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Dan Owen reviews
Warner
- Cert:
- Cat.no: D 037316
- Running time: 89 minutes
- Year: 2003
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, German
- Subtitles: English, German, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £15.99
- Extras:”Making Of Documentaries”, “Scrolls To Screen: TheHistory & Culture Of Anime”, “Director Commentaries; ‘The SecondRenaissance, Part I & Part II’, ‘Program’, ‘World Record'”),Director/Animation Producer Biographies, & “Enter The Matrix Video GameTrailer”.
Directors:
- Andy Jones (“Final Flight Of The Osiris”)
- Mahiro Maeda (“The Second Renaissance, Part I & Part II”)
- Yoshiaki Kawajiri (“Program”)
- Koji Morimoto (“Beyond”)
- Shinichiro Watanabe (“Kid’s Story”, “A Detective Story”)
- Peter Chung (“Matriculated”)
- Takeshi Koike (“World Record”)
Writers:
- Larry Wachowski & Andy Wachowski (“Final Flight Of The Osiris”/”The
- Second Renaissance, Part I/Part II & “Kid’s Story”)
- Yoshiaki Kawajiri (“Program” & “World Record”)
- Koji Morimoto (“Beyond”)
- Shinichiro Watanabe (“A Detective Story”)
- Peter Chung (“Matriculated”)
Cast:
- Neo: Keanu Reeves
Trinity: Carrie-Anne Moss
Cis: Hedy Burgess
The Kid: Clayton Watson
Alexa: Mindy Clarke
Crew Man: John Di Maggio
Old Woman: Bette Ford
Pilot: Rick Gomez
Operator: Tom Kenny
Duo: Phil LaMarr
Thadeus: Kevin Michael Richardson
What is The Animatrix?Well, put basically, The Animatrix is comprisedof nine animated short films that provide a foundation for The Matrixtrilogy; helping to add layers to the Matrix and, in a few cases,provide key narrative accompaniments to the ground-breaking movies.
The Matrix was undoubtedly inspired by Japanese anime films(particularly Ghost In The Shell),so the majority of the shortspresented here all have a distinct “Japanimation” flavour to them.
“Final Flight Of The Osiris” is the most essential episode, as itsstoryline directly affects that ofThe Matrix Reloaded.Here, the crewof the titular Osiris discover 250,000 Sentinel machines burrowing downto Zion (the human resistance stronghold) and so must leave a message inThe Matrix to alert their comrades to the coming danger.
‘Square’, the company who provided the startling animation work in FinalFantasy: The Spirits Within, are responsible for “Osiris”. Needless tosay, the visuals are fabulous and effortlessly recreate the ambience ofthe films in tone, action and sound.
The character animation is fluid and an improvement on Final Fantasy,despite the fact facial expressions are still an obvious stumblingblock. Cruelly, as with their Final Fantasy movie, the real stinker hereis the undernourished plot (courtesy of the Wachowski Brothersthemselves) which is painfully thin.
“The Second Renaissance, Part I & Part II” are easily the mostentertaining episodes in terms of narrative. Effectively, these shortsare prequels to 1999’s The Matrix, recounting the real-world uprising ofsentient machines, their resulting war with humanity, and eventualenslavement of mankind in the virtual-world of The Matrix.
The animation is very occasionally crude, but mostly very effective. Thepastel-coloured gloss of “Part I” takes the form of a newsreel, mixingtraditional 2D animation with 3D flourishes. “Part II” is much darker intone, and concocts some truly nightmarish scenarios as the machinesslaughter their creators. Excellent, memorable and scary stuff.
“Program” is the most overtly anime offering on the disk. It spins theyarn of two lovers duelling in a Medieval Japanese training program. Thevisual style is excellent and it’s well directed, but the plot ispractically non-existent and instantly forgettable.
Much more entertaining is “A Detective Story”; a film-noir instalmentutilizing a smudged charcoal palette. The plot concerns a gumshoedetective embroiled in a case to find a mysterious hacker named Trinity(voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss herself, although it’s difficult to tell!).The animation is wonderful throughout and – in a rarity for TheAnimatrix – the story holds your interest until its ominous ending.
“Kid’s Story” is another chapter that ties-in directly to The MatrixReloaded, as it features ‘The Kid’ – that annoying character in Reloadedwho hero-worships Neo. In this instalment we discover how The Kid freedhimself from The Matrix, with help from Neo (voiced by Keanu Reeves,although it’s difficult to tell!).
