Customer Reviews

The Animatrix [VHS]

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(101)
3 star:		(50)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

It can be argued that this collection of 9 animated shorts based on the world of The Matrix was as anticipated as Reloaded. I, for one, was incredibly intrigued just by the concept. I asked myself "could any movie actually pull this off?" The Animatrix answers my question. The world that The Wachowski Brothers have created truly is the Star Wars of this generation. It is a cutural phenomena, and the quality of the 9 shorts that comprise The Animatrix show the impact of The Matrix. Here's a review of each short:

1) Final Flight Of the Osiris-This is the only short film to be done in 3-D. It was done, in fact, by the team behind the 3-D movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. It looks great and incredibly realistic. The story directly relates to the events in Reloaded. A great way to kick off this collection because it is the most familiar in style and feel.

2 & 3) The Second Renaissance-This two-parter tells the story of how man and machine came to fight against each other. Probably my favorite of all the shorts story-wise, because it gave me chills and also made me think way too much about the possibilities it presents. Be warned, this is probably the most violent of all the short films here.

4) Kid's Story-Another story that directly relates to something alluded to in Reloaded. Remember the annoying kid Neo encountered in Zion who always followed him everywhere? This is your chance to see what that was really about.

5) Program-This short deals with the training process people who have been freed must go through. It has absoutely breathtaking animation, and is the most "anime" of the 9.

6) World Record-This story shows the possibilities of being "plugged-in." Think that the only way someone can be freed is by taking the red pill? Watch this. The most interesting and inventive story as far as I'm concerned, coupled with a unique style of animation.

7) Beyond-This short deals with how the machines handled glitches in the system. It has gorgeous animation, with bright colors and a thoroughly Japanese look.

8) A Detective Story-Remember Trinity's legendary hacker status, alluded to in the first movie? This is the whole story. This one has a very unique style that I think fit the feel of the story well, and it's nice to see Trinity when she was still the baddest hacker on the block.

9) Matriculated-Can the machines be convinced to join the human side? After all, if humans were batteries and if machines have A.I., doesn't that make both man and machine connected in some way? This last short, with the best-looking animation out of the 9, answers those questions. Just as The Second Renaissance will make you feel for man, this one will make you feel for the other side.

Overall, I'd say The Animatrix succeeded what it set out to do. This was never meant to be enjoyed on the same level as the movies, it was meant to give everyone a further understanding of what The Matrix is and provide a more detailed backstory to complement the movies. It is great to see how the animators do sometimes recreate such effects as bullet-time. It comes very very close to being as dazzling and visually stunning as the movies themselves. The stories are a little sad, but they also kind of have to be. The root of why The Matrix is so popular is because there is nothing as painful for humans to watch than well, ourselves. The Matrix is spectacular and impossible, and at the same time the emotional impact of these 9 shorts, as well as the movies, is what really keeps the audience watching.

As for the DVD itself, the menus are at once cool and a little bit overdone (navigating them can be a little weird the first time you pop it into your DVD player). There are few extras but nothing fancy, although the commentaries included on The Second Renaissance 1 and 2, Program, Beyond from the creators offer insight into the stories as well as the conceptual process (don't worry they are subtitled in English).

Overall, if you are a fan of the movie, or of animation, you owe it to yourself to check The Animatrix out. The stories are great, the animation is both varied and beautiful, and the whole thing is, quite simply, cool. In a word: whoa.

Okay, so this is a nice addition to the Matrix canon, and does give us a lot of back story to the events that happen in the live action films.

The stories are mostly entertaining, though a couple are as gruesome and troubling as possible. If you are not the kind of person that enjoys bodies being mutilated and people being killed cruelly by robots, this might not be for you. Also, if you don't like the Matrix films, this is not for you. In fact, why are you even reading this?

The animation is great, the sound is excellent, and overall the dvd is worthwhile. If you enjoy really wild animation and special effects, you will certainly like this.

HOWEVER - just because this is animated does NOT mean that this is child appropriate. It is not. It is completely inappropriate (IMO) for children under the age of 12. It is very violent and contains images that are FAR too incomprehensible for young children, not to mention R rated language. Fine for adults and teenagers old enough to know the difference between reality and movies, simply not appropriate for children.

FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS

This computer generated prequel to the Matrix Reloaded, produced entirely in CGI, is the most technically advanced piece in this collection. There are moments when I forgot that I was watching virtual actors. The passion between the two main characters is intense, in a way that I thought computer images would never be able to imitate. An excellent short (not my favorite) but because of its intimate ties to the Matrix Reloaded, both in terms of story and style, seems out of place. It would have served better as the beginning of the second film.

