The Animatrix (2003) (V)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Directors:

Peter Chung
Andy Jones
(more)

Writers:

Andy Wachowski (screenplay) &
Larry Wachowski (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

3 June 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Animation | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Animatrix is a collection of several animated short films, detailing the backstory of the "Matrix" universe, and the original war between man and machines which led to the creation of the Matrix.

Plot Keywords:

The Matrix | Samurai | Simulation | Anime | Sequel

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Akio Ôtsuka	...	Thadeus (voice)
Clayton Watson	...	Michael Karl Popper AKA The Kid (segment "Kid's Story") (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pamela Adlon	...	Jue (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") / Manabu (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Hedy Burress	...	Cis (segment "Program") / Yoko (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Terrence 'T.C.' Carson	...	Clarence (voice) (as T.C. Carson)
Melinda Clarke	...	Alexa (segment "Matriculated") (voice)
Olivia d'Abo	...	Rox (segment "Matriculated") (voice)
Dane A. Davis	...	01 Versatran Spokesman (segment "The Second Renaissance, Part II") (voice)
William R. Dean	...	Additional Voices (voice)
John DeMita	...	Teacher (segment "Kid's Story") (voice)
Debi Derryberry	...	Kid (segment "The Second Renaissance, Part II") (voice)
John Di Maggio	...	Crew Man (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") / Kaiser (segment "Program") (voice)
Alex Fernandez	...	Tom (segment "World Record") (voice)
Jack Fletcher	...	Townsperson (segment "Beyond") / Sandro (segment "Matriculated") (voice)
Julia Fletcher	...	The Instructor (segments "The Second Renaissance, Parts I&II") / Narrator (segment "World Record") / Townsperson (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Bette Ford	...	Old Woman (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") (voice)
Rick Gomez	...	Pilot (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") (voice)
Tom Kenny	...	Operator (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Duo (segment "Program") (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Housewife / Kenny (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Matt McKenzie	...	Agent #1 (segment "World Record") / Agent (segments "Beyond" and "A Detective Story") (voice)
Carrie-Anne Moss	...	Trinity (segments "Kid's Story" and "A Detective Story") (voice)
Keanu Reeves	...	Neo (segment "Kid's Story") (voice)
Kevin Michael Richardson	...	Thadeus (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") / Cop (segment "Kid's Story") / Agent #2 (segment "World Record") (voice)
Rodney Saulsberry	...	Chyron (segment "Matriculated") (voice)
Dwight Schultz	...	Townspeople, Policeman, Exterminators (segment "Beyond") / Nonaka (segment "Matriculated") / Additional voice (segments "The Second Renaissance, Part I&II") (voice)
Allison Smith	...	Reporter (segment "World Record") (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Pudgy / Masa / Sara (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Tara Strong	...	Crew Woman (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris") / Nurse (segment "World Record") / Misha (segment "Beyond") (voice)
Jill Talley	...	Mother / Additional voice (segments "The Second Renaissance, Parts I&II") / Townsperson (segment "Beyond") (voice)
James Arnold Taylor	...	Additional voice (segments "The Second Renaissance, Parts I&II") / Miscellaneous (segment "Kid's Story") / Ash (segment "A Detective Story") / Raul (segment "Matriculated") (voice)
John Wesley	...	Dan's Dad (segment "World Record") (voice)
Victor Williams	...	Dan (segment "World Record") (voice)

Directed by
Peter Chung		(segment "Matriculated")
Andy Jones		(segment "Final Flight of the Osiris")
Yoshiaki Kawajiri		(segment "Program")
Takeshi Koike		(segment "World Record")
Mahiro Maeda		(segments "The Second Renaissance Part I" and "The Second Renaissance Part II")
Kôji Morimoto		(segment "Beyond") (as Koji Morimoto)
Shinichirô Watanabe		(segments "Kid's Story" and "A Detective Story")

Writing credits
Andy Wachowski		(screenplay "The Matrix") (as The Wachowski Brothers) &
Larry Wachowski		(screenplay "The Matrix") (as The Wachowski Brothers)
Andy Wachowski		(written by) (segments "The Final Flight of the Osiris", "The Second Renaissance Part I", "The Second Renaissance Part II" and "Kid's Story") &
Larry Wachowski		(written by) (segments "The Final Flight of the Osiris", "The Second Renaissance Part I", "The Second Renaissance Part II" and "Kid's Story")
Yoshiaki Kawajiri		(written by) (segments "Program" and "World Record")
Kôji Morimoto		(written by) (segment "Beyond") (as Koji Morimoto)
Shinichirô Watanabe		(written by) (segment "A Detective Story")
Peter Chung		(written by) (segment "Matriculated")

Produced by
Michael Arias	....	producer
Spencer Lamm	....	producer
Phil Oosterhouse	....	associate producer
Steve Richards	....	co-producer
Joel Silver	....	executive producer
Andy Wachowski	....	producer
Larry Wachowski	....	producer

Original Music by
Don Davis
Machine Head
Photek

Film Editing by
Christopher S. Capp		(segment "Final Flight of the Osiris, The")

