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The Animatrix (on film)
Jun. 1st, 2003 12:33 amVery sleepy, but posting anyway; I just got back with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
spazzkat and mamishka from The Animatrix - a collection of Matrix-universe animated short films - at The Egyptian, which is one of the theatres hosting films being shown as part of SIFF, the Seattle International Film Festival. It's good; it holds up very well on film and a very large theatre screen. Low-to-no-spoiler picoreviews:
"Second Renaissance, Parts I and II" - doom, doom, doom, doom. You probably downloaded the web version already, but it's a lot brighter, louder, and clearer. That'll be true on the DVD too, of course, but it looks great on film too.
"Beyond" - The only one you could call cute; the premise is what it looks like from the inside when there's a problem area in the Matrix itself. Clever-enough visual fun.
"Kid's Story" ties in with the second film, showing the backstory for a minor (but annoying) character. The whole sequence looked stylistically rotoscoped; I didn't like that part and was, honestly, a little bored with the whole sequence. The background might end up being good to have, as long as we don't have to sit through it again in the third film.
"World Record" - about a track athlete who starts to poke at the Matrix boundaries largely by accident. Paul liked this one a lot; me, not so much. It's okay; I stridently disliked the animation style.
"Program" - things pick up again. It's a minimal story - a little too thin, even - but it looks great, I like the character and animation designs, and I like the lead character a lot. In fact, I liked everything from here on out.
"Matriculated" - Gorgeous; the animation director for this segment was at the theatre and said that this one's become known as "the weird one." And it is. It's also the one I'd particularly like to see again to get a better understanding about what's going on, because it's the only one where I felt like I was missing something.
"Detective Story" (not sure of the title) - I was initially somewhat put off by some of the animation choices, but it grew on me very quickly, and they did a lot with the time they had. Also, I loved the cat. Don't hit me. *^_^*;; Mimi just mentioned that it was directed by the same guy who did Cowboy Bebop, and in retrospect, that's very clear. (And I love Bebop. ^_^ )
"Final Flight of the Osiris" - events mentioned in this one are, again, referenced - and followed-up upon - in the second film. All hyper-realistic CGI, which is disturbingly effective, but has the weird effect of making the CG SFX sequences look more real than the CG people sequences, which isn't how things normally work. It also had one serious "oh wait, this looks like a game figure" moment, but that was over quickly, and after that it was all just kind of neat.
Definitely worth renting when it comes out; definitely worth seeing on a larger screen if you can. Watch it at whatever friend's house includes the best sound system; they're doing a lot with the noise. It didn't make me think "buy me," though.
spazzkat and mamishka from The Animatrix - a collection of Matrix-universe animated short films - at The Egyptian, which is one of the theatres hosting films being shown as part of SIFF, the Seattle International Film Festival. It's good; it holds up very well on film and a very large theatre screen. Low-to-no-spoiler picoreviews:"Second Renaissance, Parts I and II" - doom, doom, doom, doom. You probably downloaded the web version already, but it's a lot brighter, louder, and clearer. That'll be true on the DVD too, of course, but it looks great on film too.
"Beyond" - The only one you could call cute; the premise is what it looks like from the inside when there's a problem area in the Matrix itself. Clever-enough visual fun.
"Kid's Story" ties in with the second film, showing the backstory for a minor (but annoying) character. The whole sequence looked stylistically rotoscoped; I didn't like that part and was, honestly, a little bored with the whole sequence. The background might end up being good to have, as long as we don't have to sit through it again in the third film.
"World Record" - about a track athlete who starts to poke at the Matrix boundaries largely by accident. Paul liked this one a lot; me, not so much. It's okay; I stridently disliked the animation style.
"Program" - things pick up again. It's a minimal story - a little too thin, even - but it looks great, I like the character and animation designs, and I like the lead character a lot. In fact, I liked everything from here on out.
"Matriculated" - Gorgeous; the animation director for this segment was at the theatre and said that this one's become known as "the weird one." And it is. It's also the one I'd particularly like to see again to get a better understanding about what's going on, because it's the only one where I felt like I was missing something.
"Detective Story" (not sure of the title) - I was initially somewhat put off by some of the animation choices, but it grew on me very quickly, and they did a lot with the time they had. Also, I loved the cat. Don't hit me. *^_^*;; Mimi just mentioned that it was directed by the same guy who did Cowboy Bebop, and in retrospect, that's very clear. (And I love Bebop. ^_^ )
"Final Flight of the Osiris" - events mentioned in this one are, again, referenced - and followed-up upon - in the second film. All hyper-realistic CGI, which is disturbingly effective, but has the weird effect of making the CG SFX sequences look more real than the CG people sequences, which isn't how things normally work. It also had one serious "oh wait, this looks like a game figure" moment, but that was over quickly, and after that it was all just kind of neat.
Definitely worth renting when it comes out; definitely worth seeing on a larger screen if you can. Watch it at whatever friend's house includes the best sound system; they're doing a lot with the noise. It didn't make me think "buy me," though.