THE SECOND RENAISSANCE PARTS I & II

Simply put, these pieces are the most powerful and provocative in the entire collection, filled with graphic and horrifying images. In a fascinating look at the prehistory of the Matrix films, humanity, not the machines, are the guilty party, enslaving an entire race of sentient life with no mercy. (As Gods, humans created machines in their image, so the slavers become the enslaved.) These shorts actually change the meaning of the overall film- very powerful.

KID'S STORY

A somewhat ho-hum story with some nice visuals and a cool ending that helps flesh out a small part of the second movie (don't want to give any spoilers) this segment is kind of pedestrian otherwise, with the skateboard tricks seeming to be the type of thing that would be cool in a 1980's comedy flick.

PROGRAM

Some interesting visuals help spice up a rather bland storyline in this short. Seems to be a remake of the fight seens between Morpheus and Neo in the first film. The story brings up the difficulty in accepting the bleak reality instead of the less bleak dreamworld, but never goes anywhere with the question.

WORLD RECORD

Perhaps the least visually appealing, with overly stylized runners going slo-mo for most of the short. If jiggly muscles are your thing, this is the short for you. No story substance in this one- very dull to watch. Also, whazzup with the agents?

BEYOND

A very beautiful piece, BEYOND is perhaps at heart the most simple story in the collection, with the focus on the perceptions of a young girl and some children in the face of mysteries they can never understand. Very engrossing.

A DETECTIVE STORY

A cool, stylish direction can not give this story the life it needed to fully flesh out. While it is the only one in the collection that focuses on the life of one of the major players in the film series (Trinity, with the voice done by the original actress, no less) the main character of the short is cardboard. Very disappointing.

MATRICULATED

The most bizarre and surreal of the bunch- this one took two viewings for me to understand its meaning, and still many of the images seem random, or bizarre for weirdness sake. The concept of pulling a machine into a human generated world and manipulating their perceptions is intriguing, but in the end we are left with many random but beautiful images that distract more than anything else.

I have The Animatrix here from netflix, so I sat down tonight and watched it. Wow. I was very impressed with it. It's nine short anime-style films (four written by the Wachowski brothers, if I'm not mistaken; the others conceptualizations from famous anime writers/directors) based in/around the world of the Matrix. It makes a very nice supplemental piece to the film; adds greater depth and provides a deeper understanding of some of it. (Plus, it's always fun to see Neo and Trinity again! lol bonus that they were voiced by Keanu and Carrie-Anne.) Great techno beats in a lot of the shorts, and some truly stunning visuals. Some of the concepts were raw, disturbing, edgy. A lot of really interesting types of machines in there too. I think that, hands down, my favorite one was "Final Flight of the Osiris". The animation is computer-generated, by the same team that did the Final Fantasy movie, and boy is it impressive. I really wasn't convinced at first that it WAS animated. :) The story is such that it could fit right in to one of the movies. I also really enjoyed The Second Rennaissance, Parts One and Two: these two were the backstory of why the machines rose up against man, how the surface was destroyed, how the machines took over and began using man, and how the world became what it is "today".

Four out of five stars from me. (Five star movies are ones I'll watch over and over again, and though I am likely to revisit this movie with other Matrix fans, I would probably only watch the three mentioned in my review on a repeated basis.)

If you're a fan of the Matrix movies and/or anime, I'd highly recommend watching these.

I've seen a good chunk of this on the web and other places, and all I can say is WOW.

What is the Animatrix? In a nutshell, it is a collection of short Matrix stories that are animated. And the cool thing about it is that they're all mostly animated in different ways. (A few are done in anime, another in full CG, some just plain old animation, and others a mix of 2 or a mix of three of the above.)

The DVD will have nine (9) episodes to watch. Here's a quick overview of the ones I know a lot about and/or have seen:

1) THE SECOND RENNAISANCE, PARTS 1 and 2: This is a 2-parter that fills is all of the backstory that happened before the first Matrix film. It chronciles how the machines were made, how they took control, the war between the humans and the machines, and the creation of the Matrix. (Made in plain animation)
2) PROGRAM: Most of this one is fashioned and made like an Akira Kurosawa film. It's basically a duel between two samuari-like warriors in a matrix program where the setting is ancient Japan. (Made in anime)
3) WORLD RECORD: This one is basically about an extremely fast runner that can "run out of the Matrix and in to the real world" just because of pure strength/speed.
4) DETECTIVE STORY: This story, animated in black and white, fills in the critical backstory of the Trinity character from the movies. Includes voice acting by actress Carrie-Anne Moss.
5) FINAL FLIGHT OF THE OSIRIS: Basically, this is a 9-minute completely CG animated story that serves as a prequel to "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Enter the Matrix (GAME)." It begins as a blindfold sword duel and then escalates in to a ship chase with sentinels. This one has great action and great plotting, as well as convincing animation (Think "Final Fantasy," except 10 times more realistic.) I saw this one in the theatre. WOW!!!