Casting by
Jack Fletcher

Costume Design by
Veronique Garcia

Production Management
Jessica Alan	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Richard Adrian	....	sound effects designer
Thom Brennan	....	supervising foley editor
William R. Dean	....	assistant sound editor
Paul Hackner	....	assistant sound editor
Michael Edward Johnson	....	sound effects designer
Eddie Kim	....	sound effects designer
Andrew Lackey	....	sound effects editor
Eric Lewis	....	assistant dialogue recordist
Noel McIntosh	....	adr assistant
Joe Milner	....	sound re-recording mixer (except "Final Flight of the Osiris")
James Azizi Penny	....	group adr
Eryne Prine	....	sound editor
David S. DiPietro	....	group adr (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Kevin Bjorke	....	3D render/light pipeline supervision: final flight of the osiris
Sergio Garcia Abad	....	senior modeler (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris, The")
Kory Juul	....	lighting artist & digital compositor (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris, The")
Takumi Kimura	....	lead lighting artist
Greg Lev	....	lead lighting artist
Bo Mosley	....	modeling and texturing supervisor: SquareUSA (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris, The")
Adam Moura	....	lighter & compositor: SquareUSA
Jake Rowell	....	digital character artist
Suan Ching Tan	....	modeler
Suan Ching Tan	....	texture artist
Joanne Thiel	....	visual effects
Roger Kupelian	....	conceptual artist (uncredited)

Music Department
Dino Herrmann	....	composer: additional music
Junkie XL	....	composer: additional score
Mark Kilian	....	composer: additional music
Larry Mah	....	music scoring mixer
Christopher Mann	....	composer: additional music (as Chris Neilman)
Rupert Parkes	....	composer: additional music
Julie Pearce	....	music editor
David Sherr	....	orchestra contractor
David Sherr	....	orchestrator
Kip Smedley	....	assistant to composer
Jed Smith	....	programmer: music audio

Other crew
Jack Fletcher	....	voice director
Anthony Weintraub	....	additional dialogue
Anthony Weintraub	....	story consultant

Production Companies

• DNA (segment "Matriculated")
• Mad House (segments "Program" and "World Record")
• Silver Pictures
• Square USA (segment "Final Flight of the Osiris, The")
• Studio 4°C (segments "Second Renaissance Part 1, The" "Second Renaissance Part 2, The", "Kid's Story", "Beyond" and "Detective Story")
• Village Roadshow Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (2003) (Argentina) (all media)
• Argentina Video Home (2003) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2003) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Japan) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Warner Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Danetracks  sound design and editorial
• IMAGICA Corp. of America  image post-production
• Warner Home Video  soundtrack

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Germany:16

Company:

DNA

Trivia:

There is a reference to the Visual Effects Supervisor for the Matrix films, John Gaeta, during "The Second Renaissance Part II." As the human army gathers in the trenches, preparing for Operation Dark Storm, a male voice on the P.A. system announces, "Lt. Gaeta, please report to the Ops Center. Lt. Gaeta to Ops Center."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The word "scanning" is misspelled as "scaning" on a monitor.

Quotes:

The Instructor: Only the most exceptional humans become aware of the matrix.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#30.2)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

HANDS AROUND MY THROAT

A lot better than its live action counterpart

-The shorts start with "Final Flight of the Osiris" which lets us know where the scans that we hear about from "Reloaded" came from. After it's over we move into what I think should have been in the movie which is the "The Second Renaissance". It lets us know the whole history of how the war between man and machine began, who struck first, and why the machines are so hostile to us. I would have loved to see a live action version of that for the movie but the version we see hear is also very nice. The other stories "Kid's Story", "Beyond", "A Detective's Story", "Matriculated", "Program", and "World Record" tell different stories that range from a kid that commits suicide only to wake up in the real world to a wheel chaired bound athlete that almost breaks out of the Matrix due to his will to push himself. Out of the nine stories I'd say I loved about 8 of them, the only one I can't stand and never watch is the weird one with the program that is trapped inside the matrix or something like that. It's just one big mess of a story and never really holds any interest.

-If I had to pick 3 stories out of the 9 to live on an Island with I'd go with "A Detective's Story", "Beyond", and "The Second Renaissance Part 2". All three have their own unique visual style and all have no connection to each other that I know of. I love "A Detective's Story" because it lets you know how desperate the machines are to capture Trinity and also lets you see Trinity in a completely different light. The Detective in the story is a very likable man who doesn't realize that he's being used by the machines till it's too late. It's a very nice story with a sad ending and one of the best in my opinion, "The Second Renaissance Part 2" is great because that's when you really get to see why the sky in the real world so messed up and also get the answer to the question that Morpheus asked in the first movie which is whether it was us or the machines that struck first. It's told in this mystical way computer way that feels like you're watching a documented history than a fiction animated story and it also helps explain some lines from the 3rd Matrix from the architect especially the line "What do you think I am, human?"

-My favorite story is "Beyond" which a very, very simple story of a girl looking for her cat that discovers a building that no gravity which some kids take full advantage of. I just love how mystical and dreamlike it is, the weird Hisashi like music also helps in creating that mystical aura. The trick to Neo's power is not that he's super human but that he can manipulate the codes in the Matrix and make it into anything he wants. If he wants to fly then he'll remove the codes for gravity and start flying or if he wants to stop bullets he'll just remove the codes that propel it and they stop. That concept is further explored in this story. It's a really great piece of writing because there's not a whole lot that goes on there but just rather you watch kids have fun in the with broken codes for gravity.

-One thing this does a lot better than the movies ever did was to show you the size and scope of the Matrix itself. In the movie you're confined to one city and that's it but in this we pretty much go all around to see what a vast and detailed program that the Matrix is. A couple of the stories should have definitely being in the movie too. "Second Renaissance" and "Flight of the Osiris" should have being in the movie instead of us watching Neo get into one long pointless fight scene after the other. I can understand why because of length they might have cut it but they could have at least given us a truncated version of it.

-I know "The Matrix" movies are suppose to be over but where the movies end that's where stuff like this can go on so I'm hoping that we get more short stories that are as engaging as the ones featured in this pack.