My Review - Including Spoilers
Now before you read on, I wish to let you know that the following piece is my own work, as I am the ACF member Mrs. Loz. You can sign up to www.adventchildren.net and find me there, speak to me if you wish..I have NOT plagarised the following work.
(SPOILER)Lisa's AC Review
Well hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Lisa (aka Mrs. Loz of ACF) with her review for the English version of Advent Children.
I bet you are all wondering what it was like hm? Well I was excited as you were, many of you were, and despite what I said about the movie
in general, this review may surprise you ^_^
As soon as I finished college at 11.30am, Monday the 24th April..I waited to go into town, and as soon as my feet touched the ground, I legged it
across the bloody road, and snapped up a copy.
Like a true fangirl, I squeed when I saw the front of the AC cover..OKAY ENUFF OF THAT, ONTO THE REVIEW!
1. Review of the story in general.
2. Review of the characters taking part.
3. Lines to look out for which made Lisa go *omfgfaint*
4. Overall rating of each heading: Storyline, Graphics, Character portrayal.
5. Final mark ( Out of 10 )
1. Review of the story in general.
This feels more of a "large trailer" at the beginning - at some points during the movie, I thought, woah, that happened
pretty quick, couldn't they have put something in between to make it flow properly? Especially with the Loz and Tifa fight
scene, don't get me wrong, it was a great piece of action from the movie, but, it suddenly appeared out of the blue.
Further on, things start to seem to fall into place more, and the movie seems to go along quite good.
To understand more of the story, I suggest not watching the actual movie first, but watch Reminiscence of FFVII instead - which will be explained later on.
The story was ok for me - it would not get top marks, because things were left unexplained, but what do you expect really? Something with an award winning plot for like, say, Brokeback Mountain? No - people who just watch it straight off
may get confused, and think, who the hell was Sephiroth and Jenova?
But to people who have played the game before, and understand the people and past events, you will enjoy this quite easily.. I hope XD.
The best thing about the storyline? Now I reflect back on it, the Geostigma and it being related to Jenova was something I liked. Kept
The worst part? I would have to say..well, there aren't really any "bad" things, just, some stuff unexplained which made Lisa a bit angry >:3. For example : How did Rufus survive the attack by Diamond Weapon? How where the SHM created? I would mention Tseng, about how did he survive the stabbing by Sephiroth, but there was no clear indication that he died, while what happened to Rufus, made you very well think he gone up to Heaven.
Graphically? The CGI was superb, and a lot of the movements were very slick, and even some of the crowd looked like real human beings when moving - hehe, I'm sure SE were heading in that direction anyway.
2. Review of the characters taking part.
I'll just list them, with a few paragraphs going into some detail about how I thought the characters acted etc.
Cloud: The main man of the movie - I've heard some people say his voice was emotionless, and that Zak/Zax/Zack/Sandslash's ( haha ) English VA should have taken over as Cloud's VA. Well I can tell you that would have
been a big mistake, because Cloud surpassed himself in this movie, especially with a voice done by a wonderful Steve Burton. My respect for Cloud shot up in an instant, and I thought his personality was really well presented - he went from a struggling young man, to someone with a new mission in life, once he had the support of his friends and Aeris.
Rating: 10/10
Aeris: What can I say..she really did NOTHING for the movie. In my honest opinion, she ruined the scene where Kadaj was fading away - I was semi-crying for Kadaj, but at the same time, I was semi-crying for Aeris to get on and go back to where she was living as a spirit. It wasn't the worst voice in the world, but it made me cringe, and I really didn't find her appealing at all - we could have done with someone a lot better then Mena Suvari.
Rating: 0/10
Tifa: At a few times did I think Rachel Leigh Cooks acting seemed a little bit..out of place during the movie, but the voice
acting flowed particularly well, and with Cloud, it brought out her personality a bit more. Tifa sounded very pleasant throughout, and you could detect emotion too, especially for her concern for Marlene and Cloud. Contrary to popular belief, the famous "Dilly dally, shilly shally" line was spoken not like I thought it would be - it was said rather softly, sighed out.
