The plot is the essentially a clone of other Final Fantasy movies and has more or less the same story arc we've all seen a thousand times before in sci-fi and anime. What makes all those other countless identical films superior to this one is exposition. Flashbacks, memories, narrative storytelling, correlated events - all of these are what give a tale depth and interest. Sadly, none of that is seen here, just a series of events given in one block of time. The closest we ever come to any dimension added to the characters are the little tidbits they happen to drop in conversation with others. However, without compelling imagery, the words are just as flat as the script on which they were written.
The one saving grace is the CG artwork, which was crisp, defined, and of good enough quality. Again, though, the "phantoms" practically had generic written all over them. Less-than-material creatures that glow a lot and eat spirits - anyone else getting a little déjà-vu yet?
So, once again, the amazing video game franchise is slightly cheapened with another badly made movie. It would have been just another mediocre bit for the masses, but unfortunately, every other film-maker did it first, and every other film-maker did it better.
