Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)

Directors:

Hironobu Sakaguchi
Moto Sakakibara (co-director)

Writers:

Hironobu Sakaguchi (story)
Al Reinert (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 July 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Unleash a new reality

Plot:

A female scientist makes a last stand on Earth with the help of a ragtag team of soldiers against an invasion of alien phantoms.

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | General | Quest | Spirit | Final Fantasy

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Ming-Na	...	Doctor Aki Ross (voice)
Alec Baldwin	...	Captain Gray Edwards (voice)
Ving Rhames	...	Ryan (voice)
Steve Buscemi	...	Neil (voice)
Peri Gilpin	...	Jane (voice)
Donald Sutherland	...	Dr. Sid (voice)
James Woods	...	General Hein (voice)
Keith David	...	Council Member #1 (voice)
Jean Simmons	...	Council Member #2 (voice)
Matt McKenzie	...	Major Elliot (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matt Adler	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Steve Alterman	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Arnott	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Andrea Baker	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Andrea Taylor)
Cathy Cavadini	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Catherine Cavadini)
Lanei Chapman	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Vicki Davis	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Judi M. Durand	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Judi Durand)
Greg Finley	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jack Fletcher	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Julia Fletcher	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Barbara Harris	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Barbara Iley)
David McCharen	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Tracy Metro	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Michie	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Richard Penn	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Randolph	...	Additional Voices (voice)
John DeMita	...	BCR Soldier #1 / Space Station Technician #2 / Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)
John Di Maggio	...	BFW Soldier #1 (voice) (uncredited)
Alex Fernandez	...	Space Station Technician #3 (voice) (uncredited)
David Rasner	...	Space Station Technician #1 & 4 (voice) (uncredited)
Dwight Schultz	...	Scan Technician (voice) (uncredited)
Annie Wu	...	The Little Girl / The Fifth Spirit (voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
Hironobu Sakaguchi
Moto Sakakibara		(co-director) (as Motonori Sakakibara)

Writing credits
Hironobu Sakaguchi		(story)
Al Reinert		(written by) &
Jeff Vintar		(written by)
Jack Fletcher		(additional dialogue)
Ramin Mebdy		Farsi adaptation

Produced by
Jun Aida	....	producer
Michael Hack	....	supervising producer
Daniel S. Kletzky	....	associate producer
Chris Lee	....	producer
Deirdre Morrison	....	line producer
Hironobu Sakaguchi	....	executive producer
Akio Sakai	....	producer
Katsuhiko Toyota	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Elliot Goldenthal

Cinematography by
Moto Sakakibara		(as Motonori Sakakibara)

Film Editing by
Christopher S. Capp

Casting by
Jack Fletcher

Production Design by
Mauro Borrelli

Production Management
Hiroyoshi Hamada	....	production manager
Naoko Muldowney	....	computer graphics production manager
Kaoru Hiyama Rogers	....	production manager
Terry Sasaki	....	production manager
Kenji Takemoto	....	production manager
Christopher S. Capp	....	post-production supervisor (uncredited)

Art Department
Kevin Bjorke	....	senior layout artist
Eric Brown	....	concept artist
John Fox	....	senior storyboard artist
Trevor Goring	....	storyboard artist
Tim Holtrop	....	storyboard artist
Patrick Janicke	....	conceptual designer
Thomas Roland Johnson	....	conceptual artist
Tani Kunitake	....	conceptual director
Richard Mahon	....	concept artist
Mark Moretti	....	storyboard artist
Shuko Murase	....	original character designer
Yasushi Nirasawa	....	creature designer
Christian Scheurer	....	matte painter
Pedram Goshtasbpour	....	additional storyboards (uncredited)

