The Animatrix [DVD] [2003]

As a fan of CGI the two standout pieces for me were "Last Flight of the Osiris" and "Matriculated". "Last Flight of the Osiris" (from the team responsible for "Final Fantasy") is jaw dropping state of the art hyper-real CGI. It is obvious that much of the Matrix Reloaded was produced in this way. The opening scene is absolutely delicious as two very attractive CGI characters disrobe eachother in a virtual martial arts sword fight. The piece goes on to illustrate a link between the first two movies in the Matrix trilogy.

But the one that really got me was "Matriculated". An astounding blend of CGI and handrawn animation this film really explores the possibilities of the medium and the results are mind-blowing, and quite psychadelic in places. A curious story about a group of humans who attempt to convert machines to their cause, "Matriculated" really pushes the boundaries. For hardcore fans it is worth owning the DVD for these two pieces alone, however the other pieces are excellent too, using more standard animation techniques to tell their stories. Those with a passing interest in the Matrix movies will probably be happier just renting The Animatrix.

If you are unfamiliar with Anime it is worth noting that it often contains strong violence and sexual material, and the Animatrix is no exception. One scene in particular depicted violence against a robot made to look like a human woman and I found this quite uncomfortable to watch.

After watching The Animatrix I am left feeling confident that despite the unexpected success of the first Matrix movie, the Wachowski brothers are committed to bringing the Matrix to the World with integrity. A lot of people have been disappointed in the second movie, but seen in the context of an action packed comic book sci-fi saga it all makes sense, and its really working for me. It is not going to be to everyone's taste, but this is to the directors' credit, not to their detriment.

This was an incredible notion to connote to an audience that may or may not have been ready to accept them. This meant that creating a sequel to this film from the point where The Matrix ended, would be incredibly difficult considering the foundations of the first movie. To answer this problem the Wachowski brothers commissioned these nine animations to fill the gaps left by the first movie.

They are as follows:

The Final Flight Of The Osiris.

This is the first animation on the disk, however, I feel it should be at the end of the disk as it the animation that flows straight in to the story of Reloaded. It has been created by the people that made the 2000 film Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within and the CG used in it makes this worthy of gracing the big screen as part of Reloaded.

The Second Renaissance Part One.

This story is taken directly from the Zion archives. It tells of the birth of AI, rise of the machines and the founding of Zero one. It uses iconic imagery of our life times to show how truly violent the beginnings of the war are and how mistakes are remade again.

The Second Renaissance Part Two.

The second part of the renaissance charts the attempts to stop the machines ever growing power over the human race and the first battles of the war. We see how the machine begin to wield us as we die out and the founding of the matrix as there new source of power.

Kids Story.

This is my personal favourite, simply because the animation is stunning. In this short, we see how self enlightenment can sometimes show us the way to things beyond our comprehension. In this case a boy yearning to be free of his reality.

Program

This is one of my favourite shorts. It show how even outside the matrix in the real world, people still want to cling to there ordinary lives in the virtual world.

World record.

World Record took me a few viewings to really understand the underlying ideas of this animation. It follows an athlete as he tries to break his own personal best speed. And by doing so breaks out of the matrix itself.

Beyond.

What happens when the matrix fails to keep a constant in reality? Beyond shows how ordinary people can find the flaws in the program and perform acts that they could only imagine.

Detective story.

This is a sharp and classily animated story of how the agents try to entrap Trinity. Its comic book retro style and use of black and white imagery, give it a refined and polished image that sets it apart from the other animations.

Matriculated.

What can I say about this one? Well one word sums it up, Insane. However, it raises an interesting idea that all individual machines have the own minds and it show how people are able to release a mechanical mind in the same way that a human mind can be released from the matrix.

So what over all does the Animatrix offer the viewer? Well it give answers to a lot of questions but this in turn gives rise to even more questions, not only about The Matrix, but about reality it self. I thoroughly recommend this DVD even to those who were not fans of the film because there is something to be gained from it by all who see it.

