. Not only that, but the fight scenes are fluid and smooth, and accompanied by some familiar FFVII music, it brings a smile to every fan's faces.

There was never meant to be a new and engaging plot, as the plot itself is a homage to the game. We have Sephiroth's will coming into play once more as he manipulates and co-ordinates his ressurection with his remnants. Though there has been some criticism that there was not much character development, I beg to differ. In FF, it's always the little things that reveal a lot, and we got much of that.

We learn that Cloud and Tifa were a 'family', caring for some orphans, but with the Geostigma hitting, Cloud's guilt about Aeris resurfaces. This film is about his journey to come to turns with his guilt and seek her forgiveness. Just like in the game. We also learn that he had a delivery service. That's character development. We then have Tifa, who once more - just like in the game, tries to pull Cloud together and see sense. She just wants Cloud and her to be a family. That's character development. We learn that Vincent has never tried forgiveness of sins, and that he doesn't own a mobile phone. That's character development. We learn that Barret has found an oil field. Not only is this character development for him, but for the entire society of the FFVII world!

It's little gems like that which make the movie. Along with a lot of fantastic speeches, it pulls fans of the actual game in. It's more of a rememberance than anything, but it is executed excellently. The english voices all seem to hold together well, and are easy to get used to.

All in all, this is an awesome fan film, and the best ever created. The final scenes along are worth it all.

I give Advent Children an 9 out of 10.

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[KX250]

I have very mixed Feelings towards Advent Children, it is a very well done movie but it also has bunch of things that i feel could have made it better.

for example:

1. if sephiroth wasn't defeated so easily and quickly.

2. in some areas the combat seemed a little too fast, if you watch a few scenes in slow motion you will see that more hits were landed than it looks......a good example is when Tifa fights Loz.

3. The bahamut scene could have used some work.........im not sure what it is, but when i re-watch the movie i always skip that scene.

4. There should have been more interaction with the other main characters.

5. I didn't really like the new 'One Winged Angel' song, i found it rather annoying.

Overall the movie was pretty good, but not perfect........but it is the best movie based on a Video Game.

Score: 7/10


Also the English DVD was a big disappointmen. The extras were horrible and there was no english version of 'Last Order'. There were TWO DVD discs and they have nothing to show for use of the extra Disc.

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[Sep4ir0th]

I found this movie a seat sticker, I stayed in my seat and didn't move at all during the movie, The CGing was of finest quality, the battles were intense and it held some many surprises. All of the characters fit into their character in the original FFVII, and they all thought like what they would do if they where real (apart from barret, he was lame).

I loved each and every scene, I loved the new diesease which was GENOVA's punishment, and I loved Sephiroth, his hair may not have been how i would like it tpo be, but he was a badd ass, showing strenght through the battle and showing he was more then a worthy opponent (i know he faield but cloud was lucky).

The new characters, Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Denzel. They were all great, sure the three brothers looked kind of gay when they were all together dressed in black leather, who would've thought they wasn't but Loz and Yazoo showed their strength when they worked together, Loz having a bigger part then Yazoo let me down a little because they were meant to be together all the time. Denzel was allright his hair was scruffy and his attitude was somewhat depressed until the end when he gets cured from his Geostigma.

Anyway i'll quit talking.

9/10 I would give it a ten but sephiroth died.

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