Final Fantasy is a giant amongst video game series. Combining dramatic storyline, engaging character development, and symphonic music, the franchise has provided us with thousands of hours of action-RPG gameplay. To date, Square Enix (formerly “Square”) has released sixteen main titles since 1987 across all major consoles.
In 2001, a film titled Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was released by Square Pictures (distribution by Colombia Pictures). The film cost $137 million dollars to make, yet only grossed $85 million at the box office. It is widely considered to be a failure, both financially, and in terms of following the “spirit” of the Final Fantasy series.
In 2021, I analyse why the official movie of a wildly successful video-game franchise managed to break the formula for success.
Audience Expectations
I believe a film based on a video-game should:
- Follow the story of a well-known protagonist from a video-game franchise,
- Let the protagonist look, sound, and act in a familiar way to the audiences,
- Pick up on consistent themes introduced during the games ,
- Include anything considered “trademark” for that series,
…and most importantly:
- Inspire the same feelings that we get whilst playing.
So now the question is, did The Spirits Within deliver on this definition of video-game film success?
Kind of yes, but mainly no. Here’s why:
Follow the story of a “well-known protagonist”
This was not done, and it’s easy to see why. With a few exceptions, each of the Final Fantasy games introduces a new universe with a fresh set of characters. This was repeated in film.
The difference here, is that audiences put in the time to connect with the characters of a game, whereas for the film we are given less than two hours. I’m making the assumption that it’s not just me who sinks 100+ hours into each game!
Character development is huge for the games, but never really takes off in the movie counterpart. There’s no intrigue. The goodies are very obviously good. The baddie is very obviously bad. His motivations for being so are only revealed in a brief conversation towards the end of the picture. It feels cheap, like someone watched the movie back and said “hmm… we need to explain why he’s the bad guy”.
I can’t help but feel that they would have done better picking up the story of a character we already know.
Look, sound, and act familiar
High praise was given to the film for its visual design. It looked unmistakeably like a Final Fantasy product. On this front, I believe the film delivered.
It’s easy to draw parallels between the movie and the cut-scenes of Final Fantasy X, the game released for PlayStation 2 shortly after The Spirits Within came out. Both featured fantastically striking, crisp, colourful visual work, and this is where the Final Fantasy strengths lie.
Consistent themes
Again, another box ticked, in my opinion. We meet a main character, with a team of partners who has to save the universe from total annihilation. There is a definite science-fiction feel to the picture which introduces a nice array of humanoid and beast-like enemies (in spirit-form).
I think someone at Square must have been going through a spirit phase around this time, as the aforementioned Final Fantasy X heavily featured unsent spirits which turned into enemy fiends.
“Trademarks” from the series
A big failure on this front.
Where were the oversized swords? Where were the chocobos? Where were the MOOGLES?
I’m shaking my head, Square Pictures, you missed out the main money-makers.
Inspiring the same feeling as when we play the game
I think this point is probably the hardest one. How can you compound a hundred-hour game into such a concentrated dose? Even the most skilled of film-makers would struggle to perfectly encapsulate the taste of what Final Fantasy inspires.
Final Fantasy games are marathons, not sprints. A saga shouldn’t be told in the space of two hours. The main joy that comes from the games is being able to consistently fall back into another world and pick up where you left off, with characters who aren’t perfect and continue to surprise you.
To conclude
I would love to be proved wrong with smash hit Final Fantasy blockbuster, however, I just don’t think it’s possible.
Big visuals, ambitious story, and over-the-top world design justify Final Fantasy’s place in video-game history, and I’m not sure that it needs to be translated to another medium.
I applaud the bravery of this film, but believe that it was ultimately set up to fail because of the limitations of the format.