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I think my heart's still beating fast.
Alright, so. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children review time.
Spoiler-free: It was pretty good. The beginning and end are engaging, while the middle, I felt, could have been better. There's a lot of action - A LOT - and maybe that's what I didn't like about the middle. They set up a great story, and then all development got set on the back burner for very long fight scenes. Eh. Overall, though, I really enjoyed it. And I cried. Twice.
Spoiler-full: Could Tifa look any more like Rinoa? Seriously, here, I'm trying to think of one thing they could've changed to give her a more Rinoa-ish style. She's like black leather Rini or something. It made me a little ill. I mean, even the ribbon. Couldn't they have done something else besides a ribbon, or put it on the other arm, or around the wrist, or *something*? *sighs* The ribbon really bugged me, though, when it was on Cloud. Badass guy, middle of fight scenes, rips off the sleeve and... a pink ribbon tied in a bow? I laughed my ass off. It really killed the mood of that part. They could've made them both have white ribbons and it would've been better. Honestly, pink? With those ensembles? What were they thinking?
Kadaj's story made me cry. He felt Kuja-ish, with the whole crazy-unwanted-fellow-watch-me-destroy-you-all! intentions. Maybe it was just the translation, but I didn't understand exactly what was going on with Sephiroth. In the game, he wanted the power the planet would release when it was near death. Now, he wants to use it as a travelling device. Huh? Wait, what happened here? Ultimate power scheme to "I need a lift"? Not satisfying, Square. I kept seeing that Zim episode "Battle of the Planets" in my head. Sephiroth nestled firmly in the ass on Mercury, laughing maniacally as he shops for a new home. Um, no.
On the other hand, the rest of the story was really good. I liked the reasoning behind the Geostigma, and goddamn, I loved Kadaj and his quest. Poor guy. Somehow, after watching the trailers, I thought he'd be less crazy and less sympathetic than he was, but I was wrong. He just wants his mother, and wants to be her favorite. The transformation from Kadaj to Sephiroth was picture perfect, especially with Yuffie yelling about bugs from the airship with her arms full of materia. So great.
I also cried at the very very end, when Aeris and Zack appeared. Granted, I was severely squicked when Cloud called her mom, since I'm a hardcore Cloud/Aeris shipper who squee-ed at their scene in Kingdom Hearts and the credits animation to this. However, the look on Cloud's face when he saw her erased that icky feeling from my stomach and just made me whimper. That gutted feeling, the horribleness of them not being together - that's beautiful. It makes you feel, and leaves you breathless, and that's how I was. That ending erased my annoyance at the overdone battle scenes in the middle. As the credits swished about, I sat with damp cheeks, sighing contentedly. Well done, guys. Well done.
Overall? The score breaks down as follows:
Beginning: A
Middle: C
End: A+
Animation: A-
Battle Choreography: A
Pacing: B
Characters: A+
Plot: A-
Effectiveness: A
Overall Score: A-
Footnote: Want to compare just how similar they made Tifa to Rinoa? Here:
An action figure of Tifa from Advent Children, seen at E3 2005
Rinoa from the FF8 instruction booklet
Rinoa's stances from a collector's card
Spoiler-free: It was pretty good. The beginning and end are engaging, while the middle, I felt, could have been better. There's a lot of action - A LOT - and maybe that's what I didn't like about the middle. They set up a great story, and then all development got set on the back burner for very long fight scenes. Eh. Overall, though, I really enjoyed it. And I cried. Twice.
Spoiler-full: Could Tifa look any more like Rinoa? Seriously, here, I'm trying to think of one thing they could've changed to give her a more Rinoa-ish style. She's like black leather Rini or something. It made me a little ill. I mean, even the ribbon. Couldn't they have done something else besides a ribbon, or put it on the other arm, or around the wrist, or *something*? *sighs* The ribbon really bugged me, though, when it was on Cloud. Badass guy, middle of fight scenes, rips off the sleeve and... a pink ribbon tied in a bow? I laughed my ass off. It really killed the mood of that part. They could've made them both have white ribbons and it would've been better. Honestly, pink? With those ensembles? What were they thinking?
Kadaj's story made me cry. He felt Kuja-ish, with the whole crazy-unwanted-fellow-watch-me-destroy-you-all! intentions. Maybe it was just the translation, but I didn't understand exactly what was going on with Sephiroth. In the game, he wanted the power the planet would release when it was near death. Now, he wants to use it as a travelling device. Huh? Wait, what happened here? Ultimate power scheme to "I need a lift"? Not satisfying, Square. I kept seeing that Zim episode "Battle of the Planets" in my head. Sephiroth nestled firmly in the ass on Mercury, laughing maniacally as he shops for a new home. Um, no.
On the other hand, the rest of the story was really good. I liked the reasoning behind the Geostigma, and goddamn, I loved Kadaj and his quest. Poor guy. Somehow, after watching the trailers, I thought he'd be less crazy and less sympathetic than he was, but I was wrong. He just wants his mother, and wants to be her favorite. The transformation from Kadaj to Sephiroth was picture perfect, especially with Yuffie yelling about bugs from the airship with her arms full of materia. So great.
I also cried at the very very end, when Aeris and Zack appeared. Granted, I was severely squicked when Cloud called her mom, since I'm a hardcore Cloud/Aeris shipper who squee-ed at their scene in Kingdom Hearts and the credits animation to this. However, the look on Cloud's face when he saw her erased that icky feeling from my stomach and just made me whimper. That gutted feeling, the horribleness of them not being together - that's beautiful. It makes you feel, and leaves you breathless, and that's how I was. That ending erased my annoyance at the overdone battle scenes in the middle. As the credits swished about, I sat with damp cheeks, sighing contentedly. Well done, guys. Well done.
Overall? The score breaks down as follows:
Beginning: A
Middle: C
End: A+
Animation: A-
Battle Choreography: A
Pacing: B
Characters: A+
Plot: A-
Effectiveness: A
Overall Score: A-
Footnote: Want to compare just how similar they made Tifa to Rinoa? Here:
An action figure of Tifa from Advent Children, seen at E3 2005
Rinoa from the FF8 instruction booklet
Rinoa's stances from a collector's card