This sci-fi film is set in a future where most life on Earth has been wiped out following a meteorite strike which brought with it 'phantoms'. These phantoms consume the life-force of those they touch. Aki Ross has been infected by a phantom but survived, with the help of Dr Sid. Now they are searching for eight spirits which they believe will stop the phantoms. These spirits are to be found in eight different life forms; as the film opens Aki is looking for the sixth, a plant, in the remains of New York City. She ends up being rescued by a military unit lead by Gray Edwards, with whom she was once romantically involved. Not everybody agrees with Dr Sid's theories; most notably General Hein who wants to use the powerful Zeus canon to destroy the Phantoms... something Sid is certain with make matters much worse.

I have not played any of the Final Fantasy games so can't say whether this captures the feel of the franchise... but as a movie in its own right I thought it was surprisingly good. Even after almost twenty years the CGI looks great. The story is solid and there is a genuine sense of danger; characters one would expect to survive don't always. The monster fights are impressive; they have a PG 'Starship Troopers' feel to them at times... something I do mean as a compliment. The character designs are really impressive; it may be obvious that they are animated but the characters feel real. They are helped by a high quality voice cast which features many well-known actors. I enjoyed the way supernatural elements were intertwined with more conventional sci-fi. On the down side some of the humour seemed a bit forced; thankfully there wasn't too much of it. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of sci-fi action.

This is outstanding animation and - when it was released on DVD - some of the best 5.1surround sound I had heard on a DVD. The problems were that (1) the characters were not ones you could care about and (2) the film is too long. Anything over 100 minutes generally is too long for an animated film, in my opinion. They are better around 80 minutes in length.

It's not boring; the visuals and sound alone are state-of-the-art but it was just an uninvolving, unlikeable story for me. After awhile it was hard to care for anyone and I mainly watched to admire the art work.

It's an adult (some swearing, but mild) sci-fi film with a lot of occult nonsense (spirits, ghosts and the like) thrown in the mix. As usual, the military man is the villain.

This animation was made to look life-like and it mostly succeeded. It almost was eerie at first, hearing the voices of Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Steve Buscemi and Alec Baldwin but see other human-like faces. It didn't seem to fit.

As far as I am aware, this was probably the first film to use the new form of CGI called "Performance Capture", just like The Polar Express and Beowulf. Based on the long running Japanese computer game franchise, the story set in 2065 sees Dr. Aki Ross (Mulan's Ming-Na) is having many nightmares that she sees as messages, and also her body is infected with alien particles. So she needs to save herself and, seeing the nightmares as messages, planet Earth from the invasion from the alien life-forms known as "Phantoms. The only way to stop them is to find seven spirits to destroy the Phantoms, and she accompanied by mentor Dr. Sid (Donald Sutherland) and the squad led by Captain Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin),oh, and General Hein (James Woods) is being a bastard, and may have caused some of the problems. Also starring Pulp Fiction's Ving Rhames as Ryan, Reservoir Dogs' Steve Buscemi as Neil, Peri Gilpin as Jane, Volcano's Keith David as Council Member #1 and Great Expectations' Jean Simmons as Council Member #2. The story may not be much, and the lip movement isn't that convincing, but in terms of animation and imagination, this film does do relatively well. Worth watching!