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Old Friends, New Times - An FFVII: Advent Children Review

      During the week of Advent Children's Japanese DVD release, the Internet, as expected, went nuts. The film was leaked a few days early (English subtitles soon followed), the Advent Pieces box set became one of the hotter items on eBay, and the old Cloud/Aeris vs. Cloud/Tifa wars began anew. But with all this going on, how is the movie itself? What follows is a full review of the film, noting both its highlights and its weaknesses. Be rest assured that there are no significant spoilers.
      Advent Children (or AC) is about the adventures of Cloud and the gang two years after Meteor, mostly in dealing with three newcomers who are after Jenova's head. Cloud is angst-ridden, hung up on the past and unsure if he could save anyone, since he couldn't save Aeris. He splits his time between running a delivery service with Tifa at the rebuilt Seventh Heaven in Edge (a new city located just outside of Midgar's ruins) and living at the old Sector 5 church. One day, Tifa gets a call from Reno, which is when the story really gets underway.
      First off, for those who haven't yet seen AC and are wondering how closely it sticks to FFVII canon, I'm pleased to announce that it's very faithful to the original, moreso than Before Crisis and Last Order, each of which contains events which fans have had issues with. I might also add that although deceased characters such as Aeris, Zack, and Sephiroth make appearances, they do so in ways that are entirely believable, not cheapening any of their deaths in the slightest. Are questions answered, as the creators promised? Yes, quite a few of them are, but there's also enough wiggle room regarding some situations (such as the aforementioned love triangle) for viewers to draw their own conclusions. So in short, the story is solid, but doesn't feel force-fed for the most part, which is a good thing.
      Although the story is good, how the characters themselves are represented is where AC really shines. The newcomers Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz are all united as "brothers" looking for their "Mother", but each has their own distinct personality. As for the original characters, they remain as familiar as they were in FFVII: Cloud's still very emotional, Vincent's still the thoughtful loner, Yuffie's still shrill and energetic, and so on. Perhaps the biggest treat in AC, as far as characters go, lies in the film's comic relief: the Turk partners Reno and Rude. They have a tendency to steal whole scenes via their antics, and their inherent quirkiness has been ratcheted up a notch in AC, particularly with Rude. In many ways, they're the most enjoyable characters to watch in the whole film.
      That's not to discount the others, of course, especially during the fight scenes. In my opinion, the best ones in AC are Tifa and Loz's duel in the church (which is not only gripping, but features a cute in-joke) and the climactic battle toward the end. For better or for worse, here is where AC truly shows off its video game pedigree, as the fights tend to be unbelievable in their execution and bending of the laws of physics. One can even spot characters like Cloud and Cid pulling off moves that resemble limit breaks.
      Speaking of AC's video game origins, this is perhaps also responsible for the film's biggest single weakness: its pacing and structure. Many of the central staff members of AC come from the video game industry, never having worked on a feature film before this one—and it shows. Scenes (particularly those preceding or following battles) seem loosely stitched together, with very little given to allow one to flow naturally into the next. It's as though AC is a collection of FMVs interspersed with cutscenes that just happen to be fully-animated, but the staff doesn't know how to truly connect one with the other.
      Another weakness of AC, but a far more minor one, is the animation and modeling. Largely because of the "Uncanny Valley" principle brought about by some unrefined motion capture, the actions of some of the characters (particularly the background ones) looks realistic but isn't believable. I noticed this tendency quite a bit with the central villain, Kadaj; his more subtle movements were frequently too smooth. Still, as I said, this is a less important issue than the film's narrative structure—overall, the quality of the animation and modeling has noticably improved since The Spirits Within. It seems that Square is now not afraid to actually animate on top of using mocap, exaggerating and "plusing" the look and movements of their characters—as the producers of more "cartoony" animated features have done for decades—in order for the audience to accept them. Again, this is a good thing.
      Finally, there's the film's sound and music. I'm pleased to say that for the most part, the chosen voices fit the characters like a glove; Nanaki's voice was the only one that, I felt, didn't sound quite right. The sound effects and music are great as well, though it came as a slight disappointment that three pieces from FFVII's Piano Collections album were recycled in this film.
      Overall, despite these more technical issues, I found Advent Children to be quite enjoyable. It provides closure for many of the more open-ended aspects of the FFVII story, and is just plain fun to watch. Although this film isn't very accessible to anyone who isn't already an FFVII fan, those of you who are should pick up this DVD once it becomes officially available in your part of the world—you won't regret it.