Final Fantasy VII Movie

By Chris Carez
Since its release in June 1997, fans of the hit Playstation game Final Fantasy VII have grown in vast numbers. When word spread that Square -now Square Enix - which developed the game, was planning to make a movie, the reaction was mixed. Many fans wondered if the company should even touch something that many felt was perfect as it was. The game mixed a stellar story with, at that time, amazing visuals. It is still considered one of the best Final Fantasy games to date.

Final Fantasy VII follows the story of ex-Soldier Cloud Strife as he struggles with faulty memories of his past. On his journey to discover the truth about the past he makes quite a few friends that help him in the many battles that follow. The game itself is a RPG, a Role-Playing Game, as many of the Final Fantasy games are. The player assembles a party of three characters out of Cloud and his friends. The game’s main villain is a dark character, who is also part of Cloud’s past, Sephiroth. Sephiroth, like Cloud, is an ex-Soldier. Since the game’s release, Sephiroth has become one of the most popular character from any of the Final Fantasy series.

The film, titled Final Fantasy: Advent Children, has already been released in Japan and many American fans either downloaded or imported the film to America so they could watch it. After months of worrying about what the film was going to be like, the fans had their answer. Some liked it and some did not. Those that liked it claimed the story was lacking. Fans of the game were spoiled by its powerful story. While the story is hard to follow at times, it helps if the viewer recently played the game.

The American version will be released April 25, on DVD and UMD. The English-voice cast is sporting quite a few familiar names from Hollywood. Cloud is voiced by Steve Burton. Burton has a recurring role on the soap opera General Hospital. (He plays Jason Morgan.) Burton has also voiced Cloud in the highly successful Kingdom Hearts games. Other familiar celebrities lending their vocal talents are Mena Suvari, voice of Aeris Gainsborough, and Rachael Leigh Cook, voice of Tifa Lockhart. The movie is an excellent Final Fantasy experience and the visuals will blow viewers away.