Brad and I caught a showing of Final Fantasy: Advent Children Complete the other day and now live to tell the tale. You can read about his story over at Destructoid. Here's mine.
To some of you, this Blu-Ray-only release is little more than teaser for the next installment of the Final Fantasy franchise; or like most of Japan, it is our first taste of number thirteen in playable form. But after sitting through all 2+ hours of it, I believe this piece is not just the "bonus disc" to the FFXIII demo. This is the full revenge of what SquareSoft (and now Square-Enix) sought after with its 3D-CG push that resulted in Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within--making a beautiful film, but also one that can engage a very broad audience.
Now that a North American release is upon us (June 2nd), this dubbed and equally subtitled release actually does something worth your second look. It's never too late to milk a franchise the right way.
Unlike the original version of Advent Children, the so-called Advent Children Complete features about an additional 26 minutes worth of footage within the main feature. The first thing that the additional footage made me feel was that it is action packed to the gills. The original version has a very long action sequence; now it is even longer. It is so long, that an intermission was almost necessary. Some parts of the action sequence are notably slower than others, creating an experience that was a little too drawn out and tiresome.
The second thing that came to mind immediately was how the plot to the movie is now easily understood. The first time around things didn't all immediately click in, as Advent Children made the audience think about the inferences, unexplained. On the other hand, Advent Children Complete fills out all the plot details, and some scenes were changed slightly to make more sense. If the additional footage in the movie doesn't do it for you, there are three more bonus items that will come with the Blu-Ray release: an half-hour OVA based on the little boy Denzel, an FFVII game summary video, and a documentary going over the history of this popular game franchise.
However, like the first movie, Advent Children Complete aims first to please. If you enjoyed the first one you will also enjoy the second, and likely more so because, well, there's 26 minutes more of it. If different styles of emo bishies going at each other like a friendly game of basketball rather than mortal enemies fighting for their lives sounds like your thing, you really can't go wrong. And if that's not your thing, just remember, as always: the grass is green, the water is fine, and it's always time for a dip with Aerith.
To me, what makes this work redeeming is that it's on Blu-Ray. Why? Because it looks gorgeous. The visuals were always a major reason that the post-FFVI Final Fantasy franchise has a lot of fans. Perhaps we are superficial, but can you really blame us? The thing sure is pretty. It is so pretty, in fact, that Sony decided it is going to be a Blu-Ray exclusive.
Ultimately, by addressing the weakness in the story somewhat, Advent Children Complete ought to be the definitive FFVII fanboy movie. It could even capture a casual audience that enjoy a standard action affair without any fanboy trapping. I guess that is as good as any of a note on which to end this franchise (crossing my fingers here).
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