Finally Fantastic

At last, a summer movie with brains, aliens, action and...spirituality?

Just so we don't get too far off track here, it should be stated up front what Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is not, since what it is is in fact a lot more interesting.

-- It is not a replacement for flesh-and-blood actors.

-- It is not Starship Troopers, although some of the art design is similar.

-- It is not a video-game adaptation, except in name and general theme (the characters and the storyline are not based on any preexisting game).

-- It is not a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster in the traditional sense.

What Final Fantasy really is, in addition to being spectacular entertainment and the leading contender for the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature, is the most hi-tech, mass-market Japanese animation to hit these shores (those of you hung up on the idea that anime is all about triangular-faced humans with big eyes, let it go. Recent entries like Ghost in the Shell and Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade have already busted that stereotype wide open). Go in expecting absolute realism, and you'll be disappointed. While the computer animation is fantastic and on a level we've never seen before, it is still animation, a stylization of reality. The digital-versus-human-actor debate is still not yet relevant, and until we actually develop full artificial intelligence, it never will be, as it'll always be more economical to have a human deliver a line.

But the Japanese sensibility goes further than just the technologically advanced look of the film. Numerous hallmarks of the more popular anime films are at work, from a complicated series of plot mechanics that seem to require a second viewing to fully comprehend (such elements are often deliberate in Japan, to encourage repeat attendance), to an Eastern spirituality that deals with the spirits within us all and our connections to Gaia the Earth-spirit, to a final shapeless monster that recalls the climactic mutation of Tetsuo in Akira. It also extends to a somewhat cheesy end song that may make audiences laugh aloud, especially those who aren't as familiar with Japanese sci-fi (the song and other unusual moments of the film will probably play to American audiences like the flying in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: folks will either be entranced or just think it's dumb). It should be added that even folks attuned to the film's sensibility will find a few things laughable.

When a macho hero strikes a pose and yells out, "This city may be lost, but we are not!" for example, or when the film features that tired, outdated action-movie cliche of the noble wounded black guy who tells all his white friends to go on without him as he fights against impossible odds just to buy them some more time. In fairness, many white guys also end up dead, but that doesn't excuse the hoariness of the moment.

So what's the movie about? By now, you've probably figured out that it's more than just the shoot-'em-up depicted in the TV spots. There's action aplenty, to be sure, but like Crouching Tiger, the film takes its sweet time telling a story before it gets to the deadly, semi-invisible monsters that suck out human souls and crunch them up between giant ethereal mandibles. Set in a future in which Earth has been devastated by said translucent critters -- which come in all shapes and sizes, from misshapen humanoid to flying serpent to 50-foot bug -- we find humanity engaged in the usual debate about a political versus a military solution.

On the one hand is General Hein (voice of James Woods, appearance of Neil Patrick Harris in Starship Troopers), who proposes using a gigantic space-based laser to shoot at the crater where the aliens first landed, and from which they still emanate. On the other side is Dr. Sid (voice of Donald Sutherland, appearance of someone even older, if that's possible), who has figured out that the aliens tend to reproduce in quantities directly proportional to the number killed, resulting in a net loss of zero.

Having long since discovered the energy that is the source of all life (for want of a coherent explanation, let's just say it's basically the Force) and measured its frequency, Dr. Sid has recently discovered the equivalent in the aliens, and believes he can create an energy wave that will neutralize their life force. In order to generate the wave, he needs to find seven different and unique life spirits whose signatures can combine to create the wave. The key to his plan is Dr. Aki Ross (voice of Ming-Na, appearance of someone younger and more Caucasian), who has been infected by the aliens but has managed to keep her disease in check with a rudimentary, weaker prototype of the neutralization wave. It's best to just roll with the explanatory stuff -- just so long as you know they need seven items, and nasty aliens stand in their way, you can always get an anime geek to explain it to you later.

Aiding Sid and Aki in their mission is the latter's ex-boyfriend Gray Edwards (voice of Alec Baldwin, body of Ben Affleck. If only Baldwin could do all of Affleck's acting in every movie from here on out), a hard-nosed soldier who nevertheless refuses to obey the orders of the evil General Hein (attempts are made to humanize Hein somewhat, but when a character has crooked eyes, an all black leather costume and James Woods doing his raspiest enunciating, there's no way he can be anything but the prince of darkness).

There are considerably more plot revelations, but you don't need to know them yet. Suffice it to say they're easier to follow than the initial explanations, though the film never assumes that its audience is stupid (except perhaps when it blatantly cribs the butch chick/nerdy guy supporting character dynamic from Aliens, duo-voiced here by Steve Buscemi and Peri Gilpin).

Did we mention that the effects are stunning? Need it even be said at this point? Unbound by having to use rigged wires or plummeting planes, the antigravity sequences are breathtakingly perfect, and the translucent aliens like nothing you've ever seen. Every hair on the characters' heads looks alive, though the fact that so many are bald or have crewcuts is clearly no accident. And the story is solid, though it does at times bear a frightening resemblance to the "Xenu" origin story told to higher-level Scientologists (the film's spiritual heart, however, is closer to Buddhism or Wicca, which may offend the religious right if they're on the ball enough to figure that much out).

As for how this Final Fantasy relates to the games that give it its title -- not much. Then again, each of those games was unrelated to its predecessor, though all deal in some way with the concept of the spirit and the quest to collect a series of items that will help save a dying world. Game creator Hironobu Sakaguchi is also the film's director, and he does a fine job with the visuals, though the fact that he doesn't speak English may account for some of the more wooden lines. The animated faces are nicely expressive nonetheless, with the possible exception of the Gray Edwards-pseudo-Affleck mug. We can, however, take comfort in the fact that the real Affleck is even less animated.