"Summer Turns Prehistoric, Pretty, and Pantheistic"
"Also, critics' responses to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Legally Blonde, The Score, and other movies."
Jeffrey Overstreet | posted 7/01/2001 12:00AM
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A 12 year-old Jeffrey might also have enjoyed Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but probably for the special effects and very little else. Fantasy takes us to a ruined, futuristic Earth, in which humans struggle to survive after a meteor crash turns loose enormous, ghastly phantom aliens. Refugee humans, hovering about the earth in elaborate transports, debate how to regain the planet and destroy the alien menace. Their quandary becomes an argument about faith versus science and technology. The sneering General Hein wants to blow up the aliens with a big gun. But our hero, Dr. Aki Ross, with the help of the square-jawed Gray and the Obi-Wan Kenobi-like Dr. Sid, has a less violent proposition. She believes that Earth's life is dependent on a goddess-like entity within it, a "Gaia". If General Hein has his way, in destroying the aliens he will also badly injure the Earth's Gaia. She proposes instead that she gather various "spirits" whose combined power might cancel out the influence of the aliens.
Movie Parables' Michael Elliot addresses the film's technical achievement: "In what is undoubtedly a stunning … achievement, the makers of Final Fantasyhave succeeded in mastering the artificial reproduction of bad acting." He also suggests that the film's "fantasy" is actually part of an all-too-real occult belief system: "Gaia is not a name dreamed up for this film. It is a name that comes from Greek antiquity … the representation of the pagan belief of a 'mother goddess,' the earth as a living entity which nourishes and sustains its 'children.' Even though this is a concept which is unsupported by Scripture (in fact, it is in total disagreement with biblical truths), it nevertheless is an idea that has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity." He did appreciatehow the film uniquely suggests that "science and faith aren't completely at odds."
The U.S. Catholic Conferencecalls it "jumbled"—"The computer-generated characters with lifelike skin and body movements … are amazing, but the convoluted plot line is nearly impenetrable." Holly McClure at The Dove Foundation calls it "depressing"—"Although the computer-generated effects are amazing and it truly represents incredible filmmaking history, this dark and heavy storyline is for mature audiences." At Christian Spotlight on the Movies, Douglas Downs claims that the movie is "like that video game system you just couldn't wait to buy. The satisfaction comes quickly, but leaves just as quickly. … There are many elements of the plot that will disturb the 'true Spirit' within Christian viewers, and could continue to lead those who are not true believers down a deceptive and deadly path."
Preview's Paul Bicking is distressed by over the film's focus on spirits. "Gaia is the name for the Earth Goddess or Mother Nature in some New Age and pagan religions. [Dr. Sid] refers to the energy spirit returning to Gaia when a body dies. But he also refers to the alien planet's energy as Gaia. Several scenes show spirit forms leaving human bodies as the aliens devour their energy. A pantheistic belief, that all life has this 'spirit' energy, is shown as the saving factor. Although faith and self-sacrifice are key to saving the earth, these elements are not viewed from a Christian interpretation." Bob Smithouser of Focus on the Familyagrees: "The Bible exists in director Hironobu Sakaguchi's Fantasy (there's an allusion to Noah's Ark), but it's impotent and irrelevant. Instead we get the slickest presentation of eco-pantheism since Pocahontas."
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