Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children [DVD] [2005] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Well 'advent children' is the sequel that fans of the multi-million selling RPG have been campaigning for. After eight years the fans can finally gain closure on a game which had a delightful if highly frustrating ambiguous ending, that left lots of questions and no answers.

For fans this film is phenomenal, it has tons of references back to the original game, some that are extremely obvious and others that are rather obscure (a good one for you all to get started, watch closely right at the end). Not only this they have amalgamised the original game soundtrack with some new pieces of music and also updated versions, some which have been spliced superbly into a new score while playing the old at the same time. (this is a poor description, see it and you'll know what I mean).

The animation in this film is nothing less than exquisite and the action sequences flash by at such hyper active speed that when a scene ends your eyes are bulging and your adrenaline pumping. Speaking of the action sequences, they have a very 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon' nature to them, so if you enjoyed high flying martial arts, you'll really dig this!

But as I have stated at the start of this review, this film is purely for the fans who have actually finished FF7. You need to know who the characters are, how the plotline played out and other factors that non-fans will not know. If you hear all the hype about this film on the net and want to enjoy it fully, then I suggest picking up a copy of the game (there are loads used these days, should barely cost £10 max!)

On the whole a throughly awesome film, much better than the dire 'spirits within', spike up your hair, dig out your buster sword and prepare for an awesome Final fantasy experience!

Story, 6/10
From a personal note, I would give the story a 10, but that is only because I love the game, and this movie provided major closure on a lot of things for me. BUT, as a standalone movie, for people who didn't play the game, or didn't really enjoy the story, it is a very storyless movie. It is more of an action movie with a little bit of story mixed in.

Graphics 10/10
The graphics on this movie are INCREDIBLE, so much time and effort must have gone into making it look so wonderful. Cloud Strife kinda looks like Jamie from Eastenders (jack Ryder) and Tifas "features" aren't quite as huge as in the game, but everything was there graphics wise.

Sound/Music 8/10
Obviously, voice acting wise, I can't really comment on the English language version, but all the music was from the original game, even the victory theme was in there (actually a pretty funny scenario, made me giggle). The only problem with the music, is sadly, it appears one of the Final Fantasy 8 scores found its way into the movie, which sort of took away from FF7, but apart from that, the music was all Final Fantasy 7, just remastered, and for that, I give it a big thumbs up.

Originality 3/10
Sadly, there wasn't much original in the movie, obviously with it being a follow on from a game, there isn't much originality available, but there was a lot of Matrix/crouching Tiger style action sequences, and although they looked incredible, and were really fun to watch, just not very original.

Overall 9/10
Although not really holding much for the average movie goer, and really only for Final Fantasy 7 players, this movie still holds onto the 9/10. It was incredible, I loved it, it made me laugh, cry, shout, sit on the edge of my seat... all the emotions the game sent me through.
I recommend this to everyone who enjoyed the game, and I recommend the game to everyone else.