The visual style is very odd, varying from stylishly accurate renderingsof human movement, to oddly warped approximations. Moviegoers may recalla similar style employed in the movie Waking Life, where animators drewover existing footage of real actors. There is a certain amount ofenjoyment to me found here, but ultimately “Kid’s Story” is a weak mixof other Animatrix offerings, and the Wachowski Brothers’ plot isby-the-numbers.
“World Record” is a frustrating entry, concerning the accidental ‘wakingup’ of a champion athlete from The Matrix using pure will-power during ahundred metre sprint. The animation is distinctive, but displeasinglyangular, while the plot hardly sustains its meagre runtime.
One of the most entertaining episodes has to be “Beyond”, which concernsa glitch in The Matrix. The fault in question is focused on an urbanneighbourhood where physical law has been altered, resulting in a”haunted house” where levitation and ghostly apparitions are the norm.
The animation is vivid, with a pleasingly child-like style resembling”The Second Renaissance, Part I” in many ways. While the plot is basic,the overall pleasure in viewing is reward enough, particularly as”Beyond” is one of the few Animatrix episodes without an oppressivelynegative focus.
“Matriculated” is a curious final instalment, and one of the few thattakes place in the real world. A group of humans scouting the scorchedsurface of Earth capture a ‘Runner’ machine and attempt to reprogram itusing a mind-to-mind interface. The animation is good, with hard-edged,occasionally exaggerated characters mixed with 3-dimensional roboticanimations.
The plot is also quite diverting, if only because it’s refreshing to seea story set in the real world, but the overall premise of hacking into arobot to teach it humanity is a little far-fetched. The plot eventuallyspirals into an openly surrealist angle once inside the mind of themachine, which at first is quite intriguing – then quickly tiresome.Overall, a good stab at a flawed idea.
The Region 2 release of The Animatrix arrives in a god-awful ‘WarnerBrothers’ clip-case – yes, they still make them! This is disappointing,but not unexpected.
The animated menu screens are good, particularly due to the rathergroovy backing music (used during The Animatrix advertisements). Themenu is fast and easy to navigate, although in essence it’s nothing newor particularly interesting.
Picture quality is magnificent, with each episode a vibrant 2.35:1anamorphic widescreen presentation. As with most animation on DVD thereis literally nothing to distract you in terms of ghosting, artefacts,smearing, etc. Everything is pin-sharp and gorgeous to behold.
Each episode is also encoded with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound,although most of the time the rear speakers aren’t given much to do.This is a frustrating, but the 5.1 track does deliver crystal clearaudio and occasional surround sound surprises.
The extra features on the disk are fairly standard and quite adisillusionment given the rich possibilities of the Matrix franchise.There is a good “Making Of Documentary” that charts the creation of TheAnimatrix, plus “Scrolls To Screen: The History & Culture Of Anime” – avery good documentary on Japanese animation in general.
The “Director Commentaries” cover “The Second Renaissance”, “Program”and “World Record”, and are occasionally enlightening, but notessential. Rounding things off are some Director/Animation Producer Biosand the brilliant trailer for the “Enter The Matrix” video game(interspersed with making-of footage).
The main frustration with The Animatrix is the thin storytelling, somedrab voice-over work, and the fact episodes tell a depressing story. Theexpected high-octane action is, with a few exceptions, essentiallyreplaced with depressing images and sombre moods.
The DVD itself is blessed with a good transfer, despite thedisappointing use of 5.1 sound, but could have done far more in terms ofExtra Features. One guesses that this DVD was rushed to tie-in with TheMatrix Reloaded marketing blitz (rather like the Enter The Matrix game).
I’d still recommend The Animatrix – but only for Matrix fans and/oranime fanatics: the target audience, I dare say. There are plenty offlaws in assembled animations, but there wasn’t a single entry thatdidn’t hold my interest on some level.
So, in summation, is The Animatrix worth watching? Undoubtedly yes,particularly for fans of the movies. The DVD remains essential becauseof “Final Flight Of The Osiris”, and the excellent “Second Renaissance”prequels are indispensable for fans. But the rest is of varying quality;ranging from the strong (“A Detective Story”), the mediocre (“Program”),to the terrible (“World Record”).
Every episode has its positive elements, however, and it’s refreshing tosee such an inventive marketing venture. Personally, I’ve never been abig fan of anime, so those with a taste for Japanese animation willlikely be more satisfied.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.