There are a few more, entitled KID'S STORY, MATRICULATED, and BEYOND.

JUDGING FROM THE TRAILER, MATRICULATED is an extremely wierd episode with a mix of CG animation and regular animation.

BEYOND follows a group of kids in to a "haunted" house. Agents find them and capture them because of they're too close to finding out something secret.

KID'S STORY is about a boy running from agents. (That's all I could gather from the trailer.)

For more information, watch the trailer on the web. Thanks for reading!

As a big anime fan I was thrilled to find out that the Animatrix was going to be released. This collection of 9 animated shorts, for the most part, doesn't disappoint.

Final Flight of the Osiris: Square pictures deliveres, in stunning CG detail, an entertaining plot that leads right into Reloaded and the Enter the Matrix game. There's a sword fight simulation, a chase scene in the real world on board the Osiris and some delightful acrobatics done inside the matrix. The visuals look even better than FF: The Spirits Within. A-

The 2nd Renaissance Parts 1&2: This short does a great job at telling the history of mankind from the not-too-distant future to the time of the first Matrix movie. Graphic battle scenes ensue and there is imagery that parallels the Tieneman Square Rebellion and Vietnam war executions. You really feel that mankind has been wronged by the end. B+

Kid's Story: One of my two favorite shorts on the compilation, it tells the story of a lonely American high school student who discovers that the matix exists in a similar way to how Neo did in the first movie. The beautiful art style must be noted because it's one of the things that makes this short stand out. The sketchy effect gives the caracter's a great sense of motion and personality. A

Beyond: This short, which was over two years in the making, shows an anomele within the matrix. It's a "haunted house" to the local kids who stumble across the various outworldly characteristics that had been overlooked in the matrix's programming. The kid's take the this glitch to be a playhouse of sorts, but there bubble gets busted later. A-

World Record: A world class runner almost breaks out of the matrix by breaking the set limits the human body was programmed to be capable of. Some reviewers have put down the art style which is an ignorant remark. Without the distortions of the character models, this short would lose a great deal of it's appeal. The running animations work because they are a bit distorted. The ends lets one draw hi/her own conclusions as well. Overall, a cool supplement to the Matirx trilogy. B+

Program: A battle simulation with a feudal Japanese setting. Throughout the fight, one cahacter tries to convince the other that they should be reinserted into the matrix. This is a beautiful anime to watch and is one of the more traditional shorts in the compilation. The traditional Japanese elements like colors, costume design and settings are all done well. B+

Detective Story: This is my favorite short in the Animatrix. The hard-boiled film noir style is a fun concept that isn't seen much these days. The appearance every texture is given makes each still frame look as if it's fresh of a newspaper press. The story follows a detective, Mr. Ash, as he tracks down computer hacker Trinity. The story is great, but it really needs to be seen to be appreciated. A

Matriculated: From Peter Chang, this short brings up the possibility of the machines right to choose what side to be on as humans try to convince a captive drone to join the freedom fight. This is done through some very trippy visuals and colors. This is my least favorite short, the underlying concept is interesting but some of the things done inside the machines minds just seem pointless. Sometimes the CG and hand drawn animation doesn't fuse all that well in my opinion either. C+

On other aspect of the DVD that really shines is the bonus material. There are cohesive "making-of" supplements for each film and audio commentaries from the directors for four of the shorts. These give the viewer a greater appreciation for the works presented. There's also a nice little "history of anime" short that will do well to educate those not familiar with anime. Also it shows how much anime has been an influence on the Matrix trilogy.

Finally I must mention the great sountrack that plays throughout the shorts. There are great tracks from Layo&Bushwacka!, Juno Reactor, Massive Attack, Tech Itch, Junkie XL and more. Orchestrated scores are used on a few of the shorts and fit in nicely where a techno beat wouldn't feel appropriate.

from an anime fan, overall a solid 4 stars out of 5. loved the animation. my real only complaint is that they're short stories and not full features. for some of the better ones, i would have liked them to be longer. here's my review of each part:

