Reviews

Okay, this movie is not near as good as Batman Begins or Spider-man 2. But it's still WAY better than most of the flak you're going to get this summer.

Not all comic book movies need to have the depth of Spider-man 2 or the dark seriousness of Batman Begins or even the nobility of Superman. It's okay to take a comic book and give it a light-hearted approach. And if there's a mainstream comic-to-film project in which it's appropriate to take that approach, it would be, in my opinion, the Fantastic Four.

Yes, I would have loved to have seen what it would have been like if the director of "Traffic" had directed this instead of the director of "Barbershop," but what I must say in Tim Story's defense is that his lighthearted approach allows the audience to do something they couldn't do with Batman Begins: sit back, relax, don't think, and enjoy a fun, often funny, ride.

So is it as good as Batman Begins? No. But is it fair to compare the two to one another in the first place? Also no. Go see this film, you won't have to think, but you'll probably enjoy yourself, and isn't that what movies are generally for?

Yeah, did anyone see a point? I mean, the effects were cool, and really damn impressive for a short film in 1994, but... what the hell was this? I sure didn't see a point. Oh well, if you're bored and like Silver Surfer, don't expect much, but yeah, it's kinda cool.

Don't watch this expecting a strong, serious plot like many of the FF games, it's a very fun, action-packed mini-series with a sense of humor. I actually prefer this over the Alec Baldwin FF, even though this is clearly for younger audiences.

This one was much more like an actualy FF story. It had four very different lead characters (the cocky swordsman, the gruffy old soldier, the spunky tomboy and the innocent magic user), chocobos, air-ships, and crystals. The animation isn't the greatest in the world, but it's by no means not good. The action is very well done, but not overdone. The best part of the film is it's sense of humor, however. The film never takes itself too seriously. Some FF die-hards might think it's too light-hearted, but the best thing they can do is remember it's just a movie, and FF is just a video game.

To sum it up: What works: Good action, decent animation, a very FF story, and a sense of humor about itself. What doesn't: It's sometimes a little too light-hearted. Great scene: Trying to get a crystal to leave a girls body, a pirate forces the girl to drink lots and lots of prune juice. Rating: Unrated, but contains mild anime violence and some mild sexuality.

I loved the SS video game. So when I went anime shopping and saw that there was an anime of the game, I thought, "Sweet! Put this in the cart!" It was terrible. Absolutely terrible. The animation is disgraceful, the story is extremely lacking and slow-paced, and there is absolutely NO character development. They're all just sort of... there. The only reason this doesn't get a 1 is because there is some good action, but you'll be lucky to be awake or not vomiting due to the other crap that goes on. Do not get this movie unless you're a HUGE fan of the video game.