Sound Department
Christopher Barnett	....	mix stage engineer
Chris Barron	....	digital transfers (as Christopher Barron)
Tim Burby	....	digital transfers
Brian Chumney	....	digital support
John Countryman	....	digital transfers
Jeff Darby	....	sound effects editor
Edwin Dunkley	....	sound: video transfers
Tony Eckert	....	foley mixer
Sean England	....	machine room operator
David Farmer	....	sound effects editor
Sue Fox	....	dialog editor
Andrea S. Gard	....	foley editor
Jonathan Greber	....	digital transfers
Gabriel Guy	....	sound mix technician
Samuel H. Hinckley	....	adr assistant (as Sam Hinckley)
David C. Hughes	....	sound effects editor
David Hunter	....	digital support
Noah Katz	....	digital support
Dennis Leonard	....	supervising sound editor
Eric Lewis	....	assistant dialogue recording engineer
Stuart McCowan	....	assistant sound designer
Jim McKee	....	sound effects editor
Frank 'Pepe' Merel	....	foley recordist
Colin O'Neill	....	assistant sound effects editor
Gary Rizzo	....	sound re-recording mixer
Steve Romanko	....	machine room operator
Ronald G. Roumas	....	sound re-recordist
Christopher Scarabosio	....	sound effects editor
Dee Selby	....	additional sound effects assistant
Ernie Sheesley	....	dialogue recordist
Robert Shoup	....	sound effects editor
Mac Smith	....	sound design apprentice
Andrea Stelter	....	sound effects editor
Erich Stratmann	....	assistant supervising sound editor
John Taylor	....	mix stage engineer
Randy Thom	....	sound designer
Randy Thom	....	sound re-recording mixer
Dennie Thorpe	....	foley artist
James Twomey	....	sound recordist
Jana Vance	....	foley artist
Doug Winningham	....	assistant sound effects editor
Michael Kamper	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Andy Newell	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Kim Jongbo	....	sequence supervisor/lead animator
Masayuki Kasuya	....	system administrator
Koji Nagashima	....	senior programmer
Shinichi Soeda	....	production software supervisor
Shawn Taras	....	special effects programmer

