WK watches The Spirits Within
The site being down kind of killed the idea I was going for, but after finishing X and before starting IX, I rewatched Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within to sort of get me into the head space of the time period of 2000-2001 Square. Personally, I've always held a soft spot for The Spirits Within and I still think it's a shame it bombed so badly at the box office because I don;t feel like it was a bad film, though apparently a lot of Sci-Fi-centric animation were getting killed in the box office around this time frame as well.
I do agree with one criticism that the film probably shouldn't have had the FF Moniker. That might have actually helped it among actual FF fans to temper expectations seeing how the FF film they wanted was still five years away.
On its own merits though, I felt it was a pretty good film. A bit stilted in places, but I felt the acting was good, especially with the all star voice talent the film got. The animation still looks great today and almost feels like something that could have been released this decade. I still like the premise of the story and the themes the film tackles. I've been watching a lot of documentary type stuff on Square lately and it's very apparent to me that a large part of the reason Sakaguchi is still proud of this film is because it likely served as him really coming to terms with his mother's tragic death a decade before. You can also see a lot of those same themes play out in FFIX since he was co-developing it the same time he was working on the film. I mean the main character is even named after her. So seeing this film with that context made it hit a bit harder this time around.
I also feel the soundtrack is underrated. I will agree that Advent Children as the strongest OST of the three FF films, but I feel TSW is a close second. Elliot Goldenthal brings in another good score for the film and the films two ending themes are great.
Overall, I would say it's still my favorite of the three FF films.
