Animatrix

-Warner Brothers (2003)

Summary

This is a rather unique type of film. It's a collection of short animated features based on the Matrix series of films. I don't want to ruin any of them so I won't really discuss plots. There are a couple of shorts that tie into Matrix Reloaded, and a few others that go into the history before the first film.

My Thoughts

Wow, this was great and I'm not a big fan of anime in the least. I tried that whole scene, but for various reasons I really couldn't get into it. I thought that my dislike of anime may carry over to this film, but it didn't.

To start out with I have a small rant. The DVD starts with a warning that the film may be unsuitable for children, and that there is violent imagery. I really wish American parents would get a brain, because if they had one then there would be no warning such as this to waste 10 seconds of my life. Just because something is animated doesn't mean it's for children. I don't understand why moving drawings constitute children's entertainment in some peoples' minds.

But moving on, the shorts are really great. They range in styles and themes, and most of them kept me on the edge of my seat. There was a lot of substance in each of the stories and they tied in well with the Matrix universe. In fact, Final Flight of the Osiris  directly ties into a snippet of dialogue from Matrix Reloaded. The animation is done by those fine folks at Squaresoft. They are best known for the Final Fantasy games and that horrible travesty of a movie called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (“based” on the games) a while back. The one good thing about that film and this short is that their animation is amazingly good. Final Flight’s up to the difficult par that was set in Final Fantasy, and in one respect it scares the hell out of me. Not to ruin it for anyone, but there is a woman in a thong that looks pretty sexy. Why is that scary? Because she is a computer model drawn by some horny Japanese guy and I want to know her sexually. That scares me.

Two of my favorite shorts are The Second Renaissance I and II. These give a background to the first Matrix movie and shows the war before the film takes place.  What's great is that we get to see what happened to cause the machines to revolt, and at the same time we learn why they hated us so much. I have to warn anyone who is squeamish to be on their toes; these stories have some horribly gory scenes.  One of the coolest, yet scariest things is a vision of the early “people as batteries” concept. I can see an old man telling his grandson in the Matrix universe, "In my day you'd be lucky half your brains weren't sticking out of your head when you were giving juice to the robot gods."

Kid's Story is another film that ties directly into Matrix Reloaded and is pretty good, but the best part is its animation.

The most traditional and closest resembling to traditional Anime is called Program. Two humans fight in a training program over the idea of going back into the Matrix. This short has a unique 2D yet 3D look, and a good story line that make it a pleasing short.

World Record is the story of a man who realizes there's a Matrix by means other than the ones most people find out. This one was creepy and very good, although I've never been hot about the animation style that's used.

Beyond is basically a take on a haunted house and deals with what it may be like to experience a glitch in an environment such as the Matrix. I liked this one because of the style and the crazy stuff that happens within the house.

A Detective Story is… uh a detective story that's high on style and short on length. This one I had higher hopes for, but it didn't go as far as it could have.

The only one I didn't really care for was Matriculated. It's the most visual and symbolic of the bunch. I didn't really go much for the robots learning journey at all, but it’s got some nice animation and visualizations.

Extras

A few of the shorts have director commentary in the selection “Voices", which is insightful and a great addition. The only drawback is since these are mainly Japanese films, be prepared to read a lot.

The bonus feature “Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime” is a great background to Anime and how it came about. I didn't know a lot of the stuff that was on here, and it gives you a better respect for the art, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

There are a couple of other making-of features, and some background data on the creators to round out the rather decent selection of bonus material.

Score

Film: 9.0

Way better than the source material.

Extras: 7.0

Not a lot of bonus material, but what is there is satisfying.

Edition: 8.5

-Paul