Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: July 11, 2001 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
49
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews
Positive:
10
Mixed:
12
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
New Times (L.A.)Luke Y. Thompson
Spectacular entertainment. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The story is nuts-and-bolts space opera, without the intelligence and daring of, say, Steven Spielberg's ''A.I.'' But the look of the film is revolutionary. Final Fantasy is a technical milestone, like the first talkies or 3-D movies. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
May not tell a great story, but it's a great wow. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Unlike anything you've ever seen before, Final Fantasy is, finally, one for the history books, and tremendous fun to boot. It makes Lara Croft look like an old maid. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Despite its conceptual shortfall, is worth seeing, if only to update yourself on what can emerge from a keyboard these days. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
It's a blast!
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Is Final Fantasy decent sci-fi? Yes, more than decent. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
You watch with amazement their physical movements, how closely their lips match their overly precise, prerecorded dialogue, yet they're not human enough to get us past the stunt factor and lost in the drama. Read full review
63
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
Tends to be lugubrious. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Moviegoers accustomed to Hollywood action probably won't find this contemplative adventure so appealing. Read full review
60
Mr. ShowbizCody Clark
The result is a feast for the eyes but frequently a famine for the frontal lobes, a movie of towering imagination and middling rewards.
60
VarietyTodd McCarthy
As computer game-derived features go, it sure beats "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." Read full review
60
Rolling StonePeter Travers
But the film exerts a hold. The crux is: for how long? Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
The film's plot gets so convoluted no nongamer older than 14 will be able to follow it all. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
For all the grace of the animation and visual splendor, the stilted script and emotionless "performances" give this digital artifact a distinctly stiff, wooden flavor. Read full review
50
New York PostJonathan Foreman
What makes Final Fantasy a final failure is a predictable, nonsensical plot, laughably lame dialogue and a surfeit of cloying environmentalist piety.
50
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
Isn't likely to satisfy the gamers' appetite for action. It also probably isn't heady enough for the science-fiction crowd, and it's too remote for those who simply wish to be immersed in a head-spinning fantasy world. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMichael Atkinson
The techies still can't manage to make two characters look convincingly into each other's eyes -- it's like watching Disney World animatronic figures do soap opera. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
This sort of cinema is as dehumanizing as the aliens who serve as its intergalactic bad guys. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianBarry Johnson
Final Fantasy doesn't pop. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The movie exists only as a showcase for the animation technology known as hyperReal, a photo-realistic simulation of space, figure and movement that hopes to one day erase the line between animation and live action once and for all. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An offshoot of a popular computer game, is really all about inducing visual awe. And for the first few minutes, it does. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalEd Epstein
Although packaged as a movie, is in reality a clever 106-minute promo for Sony's PlayStation II games.
30
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
A soulless affair. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The lip movements of the animated figures are slightly slow, so you feel as if you're watching a badly dubbed Japanese creature feature from the 1960's. The dialogue is almost as stilted, and after a while you drift into that half-dream state that inert movies can create. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The thin story covering her acquisition of one wave after another while narrowly escaping death time and again is strictly for player one. Read full review
20
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
I never forgot for a minute that I was watching a cartoon, all the way down to the silly, pseudo-spiritual ending, an ending whose very incomprehensibility is actually one of the more endearing hallmarks of anime. Read full review
20
Washington PostStephen Hunter
As monotonous as Muzak, and when it comes to the plot, both bewildering and trite. Read full review
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