Of course Plus XP usually reviews games – but seeing as it’s game related, for the first time ever I’ll be reviewing a Blu-Ray DVD instead. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete.
It’s been a while since the original version of Advent Children came to Europe in DVD format – sadly coming straight to DVD rather than hitting cinemas, it was arguably one of the best pieces of CGI animation I’d ever seen. Set two years after the end of Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children saw Cloud once again fighting to save the world and his companions against the evil that threatened them – chock full of fanservice, fantastic fight scenes and motorcycle chases. I figured it probably couldn’t get much better than that.
However, I was wrong. It turns out that one film that could beat Advent Children was, well, Advent Children. Re-released in Blu-Ray format, I expected it to be improved – higher resolution, a few extended scenes here and there – but it turned out to be even better than I thought it would be. ACC comprises of an extra 25 minutes of footage, extending the running time to just over 2 hours of full CG goodness, and some special features to boot.
If you’ve watched the film already – you’ll probably have a good idea of what the plot was all about. However, I did feel that a few parts were a little unclear or confusing – such as the origins of Denzel living with Cloud and Tifa, and the exact causes and effects of Geostigma. ACC has expanded upon the storyline, with some extended dialogue, and some extra scenes that cover more of these issues, as well as generally fleshing it out a bit more. This gives a bit more insight into characters such as the Turks – Elena managed to even be in the film long enough to actually see her!
But it’s not just dialogue and backstory – there are extended fight scenes, such as the motorcycle chase which has been fairly expanded, with more crazy bike-back stunts and collapsing bridges, and also the all-important “final battle” of the film. At some points, the scenes have even changed slightly – but don’t worry, it’s all well done and I didn’t feel as though any decisions were made for the worse – all of it just made it feel even more exciting than the original cut.
Good news for fans of FFVII: Crisis Core as well – there’s some flashbacks to some of the most memorable scenes of the game, and Zack gets a bit more screen time than before. It really helps tie his influences into the film and FFVII, and explains Cloud’s motivations and thoughts a little more in-depth.
But seeing as the film is a CG production – it’s not just like a normal movie with some new scenes, some of the existing parts have been improved, with cleaner effects, some really nice touches to the original CGI, and is really finished off with more detail to blood and dirt on the characters skin and faces. Obviously, the musical score remains much the same – but there are one or two extra bits of music to fit the new length – and it’s all kept up to the awesome standard of the original.
The bonus features are quite good, not too different from the original – including some retrospective looks at the original plot of FFVII, as well as some edited footage of the FFVII saga as a whole – including clips from Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of Cerberus. One of my favourite features, however, was “On the Way to a Smile: Episode Denzel“, which is a short animated film covering Denzel’s past before AC. As well as filling in some missing backstory (which was partly also included in the re-cut main feature of the film), it’s actually a nicely written piece of work with a few laughs and some touching moments that made it enjoyable to watch. Denzel is now one of my favourite characters in the film, with my newfound understanding of his roots.
Overall, if you liked AC – this is improved in pretty much every way. The pace is slightly slower to start, but it takes the story to a new level with extended plot and deeper look into the storyline. As the film progresses, the action-packed scenes have been improved with longer, better battles and plenty of extra special effects and impressive re-touches. Obviously, it all looks beautiful scaled up to full-HD as well – I’m pretty sure they added in a lot of wide shots of Edge City simply to show this off to it’s potential.
Definitely worth a buy if you liked the original, and if you haven’t seen it yet – go straight for this version! The HD has been used well, although sadly that means you need a Blu-Ray player or PS3 in order to watch it.
-Leon