Rating: 8/10
Reno: Quenton Flynn was pretty much spot on here, though I half expected some cheekiness to arise from Reno, and even though I didn't really sense the "cheekiness" in his voice, he sounded very laid back, relaxed, whenever he spoke, and that reflected his character to a rather good extent. Reno and Rude really made the movie worthwhile to watch, as they provided the comedy for the movie, with Rude often on the receiving end of things i.e. having his shades smashed y reno, being knocked off while climbing the wall..etc
Rating: 9/10
Rude: Though the voice seemed..to be fitting, I thought it may have been a little bit too deep for him. I expected him to have a softer tone, as he seemed to be a generally quiet person, but that didn't really bother me because he seemed to pull it off rather well in the end. He also appeared to be a very handsome person in the movie, and to see his eyes for the first time, they looked rather delicious <3 Well done overall, Crispin Freeman!
Rating: 8/10
Kadaj: Another one of my favourite VA's - I think Kadaj showed more emotion to me, then anyone else - his sadness, his anger at not finding mother, realisation that he was just a puppet, and at the end, when he seemed calm as Aeris called to him. He sounded young, youthful, the exact equal to the Japanese counterpart. His accent appealed to me in general, as quite a few of the characters in this sounded American, while Kadaj seemed to be detached from that group, and sounded more "European".
Rating: 10/10
Yazoo: There really wasn't anything to be excited about here - Yazoo was portrayed quite poorly - his manliness in the Japanese version despite his very slim build, made him more realistic, while in the English dub, his voice seemed "floaty" and had less of an impact, a positive impact on my ears. It remained the same throughout, and so it really did not have a lasting effect on me. I shall give him credit only for the fighting skills he and Loz seemed to convey so well during the film.
Rating: 5/10
Loz: Haha..many of you should know how annoyed I was when I heard clips of Loz speaking, and it, has not changed my opinions as such when I watched the movie fully. I have to give him credit for some of the lines he said, which was the "Don't cry Yazoo!" line and the words he spoke when he entered the church. They were executed quite well, though the rest of his work was pretty lame, and the voice overall didn't reflect him - changes that were made to him, may have been minor, but it was something, as a Loz fan, I did not tolerate well, and I had to put up with it in the end. As with Yazoo, points given to his rating overall was to do with the action he was involved, particularly the Tifa fighting scene - which was extremely explosive.
Rating: 5/10
Rufus: I had to think on this one, and in the end, I came to the conclusion that this was an "average" voice. I listened to it as best I could, but parts of it made me think - yes, it suited his nature and no, the accent did not seem quite fitting. It made him sound a lot older then he looked, but it didn't sound that bad, and it didn't really get on my nerves. As for his inclusion in the movie, it would have been nice to see him stand up and for us to have a face view of Rufus as he was getting healed from the Geostigma at the end.
Rating: 6/10
Cid: Haha..I didn't really sense any australian accent in him to be honest. He had a comical side to him, which we saw in FFVII, especially with his swearing, and even though there is a lack of that in the movie, his comments towards Yuffie and Barrett made me giggle =P He didn't sound too rough, but he still managed to maintain that dreamy manly voice you'd expect him to have.
Rating: 10/10
Reeve: Though you hear him for a matter of seconds, the VA for the English dub was very deep, and I didn't think it was a Reeve type voice. He seemed to have matured in AC, because I saw him as an upbeatish kind of person in FFVII, and would have thought that his voice may have been a bit on the lighter side, but I guess the VA showed us people change over time. The VA seemed to retain some gentleness that I saw in Reeve in FFVII, and in the message left on the voicemail on Cloud's phone, showed that as well. Shame it's the only time we get to hear Reeve speak.
Zack: Ah, the lovely voice of Rick Gomez comes sailing into our hearts once again - if anyone played FFX-2 and fell in love with the voice of Gippal, then you'll hear his talents once more. Though Zack really only appears in flashbacks and towards the end, his voice is what I had in my head all the time, it was a perfect voice for him. ..Man, I wish I could say more ;__; - another plus point - his hair was still spiky XD.
Rating: 10/10
Cait Sith: Wow, what a shocker - you get to hear his voice more clearly when on the Sierra, you can hear a distinct Scottish accent, and it's very different, a lot louder then the other voices you hear. At first it didn't seem to fit in, but you gotta look on the history of Cait Sith's name to know why he was given such an accent. Looks the same as he did in FFVII, but upgraded in graphic quality.