Visual Effects by
Ivy Agregan	....	CG production manager: lighting
Robin Akin	....	character animator
Takahiko Akiyama	....	visual effects art director
Mayumi Arakaki	....	visual effects coordinator
Yasuko Asakura	....	visual effects
Lisa Atkinson	....	development consultant
Remo Balcells	....	visual effects supervisor
Peter Baustaedter	....	visual effects
Jeffrey Benoit	....	visual effects
Robert Bourgeault	....	modeler
Robert Bourgeault	....	texture artist
Jon Bowen	....	senior compositor
Scot Brew	....	production software engineer
Troy Brooks	....	production systems supervisor
Bela Brozsek	....	digital artist
Claudia Candia	....	texture painter
Daniel R. Casey	....	digital texture supervisor
Daniel R. Casey	....	lead artist
Andy Chen	....	visual effects
Benjamin Cheung	....	character technical director
Francisco Cortina	....	senior character artist
Paolo Costabel	....	technical director
Karl Coyner	....	CG artist
Cary Cremidas	....	photography plates
Tim Crosbie	....	senior compositor
James H. Dargie	....	CG artist
Matthew Davies	....	visual effects
Mark Andrew De La Garza	....	lighting artist: Square USA
Tim de Pala	....	visual effects coordinator
Christina DeSilva	....	production coordinator
Simon Dye	....	compositor
Angela M. Eliasz	....	lead lighting artist
Petronella Evers	....	visual effects
Michael Fadollone	....	visual effects
Jack Fletcher	....	motion capture director
Michael Sean Foley	....	lighting artist
Haskell Friedman	....	senior lighting artist
Michael Fu	....	rendering technical support
Steven Galle	....	visual effects
Sergio Garcia Abad	....	visual effects CG artist
Kelly Hartigan Goldstein	....	character animator
Matthew Hackett	....	lead character animator
Jerry Hall	....	digital compositor
Udai Haraguchi	....	motion capture engineer
Andy Harbeck	....	lead artist
Toby Haruno	....	lead character animator: Square Pictures
Tom Hendrickson	....	visual effects coordinator (as Thomas Hendrickson)
George Ho	....	lighting artist
Dave R. Howe	....	visual effects
Bret Hughes	....	rendering technical director
Kenneth Ibrahim	....	digital artist: Square Pictures
Bruce Jurgens	....	CG supervisor
Kory Juul	....	compositor
Matt Karnes	....	motion capture engineer
Miku Kayama	....	lead compositor
Muqeem Khan	....	visual effects
Jae Hong Kim	....	digital artist
Lisa Kim	....	digital artist: visual effects & props
Takumi Kimura	....	sequence supervisor
Michael Kitchen	....	character animator
Spencer Knapp	....	visual effects
Mach Tony Kobayashi	....	visual effects
Roger Kupelian	....	digital matte painter
Ryan Leasher	....	lighting artist
Derek Ledbetter	....	credits
Erik Lee	....	CG animator: Square USA
Hae-Jeon Lee	....	visual effects
Greg Lev	....	lead lighting artist
Rosa Lin	....	visual effects
Stephen Lunn	....	lead compositor
Richard Mahon	....	digital matte painter
Evans Mark	....	digital artist: photon element
Jeffrey Martin	....	visual effects
Will McCoy	....	digital compositor
Gustav Melich	....	lead visual effects artist
Stan Miskiewicz	....	lighter
John Monos	....	lead lighting artist
Rene Morel	....	character modeller/texturer
Hiroshi Mori	....	texture artist
Hiroshi Mori	....	visual effects
Bo Mosley	....	lead artist: SquareUSA
Adam Moura	....	compositor: SquareUSA
Gary Mundell	....	CG supervisor
Meghan Nishimizu	....	computer graphics manager
Takao Noguchi	....	creature supervisor
Kevin Ochs	....	character technical director
Chris Paizis	....	visual effects manager (as Christopher Paizis)
Ron Perry	....	motion capture set designer
Claude Precourt	....	sequence supervisor
Steve Preeg	....	visual effects
Alex Sandor Rabb	....	visual effects
Jay Randall	....	lead animator
Geoff Richardson	....	digital compositor
Robert Rioux	....	set modeling supervisor
Frank Ritlop	....	lighting artist
Michael Rivero	....	visual effects
Ron Roberts	....	senior compositor
James Rogers	....	compositing supervisor
Jake Rowell	....	digital artist
Josh Saeta	....	digital compositor
Kay Sasatomi	....	CG production manager
Jeff Schu	....	character animator
Andrew Schwartz	....	digital compositor
Remington Scott	....	motion capture director
David Seager	....	lighting supervisor: Square USA
Kerry Shea	....	visual effects post production manager
Kerry Shea	....	visual effects production manager
Tomoko Shin	....	digital compositor
Robert Shrider	....	visual effects
Shinichi Soeda	....	Production Software Supervisor
Sharmishtha Sohoni	....	digital compositor
Neville Spiteri	....	visual effects
Eric Sterner	....	CG artist
Jeff Stern	....	lead lighting artist
Cameron Stevning	....	computer graphics producer
Kat Szuminska	....	senior compositor
David Tanner	....	lead visual effects artist
Suan Ching Tan	....	modeler and texture artist
Don Taylor	....	lighter
Chikako Terashita	....	systems administrator
Joanne Thiel	....	visual effects
Semin Tho	....	CG artist
Linda Tremblay	....	digital compositor
Paul Van Camp	....	digital artist
Garcia Veronique	....	character artist
Carlos A. Vidal	....	digital artist: Square
Taku Wakisaka	....	motion capture engineer
Christopher Walsh	....	lead character animator
Kelly Walsh	....	rendering technical director: Square USA (as Kelly Cowles)
Eric Weiss	....	senior character animator
Michael Withem	....	CG artist
David J. Witters	....	visual effects animator
Yukiko Yamanaka	....	system administrator
Teru Yoshida	....	sequence supervisor
Masahito Yoshioka	....	creature effects
Laurent Ben-Mimoun	....	digital matte painter (uncredited)
Carlos Cabral	....	character technical director (uncredited)
Pedram Goshtasbpour	....	pre-production animator (uncredited)
Rick O'Connor	....	pre-viz animatics (uncredited)
Steve J. Sanchez	....	digital compositor (uncredited)
David Seager	....	sequence supervisor: Square USA (uncredited)
Randy Vellacott	....	digital compositor (uncredited)