1. last flight of the osiris - this is from the makers of the final fantasy. i didn't like FF but this had a really good story start to finish. also the animation is even more realistic than FF down to the pore. not really pure anime but does have show its influence.
2. the second renaissance - i loved this animation. the story was very compelling. first part was great, second part seemed more like a documentary.
3. program - from the acclaimed artist of ninja scroll, i found the story interesting but the art seemed like a rush job. somewhat of a sour spot in ths set.
4. world record - i found this one kinda boring. didn't find anything compelling about the character or story. the art was nice tho'.
5. kids story - this was my favorite of the bunch in terms of story. the art direction was really good and a very riveting story.
6. Detective Story - the pace and dialog seemed kinda off. nice mood and i like how trinity plays a role but an overall letdown.
7. Beyond - this is 21st century anime art direction at its best and also one of my favorites. a nice cute little ghost story.
8. Matriculate - by peter cheung of aeon flux, the art is eye candy. peter has come a long way. i really like the concept of this piece where humans try to manipulate the thoughts of robots and question the ethics of slavery.

"The Animatrix" is a collection of nine short films that tie into the Matrix trilogy and fill in the gaps that are not further explored in the movies.

1) Final Flight of the Osiris- The story ties in "The Matrix Reloaded", which tells about how the machines are digging into Zion. My most favorite out of the nine short films and amazingly stunning to watch with incredible animation from Square USA Pictures.

2) The Second Renaissance Part 1 & 2- A two-part story of how the war between man and the machines began. Not my favorite to watch due to some disturbing images but a good film.

3) Kid's Story- The story tells about a kid who is being chased by Agents due to a message he received from Neo to enter the real world. Also one of my favorites and a good film to watch.

4) Program- The story about a girl in a training program who must make the choice between love and death. The most Japanese anime style film out of "The Animatrix" and also one of my favorite.

5) World Record- The story about a runner who discovers he's in the Matrix by making a world record. This film has a new style of anime and is somewhat confusing, but enjoyable to watch.

6) Beyond- The story about a girl who discovers a bug in the Martix. Fun to watch but not my favorite.

7) A Detective Story- The story about a detective who is assigned to find a hacker named Trinity. A little disappointing but the film has a cool style to it and great animation.

8) Matriculated- The story about how humans try to reprogram a machine and turn them on their side. The film has cool visuals and interesting animation. Although the ending isn't that great, the film is worth watching.

Overall, "The Animatrix" is good to buy. If you like Japanese anime, you'll like it. And if you love "The Matrix", you'll love this.

You know, if George Lucas had had a similar idea there would be more than a few who would eagerly relish snippets of various happenings in the world of Star Wars. Of course the origins of Lucas' epic trilogy (and not so epic prequels) were not based in Japanese, post-apocalyptic anime as with the Wachowski Bros. Who wouldn't want more glimpses into the world of The Matrix? As with any intriguing movie, the fans want more, more, more. And more is what you get here in The Animatrix.

Of course, one can only stand so much gun-slinging, wire-working, kung-fu fight scenes. And if the producers of The Matrix had endeavored to feed us another helping of that it would surely taste bland. So, they treat us to some of the best animation directors on the planet and even allow various writers to collaborate on 5 of the 9 projects (the other 4 the brothers W. wrote themselves).

Read the other reviews if you want a break-down of each episode...of course I liked some better than others. Regardless, I really appreciate being exposed to each of these different types of animation. Each of them are compelling to me. I've viewed the various shorts several times as well as some of the extra features and I know I'll keep coming back to them, as the imagery is spectacular. Even if I really love a DVD, I rarely watch it more than once per year or so...it's too time consuming. With this one, I can simply watch one at a time and ponder the implications.

I highly recommend this, and thank the directors and producers for exposing me to some new styles of story-telling. You'll thank them too!

Beyond is based on a glitch in the matrix. These kids exploit the glitch and you see leaks of the reality and freeness of the matrix by their actions. Also, agents are tracking the leaked area, and on the way to fix it and make the people forget what they saw. This girl also goes to save her cat.

Kid's Story is about a kid who cannot sleep, like Neo, and Neo sends him a message, in which causes a pursuit through his school to where he falls to his death-- in the matrix-- and is free'd into the real world through self-substantation(sp) he is also the Kid who wishes to carry neo's bags in Reloaded.

I was quite glad to see the Animatrix, Enter the Matrix and Reloaded work with eachother to un cover the story of the 2nd movie.
Also, this is definately worth the buy, i couldn't pull myself away when I saw them personally. Ended up going to bed 2 hours after I really needed to.

Also, World Record is an incredably good story of this man who is aware of the matrix through his extreme abilties in his muscles, and lack of the Matrix to define his strength and speed without making him free.

THe 2nd Renassiance (1 and 2) tell an amazing history story of everything behind the matrix (in their world) and keeps you glued to what goes on. They describe how they "scortch the sky" too.