Rating: 7/10
Nanaki/Red XIII: For only one line, the VA didn't really seem to put much effort in for voicing good old Red, but in a way, I guess it isn't exactly an easy job, trying to get the voice of a speaking creature spot on =P. His design was good, so plus points for that.
Rating: 4/10
Barret: Muhahaha..one of the more comical voices. Though he sounded like Mr.T, he sounded really good, and the "What up foo!" line set me off laughing XD He looked well presented, which was a good thing.
Rating: 10/10
Vincent: Hm..Vincent, I guess he sounds alright, though in general, his voice wasn't what I had imagined it to be. I was thinking they would stick with the route that the Japanese had took, making the voice dark, smoothe. Guess they had different ideas for this version. He looked fantastic in the movie, his eyes captured me more then anything.
Rating: 6/10
Denzel: Yeah, he was cool. Good voice acting, suited him. He was a nice addition to the FFVII Compilation =)
Rating: 9/10
Marlene: Yeah, I know some people didn't really take to her voice, but she sounded like any normal kid. She sounded really cute too.
Rating: 8/10
Tseng: Even though you hear him at the beginning, for a short amount of time, his VA sounds pretty good, but seeing as you only see him later on when he is not speaking, I can't really say whether or not it fits him well, so I only really give an average rating for this.
Rating: 7/10
Elena: I wasn't keen on her voice, and though she falls into the same problem area as Tseng, I cannot really criticise her voice when I haven't seen her on screen and speaking at the same time. I do however, think at the moment, her voice was too young for her.
Rating: 6/10
Yuffie: Ah, another great VA. Fits her greatly, gives her that youthfulness and makes her sound as cheery as ever.
Rating 10/10
Random Characters i.e. kids, moogle girl, crowd at the monument: I can't give a rating for this, as there is not enough to judge on, but they seemed to fit in with everything.
3. Lines to look out for which made Lisa go *omfgfaint*
"This'll be fun!" - Loz getting ready to fight Tifa
"Where can i get a phone?" - Vincent when he joins the Bahamut battle.
"What up foo!" - Barret leaving a voice message on Clouds phone.
"Sexist! Sexist!" - Yuffie shouting at Cid on the Sierra.
"Oh, where did you find this strength?" - Sephiroth.
"On your knees, I want you to beg for forgiveness." - Sephiroth.
4. Overall rating of each heading: Storyline, Graphics, Character portrayal.
Storyline: 8/10 - it was good overall, though it lacked certain things that needed to be explained, the fighting scenes and characters in general made up for it. However, the ending was generic, and you knew what to expect.
Graphics: 10/10 - what more can I say? Stunning, finally seeing your favouries in CGI, and actually being able to crush on them properly =P
Character Portrayal: 8/10 - Hmm..some of the characters like Aeris, Red, Loz, Yazoo, could have done with better VA's, while characters like Tseng, Elena, and Rufus, and even Reeve, could have done more with some showtime, instead of just hearing voice clips, and seeing very little of them to be fully judging their appearance properly.
5. Final mark ( Out of 10 )
Final Mark eh? 9/10. Yeah, there were some faults with it, some of the VA's could have been better, a lot of the movie felt very fast, things were not explained, but there were a lot of plus points - more then half of the voices were spot on, the CGI animation was beautiful, very life like, sexy even. I used to criticise AC in the past, say it wasn't great etc, but ya know, at the end of the day, it's rekindled my love for FFVII, Cloud, and I now have a sudden desire to play FFVII.. once I complete FFIX at least xD. Some people will say my views on Aeris and Yazoo and Loz aren't right, but meh, whatever. Think what you like XD. You're free to judge, just remember, this is a review based on my opinions.
Extra additions: Reminiscence of FFVII: I suggest those who have never seen FFVII before, never played it, should watch this 15-20minute show of what happened in the events two years previous to FFVIIAC. It will explain a lot of things, and when I watched it, the graphics were sharp, background graphics were very neat. You could still see the characters in their former "no-hand" glory! It goes through the more important parts of the game, and even includes the Lucretia cave scene, which up until now, I had never seen before. You'll like this, hopefully, you FFVII veterans, and hopefully the newbies to FFVII too.
NOTE: I have only watched the first disc.