The total playing time for the collection is only 89 minutes, so the animations are fairly short. This means that each is a very brief affair, and means there is only so much characterisation and detailed story-telling that can be done in each. For me this detracted from the enjoyment slightly, but I still enjoyed it immensely. Some of the cast (Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss) of the films provided voice-overs for their characters in the Animatrix, but mostly the animations feature characters not in the films. Over-all the DVD is excellent, featuring fantastic art and imaginative stories which, fans of the Matrix will be pleased to hear, fit in with the over-all style of the franchise fairly well. The only issues which stopped it from receiving five stars from me were the unsatisfying shortness of each animation - when something's this good, you always want more, the headache I got while watching one of them (I think it was Kid's Story) as the camera angle on bright green text kept flipping, and the enormous confusion my poor, mortal brain suffered at the hands of the monstrously dreamlike, largely close to abstract, Matriculated. However, in order to get a decent impression of this product, because the individual films are so different, you really need a mini-review on each, so that's what I'll provide.

ANIMATRIX ANIMATIONS REVIEWED [in order of appearance on disk]

Final Flight of the Osiris: This comes, chronologically, immediately before the beginning of the second film, Reloaded. It details, aptly, the final flight of the Osiris, the ship that first discovers the sentinel army digging its way down to Zion. The animation here is very impressive computer-animation. Not quite up to the standards set by Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but very much indebted to it. I did like this one, but the somewhat pointless acrobatics (in the first film, while the cartwheels, backflips and impossible jumps were very impressive, they were never entirely without reason), and the near lack of story (two members of crew realise they're in love, find sentinels, try to get message out, manage but the ship is destroyed - it's a story I suppose, but it didn't seem like it when watching). 7/10

The Second Renaissance (Parts 1/2): From an animation point of view, probably my favourite of the lot - a truly beautiful blend of computer-generated and hand drawn, telling the story of the creation of the machines, their revolt against their masters, and the eventual enslavement of the human race. These two stories are told in pseudo-biblical voiceover in the form of a 'historical document' existing in Zion. It's main twist on the Matrix as we know it is that the machines are portrayed as being far more human than the clinical, alien sentinels, making the holocaust-reminiscient persecution of them by the humans rather disturbing. If you like the books of Isaac Asimov you'll love this. 9/10

Kid's Story: Not my favourite this one. The animation is hand-drawn and fairly realistic, and though impressive, it's not the nicest style to look at. This tells the story of 'Kid' - the obsessed-fan of Neo in Reloaded. A school-kid hacker, he is shown glimpses of the truth by Neo, who then calls him on his mobile (in lesson, how inconvenient) to tell him that agents are after them. Can he get out before they kill him or change his memories? Well guess why don't you - he's in the film. 6/10

Program: Some stunning art here, particularly at the opening and on the rooftop. A woman is in her favourite simulation program, fighting a small army of horse-riding attackers who fire burning arrows at her. A crew member arrives, telling her that he's going back into the Matrix, and that it's 'all sorted with them'. It's a test of her faith in The Truth, but how will she cope with his proposition of her joining him, particularly as he says he loves her? Featuring a classic 'it was all a dream' ending, Matrix style. 8/10

World Record: Answers with the question of whether or not someone can awaken from the Matrix under their own steam and without being told about it. A world-class athlete experiences a spiritual awakening while breaking world records, but the agents are out to stop him. Again, not my favourite style of animation, but pretty good all the same. 7/10

Beyond: This one's a little weird, but still great. A young girl goes looking for her missing cat and finds a run-down haunted house where the rules of gravity apply in strange ways, letting the local kids invent games involving jumping from great height onto the floor, only to stop just above the ground. To begin with I thought the kids were special, like the 'potentials' in the first film. However it turns out the explaination and resolution of the story is rather different. Features another class 'was it all a dream' ending. 8/10

A Detective Story: A beautiful Matrix-universe film noir, animated stunningly purely in noir et blanc, this film involves a detective (who also narrates the story) being hired by a mysterious person on the end of a phone to hunt for a certain... Trinity. Featuring more of those Alice in Wonderland references Matrix fans know and love, and some great art, this is a favourite of mine. 8/10

Matriculated: The last of the 9, this is just totally bizarre. The animation is slightly similar to The Second Renaissance, but the story is totally different. In it, a crew of a ship is attempting to defeat the machines by persuading them to join forces with them. To do this they plug themselves in, and enact 'dreams' for robots they've captured involving some seriously mad imagery. This one raises the same questions about the possibility of the consciousness of machines and their ability to feel as have been raised many times in the past, but is just too darn bonkers to be truly likeable. 6/10