the first image in " final fantasy : the spirits within " is a computer-animated close-up of a human eye . it's a beautiful piece of work , remarkably detailed and quite convincing . when the picture pulls back to reveal the owner of the eye , however , things change . the young woman has mesmerizing hair , although it hangs too artfully ? even by movie standards ? to be believed . the facial features are more detailed than any computer-animation seen to date , but the result is more reminiscent of a very well-crafted doll than anything human . she is pretty , but bland , and not nearly expressive enough to come off like a person . all the characters in " final fantasy " are like that . of the core group , the younger white men and women are all athletic , attractive and indistinct , like applicants for a tv reality show . the black man is taller and burlier , and the aging scholar is bald , with wrinkles and a beard . none of them appear to be based on individuals ; they all look like the products of general descriptions given a police sketch artist . it gets worse when they talk and move . why is the sarcastic voice of steve buscemi , he of the great twisted face and snaggleteeth , coming out of the mouth of some dreary ken doll ? why , for every fluid physical gesture , do we also see herky-jerky puppet-style motions ? more to the point , who decided a full-length computer animated movie featuring " hyperreal " ( their term , not mine ) humanoids was a good idea ? " final fantasy " is based on a phenomenally popular video game i've never played , with a story straight out of japanese anime , which more often than not leaves me bored and depressed . if you're a fan of either , please spare me your letters , as i will focus solely on the finished film and not its source materials . with an expression-challenged cast , " final fantasy " mixes turgid action scenes with heaps of mystical shit . the result is ugly , confusing and boring . note : the following reveals the basic plot . if you want to have a fighting chance of making any sense of the movie , i suggest you read it . earth is at war with aliens that appear to feed on human souls . most of our planet is devastated , with humans living in a few protected cities . while the bulk of the survivors focus on military strategies , aki ross ( voiced by ming-na ) and her mentor , dr . sid ( donald sutherland ) , believe in a more organic approach . they operate on the notion ( quoting straight from the press kit ) " that all life forms have signature spirit waves that can be identified and contained . aki and dr . sid collect a series of organic specimens whose spirit signatures combined will form a wave of equal and opposite intensity to the spirit wave of the alien force . the waves will , in effect , cancel each other out and disarm the foreign contagion . they have collected six of the eight key spirits needed to complete their wave . they are on a desperate hunt to find the remaining two spirits before their time runs out . " are you still with me ? there's only a little more . aki is infected with the alien force . dr . sid has developed a method of confining the contagion and keeping it from killing her , but the defense wall won't hold much longer . already , the alien is communicating with aki through her dreams . aiding aki and dr . sid are the deep eyes , a group of hard-as-nails types that would have felt at home with the troops in " aliens . " capt . gray edwards ( alec baldwin ) heads the task force that consists of a wise guy ( buscemi ) , a tough woman ( peri gilpin ) and a gentle giant ( ving rhames ) . throwing a monkey wrench into the plans is the requisite dumb ass : in this case general hein ( james woods ) , who wants to use the zeus cannon to bomb the aliens back to the stone age , even if it destroys earth as well . so there you have it . like most of the anime i've seen , the plot combines apocalyptic settings , lots of shooting and fuzzy spirituality , all wrapped up in a save-the-earth bow . but i'm bored with apocalyptic settings . i understand why so many live-action films employ them ? they're cheap ? but animated films can show anything , so why wallow in an industrial trash heap ? the action scenes and shoot-em-ups don't satisfy either . the humans move oddly and their facial features are so muted that the talented voice cast can't bring them to life ( in fact , their efforts merely emphasize what we're missing ) . aki is especially disappointing ; with her lack of expression and flat delivery , she looks and sound like a brunet version of weena , the eloi girl from 1960's " the time machine . " drab color choices and aliens that appear to have been created in jell-o molds sap the pizzazz from the big set pieces . students of computer animation may be fascinated with the technology behind " final fantasy : the spirits within , " but i found it sub-par across the board . " futurama " does more effective battle visuals , the kids in " south park " are far more expressive than these mannequins and any old episode of the contemporary version of " the outer limits " does better doom and gloom sci-fi . so who needs this ? not me .
