Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within [Blu-ray] [2007] [Region Free]

I watched it on release, so I remember the money put into it and the out rage from FF fans. To me this is fantastic. Graphically it stands up, story it doesn't require you to play the game and really nice voice actors. Facial muscles don't match, but remember this came out 2001 and half the techniques for doing half the stuff didn't exist or where built from it.

I remember seeing this at the cinema way back in 2001, everyone going on about how "realistic" it looked. The CG was great for the time, but even then I could see it wasn't as photorealistic as many claimed. I did enjoy the story though, and having not seen it since then (I'm not sure if I ever got around to watching my DVD copy), I decided to grab the recent 4k release.What an upgrade. It's an upscale, but the increase in detail and clarity is astonishing. HDR boosts colours in a fantastic way too, and the actual HDR highlights are very well done. There's still some colour banding here and there, but this is most likely due to the source, which was likely only rendered in 8-bit colour.The included blu-ray has all the bonus material, and seems to be the same disc released originally back in 2007. The 4k disc has no bonus material at all, not even the audio commentaries, so giving the 106 minute film a full 66GB disc means a very high bit rate indeed, and it certainly shows.

The 4k UHD disc only offers subtle improvements over the Blu Ray. I believe the original was only rendered at 1080p so this is just an upscale with an expanded colour space.

I think this film is wonderful. The CG animation is amazing - there are moments, particularly the character close-ups, where you can't quite be sure whether you're watchig real actors. This film bombed big time at the cinema, and one of the reasons suggested was actually the fact that the characters were so life-like they were almost creepy. Another reason is perhaps the fact that this is a stand alone piece of work and has no relationship with any of the Final Fantasy RPGs, which probably infuriated the fan boys. However, the story is mature and deals with mature issues - namely friendship, love, death and the afterlife, the individuals part in the big picture etc etc, but it's also a fully fledged action film with some pretty amazing set pieces and really exciting moments. It's refreshing to see a grown-up CG film where the story is paramount and there are no smart-ass animals, silly/crude jokes and dependence upon talentless 'stars of the moment' to pull in the punters. I would be more inclinded to purchase the special addition as it has a bunch of extras that are worth seeing for the few extra quid.Highly recommended, and probably not what you would be expecting (that is a good thing.)

What a film. Way ahead in its day. The graphics were brilliant even on standard DVD and I also have the Bluray version which was a notable increase in picture quality.Hoping this 4k version will give me a similar increase in viewing pleasure.

This film is based upon the best selling video game series of the same name and follows several main characters throughout the film. It's like a CGI feature film where they use all completely CGI scenes in all the film itself. As for it's genre I would class this as a drama film with some science fiction elements to it. It has some impressive action scenes for the year it was made. The voice acting provided by the actors is very good too. I am surprised they never made more sequels to this first final fantasy film. I first saw it when it was on DVD and when it was a much newer film.

OK, I know all the history of this film and the fact that it didn't make its money back or something but either way...I think it is a solid film if a little off. The CGI doesn't hold-up anymore, but it is still fantastic.The plot is basic and it moves a little too fast sometimes. I don't feel like the film is long enough to invest in any of the characters.It is great to hear some of this voices though! Familiar but authentic.A good watch, but not as deep or as awe-inspiring as I had hoped. Still, it is something something.

I was advised to give this film a look by a futurist, who lives in the USA. having watched it, at times slack jawed, I frankly felt that A)It was a terrific story line but B)Would have been far better had it contained the actors within the CGI format, rather than being purely CGI.I know nothing about the game, therefore, come to the film purely as a look see exercise, yes the whole thing is done really well but I felt like I was watching Lord of the Rings to be honest.There were moments when I was some how able to suspend dis-belief but I continually, or my brain continually, stalled and could not make sense of the voices connection with the fairly poor animated mouth movements/lypsynch which continued to seem like puppets minus strings.I really feel there is a long, long, way to go before CGI, in reference to mimicking flesh and blood actors, will surpass the 'real' thing, perhaps that's why the company who made this movie went bust??!!