First off, the Animatrix is not a movie, but a collection of nine animated shorts (one being CGI based) which basically delves into the world that is The Matrix. Animators come from Japan, Korea and the US and include many world renouned animators (the first animation, Final Flight of the Osiris, was made by the same team who created the Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within movie). Below is an outline of each animated short and what relevance it has in the Matrix world.
1. The Final Flight of the Osiris: CGI based animated short involving the discovery of the machine army and the delivery of the evidence to the drop point noted in the Enter The Matrix video game.
2. The Second Renaissance Part 1: One of four of the nine animated shorts written by the Wachowski Brothers and details the creation of artificial intelligence and the rise of the machines
3. The Second Renaissance Part 2: Continuation of the previous short film based on the war against the machines and the enslaving of the human race.
4. Kid's Story: Remember the Kid in Reloaded and Revolutions? this animated short is about how he came to be in the real world, including his encounter with Neo.
5. Program: This animated short is set in a training simulation and focuses on betrayal and escaping the real world back into the matrix, just like Cypher tried to do in the original Matrix movie.
6. World Record: Based on the idea that exceptional people with exceptional skills can in effect wake themselves up without being unplugged from the matrix, this short focuses on an American sprinter who runs so fast he escapes the rules of space and time and sees the real world.
7. Beyond: A glitch occurs in the Matrix and weird things starts to happen, time slows down and one girl is caught in the middle of it.
8. Detective Story: A private investigator is hired by Agents to track down Trinity, but he soon realises that he is a pawn in a conspiracy which ultimatly will lead him to see the truth.
9, Matrixulated: This animated short is about a team of human resistance which captures sentinals and uses the sentinals to fight for them. They, however, do not reprogram the sentinals but mearly show them an alternative choice and let the sentinals make up their own minds.
Every animated short is well made and really pushes the boundary of animation. Also, the script for each one is great and the whole experience really does make you feel part of the Matrix World and does answer questions as well as raise some more. But, does it infact help the understanding of the Matrix Trilogy? Basically, yes it does, however, not all the animated shorts do, only a few. The rest are just extra stories, opening up a whole new can of worms and filled with philosophy which made the original Matrix great, but are still worth seeing. The Animatrix develops the story of the Kid in Reloaded and Revolutions and Morpheus' speach about the human/machine war in the original Matrix movie. So, only very slightly does it actually alter your view or answer any questions on the Matrix Trilogy, but that is not the reason why you should see the Animatrix, see it because it is simply an amazing ride through the Matrix and should be watched by fans of the Matrix and animation alike.
