The Animatrix

The Animatrix
by Andrew R. Jones, Kôji Morimoto, Mahiro Maeda, Peter Chung, Shinichirô Watanabe

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DVD details

• From the creators of The Matrix trilogy, this groundbreaking collection of nine short films from seven of the world's leading anime directors provides a visionary fusion of CG-Animatrion and Japanese anime.Running Time: 89 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: NR Age: 085393731625 UPC: 085393731625 Manufacturer No: 37316

DVD Reviews of The Animatrix

DVD Review: Stylistic, but lacking substance
Summary: 3 Stars

Actually, there's a lot of good animation to watch for the 100 or so minutes that The Animatrix goes on. However, it shares the same problem that most anime (and, indeed, The Matrix Reloaded) have: style but lack of substance. Most of the pieces within The Animatrix are visually appealing, but they lack any sense of coherence. They're scenes of story that just miss the mark of being stories themselves. There are exceptions to this within the film, but The Animatrix seems to be more an exercise of marketing and visualization than an envelope push of storytelling. This isn't Serial Experiments Lain or Cowboy Bebop-no matter how much it wishes it was.

Final Flight of the Osiris - Created by Square Studios, the animation geniuses behind Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Final Flight is a photo-realistic CGI fight sequence. It's wonderful and amazing to watch, as it takes the beautiful CGI of Final Fantasy and kicks it up a notch. It's visually fantastic. Unfortunately, the story itself is half fight scene and half flight scene with a weak and fatalistic plot. In many ways, this was the perfect choice to open The Animatrix with, because of it's aesthetic qualities. It also lets the viewer know what they're getting into: style over substance.

The Second Renaissance (Part I & Part II) - This two-part animation sequence is directed by Mahiro Maeda (the man behind Robot Carnival and Macross: Do You Remember Love). The animation style is a great representation of classic "Japanime" and it's a pleasure to watch. Rather than being an actual story, Renaissance is a compiled history of the rise of the machines and how it [the Matrix] all came to be. It's an interesting take on how the Matrix came to be where it is by the time of the movie(s). While interesting, it manages to come across as a bit contrived, as if the Wachowski brothers (who wrote the segments) had another series in mind when beginning, but were forced to shove that series' history into that of The Matrix. I'm not sure what the desired effect of Renaissance was, but by the end I sympathized more with the machines than humanity.

Kid's Story - This story ties in directly with The Matrix Reloaded and features, briefly, the vocal talents (or lack thereof) of Keanu Reeves. While I didn't care for the animation style, I was glad that it wasn't simply "more of the same." It's the story about the Neo-worshiping boy from Reloaded. There seems to be an aspect of the story that is lacking, even with the knowledge gained from Reloaded about the character, there's still something missing within the story. It's a stylistic piece that lacked story and that missed the mark visually.

World Record - This is, quite possibly, the lowest point that The Animatrix falls. While I'm not a very big fan of the animation style used in, say, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, I don't necessarily hate it, either. Record uses a similar art style, but comes across as sloppier. The mish-mash story is about a runner who becomes aware of the Matrix because of his determination to succeed. Like The Second Renaissance, it doesn't interact well within the setting of the live-action movies.

Program - If you like animated fight scenes and don't care about story then this might be your favorite segment. This story is little more than a training simulation for a user. It's a drawn-out, feudal Japan-esche, fight scene that uses the context of the protagonist's lover (and sparring partner) trying to convince her to reinsert herself into the Matrix as it's (flimsy) plot backdrop. I found it to be the biggest yawn-fest in the film.

Detective Story - Shinichiro Watanabe, the man behind Cowboy Bebop, directs this pulp-detective, film-noir style tale about a man hired to find Trinity. It's interesting and aesthetically pleasing, but pushes the Through the Looking-Glass cliche a little too strongly and falls flat in the end. It's probably the biggest disappointment of the film, because it had the most potential. It's one of the few stories that would have worked and have been stronger with more time and outside the confines of trying to tie into another series.

Beyond - This is a simple story about what might happen in a "bad sector" of the Matrix's "hard drive." While a little bland, Beyond is the one of the better pieces in the film because it works perfectly with the context of the live-action movies and the Matrix ideology itself. It's also one of the only complete stories. It poses a question and answers it.

Matriculate - The final segment in The Animatrix is a story about a piece of the resistance that is attempting to sway machines to their cause, one by one. It's more animated acid trip than story, but it's fun to watch. The end of Matriculate, much like the end of the first piece (Final Flight of the Osiris) is a fatalistic downer, though.

Ultimately, The Animatrix is worth a look, but I don't know if it's worth purchasing. Unlike its multiple-story animated predecessors, it doesn't reach the depths that even Heavy Metal or Robot Carnival managed to go to. At least their stories were complete.

Description of The Animatrix