Stunts
Colin C.L. Fong	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Kevin Bjorke	....	lighting supervisor

Animation Department
Andy Jones	....	animation director
Alice V. Kaiserian	....	lead animator
Yoshinori Kanada	....	layout artist
Yoshihiro Kitano	....	layout artist
Ben Rush	....	lead character animator: "Gray Edwards"
Roy Sato	....	senior animator

Casting Department
Barbara Harris	....	ADR voice casting

Editorial Department
Gary Burritt	....	negative cutter (as Gary Burrit)
Michael Hatzer	....	color timer
Heather Elisa Hill	....	editorial department manager
Patrick Day Kennedy	....	assistant editor
William M. Steinberg	....	first assistant editor
Peter McEvoy	....	digital cinema producer (uncredited)

Music Department
Dirk Brossé	....	conductor
Dirk Brossé	....	orchestrator
Robert Elhai	....	orchestrator
Matthias Gohl	....	music producer
Elliot Goldenthal	....	music producer
Elliot Goldenthal	....	orchestrator
Joel Iwataki	....	music recording engineer
Joel Iwataki	....	music score mixer
Lawrence Manchester	....	music recording engineer
Richard Martinez	....	electronic music producer
Richard Martinez	....	score programmer
Curtis Roush	....	supervising music editor
Dick Rudolph	....	music supervisor (as Richard Rudolph)
Elliot Goldenthal	....	music arranger (uncredited)

Other crew
Motohisa Adachi	....	senior programmer
Gerard Banel	....	senior programmer
Troy Boren	....	marketing department
Jay Carina	....	sequence technical director
Li-Han Chen	....	senior programmer
Francesco Chiarini	....	pre-production
Per Christensen	....	senior programmer
Jack Fletcher	....	voice director
Megan Fouts	....	client services
Andy Hsu	....	marketing department
Toshi Kato	....	senior programmer
Shiro Kawai	....	senior programmer
Nicholas Lam	....	production assistant
Mike Lane	....	client services
Jack Liao	....	senior programmer
Andrea Maiolo	....	layout technical assistant
Catherine Mitsunaga	....	rendering technical associate
Eva Napolean	....	client services
Gordon Ng	....	client services
Mari Nishikawa	....	marketing department
Hitoshi Nishimura	....	senior programmer
Patricia Pawlak	....	cloth simulation artist
Cheryl Rye	....	cloth simulation artist
Eric Salituro	....	technical director
John Torrijos	....	video services (as John 'J.T.' Torrijos)

Thanks
Jack Liao	....	in memory of
Aya Sakaguchi	....	special thanks
Eiko Sakaguchi	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Chris Lee Productions
• Square Company
• Square USA

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (2001) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cascade Film (2001) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films (2001) (France) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films (2001) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina (2001) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Films de España (2001) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Falcon (2001) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (2002) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (200?) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar (200?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• DVD Service (200?) (Russia) (DVD)
• Fox (2006) (Japan) (TV)
• GAGA (2001) (Japan) (all media)
• Irib Studio (2004) (Iran) (TV)
• LK-TEL (2002) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2008) (Argentina) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• RTL Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (TV) (first national airing) (RTL5)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Abbey Road Studios  music recorded at
• Bandai Co. Ltd.  partner of Square Pictures
• Global Music Service  music copyist
• London Symphony Orchestra, The (LSO)  orchestra
• London Voices  choir
• Screen Music Studios (SMS)  dialogue recording facilities
• Skywalker Sound  post-production sound services
• Sony Classical  soundtrack
• Sony Music Soundtrax  soundtrack

