I picked up the Animatrix a couple of days ago and it is a really awesome collaboration of different works. I only wish other movie properties were this involved to get the most out of the movies. You guys should check out the commentary and extra stuff like 'the making of the short'. If you are confused about the story or anything just watch those, they'll clear stuff up for you as well as telling you tidbits about it. Its my first time watching them since I waited for the clearer DVD so here goes my review of them.
Final Flight of Osiris - Very cool. I like how it links with Matrix Reloaded and it shows how the surface of the earth looked. It looked pretty creepy especially with so much of those sentinels going about. I also thought that the Osirus having guns ,instead of using the EMP all the time as well as that gun Cypher used in The Matrix, was nice.
I liked the characters alot and its too bad about their fate since I would have liked to have seen them do other stuff. That asian chick did have a cool as hell costume and her abilities were impressive like with the ripples on the ground when she landed sort of Neo style. The other black dude was cool too, he kind of reminded me of Morpheus but looked ALOT like Wesley Snipes. The animation and textures on the characters are insanely good and detailed(yeah especially that perfectly rendered ass).
It makes me want to buy that Final Fantasy Spirits Within movie soon. Also BTW if you look at one of 'the making of' sections, they use an Aki model with short hair and blackened costume she had in FF and had her fight a sentinel. Looked pretty badass.
Second Renaissance I & II - This story is also awesome, probably my favorites among them all. I was a bit surprised the Wachowski's would use this project to show such a vital part of The Matrix's origin and the way the machines took over. It is indeed sad and disturbing seeing humanity wiped out and used as tools. Its a pretty gory piece too but that added to the coldness of the machines as well as the humans who were really cruel to the machines initially.
The thing reminded me of the Terminator films in the systematic genocide the machines carried out. The animation is very fluid and it reminded me a bit at times of Metropolis in its bustling cities and the robot workers.
Program - Another awesome one. Its short but the action is very stylish and is probably the most 'Japanese'. I could tell it was bu the same guys behind Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust since the animation and the design of the characters are similar looking like with the heavy black shadows and the mix of some cg in the backrounds. The characters are really cool and and its certainly a different approach at training programs for the Matrix. I did see that parallel with the The Matrix in the Cypher betrayal/temptation aspect which is interesting even if cruel.
KID'S STORY - The animation and style is defeinitely unique. The backrounds are also photorealistic and mix well with the characters since they took photo references from a real school in California. The kid definitely had the same face as the kid in Matrix Reloaded and I think its that very same one. It looked a bit choppy though and the weird warping effect was a bit too odd for me but overall I liked it. The falling down part was nicely done and the story leading up to it was a cool tie in to Reloaded.
WORLD RECORD - This one also has those warping muscles and sort of angular in look but it looked better IMO. The muscles and the running looked very fluid and it also seemed like he was really trying. The story about the runner trancending his limits was cool and I liked how he escaped the Agent's time altering powers to wake up. The characters exhuded a 'cool' 'suave' feeling and I thought the runner really represented that. In the commentary the director or whatever mentions the fast talking guy was influenced by Brad Pitt(I guess from his role in 12 monkeys since he has a nervous twitch and look in his explanations). I really liked the message in this one with overcoming adversity and stuff also showing mankind's undying hope.
BEYOND - This one was a real nifty aspect of the Matrix that I thought was really well explored somewhat based on the cat glitch in The Matrix. I never imagined how the kids would make the glitch so fun looking and how it affected the environment enough to get agents to fix the problem. Animation and style is very clean and realistic, I also liked how the characters went about their business still inside the Matrix while still having knowledge of that bizarre incident. Sort of makes haunted houses and weird things people hear about in real life that much more wierd.
A DETECTIVE STORY - I kind of thought this was a bit boring but I liked its noir look. The blacks and whites and its grainyness really makes the piece stand out the most among the rest. It also makes it look a bit like an old camera picture and it reminds me of that Morpheus photo that Neo had in his computer which shows him in a mysterious way. It was kind of sad too seeing the fate of the Detective, I wanted him to make it out of the Matrix and go along with Trinity. Its also great that they used her from the actual movies showing what she was doing before Neo and the rest showed up.
Matriculated- I did get the gist of the story which was showing machines a sort of human matrix to get them to be on the side of mankind which was a nifty abstract look at machines. The machines themselves looked kind of lame to me with the skinny ass legs and pincers, they almost looked like non threatening cockroaches or something. I did think the robot looked cool inside the human type of matrix and the ending was also a bit sad I guess.
I'll have to see it again since it was so wierd that it needs repeat viewings to catch all the details. This and World Record are kind of similar in that aspect but they are definitely different.
Fans of the Matrix should definitely get it since it shows so many facets of the whole Matrix world and how the Japanese intepret it with their own vision.
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