Also Known As:

Fainaru fantaji (Japan)
Final Fantasy (USA) (working title)
Final Fantasy: The Movie (USA) (working title)
Gaia: Final Fantasy (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #37629) | Malaysia:U | Japan:PG-12 | South Korea:All | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG

Company:

Chris Lee Productions

Trivia:

In an earlier version of the script, Cid and Aki were originally grandfather and granddaughter. Aki's last name was also different: she was originally Aki Shishido. The relationship and names were changed late enough into production that many of the animators and staff didn't even know of the modification of the script until the film was nearly finished.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Aki removes the phantom particles from Gray, she picks up a canister that's hovering in the air, when she originally placed it on the table further away.

Quotes:

Aki: With the hope of new life has Gaia changed the phantom within.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

Soundtrack:

The Dream Within

An OK sci-fi despite not being able to really deliver the potentially complex plot it could have had but it looks good and is passable entertainment for sci-fi fans

It is the year 2065 and Earth has been invaded by a race of phantom-like aliens that kill with a single touch. Under the tutelage of Dr Sid, young Dr Aki Ross is searching for spirits that can combine to counteract the life force of the aliens – a situation made even more urgent by the fact that she is infected by the aliens herself and experiencing strange dreams as a result. Ross joins the elite military unit Deep Eyes to finish her quest, but General Hein is determined to convince the ruling council that the best solution is the use of a weapon that will destroy the aliens despite Sid's protests that it could destroy the Earth in the process.

This film got a lot of publicity about the fact that it was billed as the film that would trigger a whole new type of movie – those with no human stars (well, apart from their voices). Sadly this seemed to be all the discussion about the film amounted to and I think it put people off that nobody talked about the plot or whether it was any good or not – I know it put me off from bothering to go and see it. Another thing that put me off was that most people just assumed it was a kid's film because it was animated and was quickly dumped in matinee slots – even when I saw it on TV it was in the slot on Sunday afternoon used for mostly kiddie fare. Anyway, let me just say that I have no knowledge of the games, never played the games and will likely never play the games but I had no problem picking up the rough story (even though I'm sure the wider FF universe has so much more story in it that this film does). I would have quite liked a greater understanding of the story, the characters and the aliens but it did enough to support the film's plot as was.

As a sci-fi film it works reasonably well but is not as intelligent as it clearly needed to be to support the story – if it had only aspired to be a good guys/bad guys story then fine but it wanted more and it isn't well enough developed to do it. I still enjoyed it to a certain degree but it is evident from the film that the script writing and plotting took a backseat to the development of the computer graphics. Of course these look great for the most part and the film has delivered a visually impressive series of spaceships, desolate cityscapes and blobby aliens. The only things that don't work (ironically enough considering the film's boasts) are the human characters. CGI has yet to manage to make characters that look and move as naturally as humans – we have seen it in Matrix Reloaded, Blade 2 and also here. Admittedly it matters less here because we can get used to the characters looking like effects (unlike, say, Matrix 2 where we are not meant to notice the difference between real and effect). Suffice to say though, that this is an animated movie rather than the movie that triggers the onslaught of computer generated characters in films.

The voice cast are pretty good and they do well to add a bit of a human touch to characters that, for all the money spent on them, still look and movie like computer game characters in an expensive cut-scene between levels. Ming-Na hardly has that distinctive a voice and she is rather bland at times but she does OK. Baldwin is a strong voice and suits his character well. Sutherland is always welcome despite his small role and typical roles are filled by the likes of Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Keith David and a typically untrustworthy performance from James Woods.

Overall this is an OK sci-fi film but not any more than that. The plot is OK but it isn't as good as it thinks it is and certainly isn't good enough to support the slightly complex themes/ideas that it wants to deliver. It is good for older children and teenagers (who will happily ignore the plot details) but outside of that sci-fi fans may find it a bit lacking in bite and generally to be more about the graphics than anything else.