Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Plot

In 2065, Earth is infested by alien life forms called Phantoms, which consume the Gaia spirit of living beings through physical contact, killing them instantly; minor contact may cause infection. Surviving humans live in barrier cities protected by energy shields and struggle to free the planet. Scientist Dr. Aki Ross, infected by a Phantom during an experiment, and her mentor Dr. Sid discover a way to defeat the Phantoms by gathering eight spirits—unique energy patterns from various lifeforms—that when combined create an energy wave to negate the Phantoms.

Aki searches for the sixth spirit in the ruins of New York City, where she is rescued by Captain Gray Edwards and his squad Deep Eyes. Gray was once romantically involved with Aki. Returning to her barrier city, Aki and Sid appear before the leadership council alongside General Douglas Hein, who wants to use the Zeus cannon to destroy the Phantoms. Sid fears the cannon will damage Earth's Gaia.

Aki reveals her infection and that the collected spirits keep it stable, delaying the cannon's use. Hein wrongly concludes she is controlled by the Phantoms. Aki and Deep Eyes find the seventh spirit as her infection worsens, causing her to slip into unconsciousness. Her dream reveals the Phantoms are spirits of dead aliens brought to Earth on a fragment of their destroyed planet. Sid uses the seventh spirit to revive Aki.

Music

The film's music came out on July 3, 2001, through Sony Music. Elliot Goldenthal wrote the whole score and the main song "The Dream Within," which has words by Richard Rudolf and is sung by Lara Fabian. Director Hironobu Sakaguchi picked Goldenthal instead of Nobuo Uematsu, who wrote the music for the Final Fantasy games. This choice got mixed reactions because many game fans did not know Goldenthal.

The last track on the album, "Spirit Dreams Inside," is by the Japanese rock band L'Arc-en-Ciel and plays during the end credits after "The Dream Within." In the album's liner notes, Goldenthal said the score mixes late 20th-century Polish avant-garde orchestration, ideas from his work on Alien 3, and 19th-century Straussian brass and strings. In a making-of feature, he explained that he used ghostly choral music for scenes with Phantoms to create a celestial feel, low brass clusters and taiko drum rhythms for violent parts, a piano for a scene about a dying girl to make it feel domestic, and a flute whenever Aki focuses on Gaia because he thought it was the most human instrument.

The album got good reviews. Neil Shurley from AllMusic gave it 4 out of 5, Soundtrack Express gave 5 out of 5, Christopher Coleman from Tracksounds gave 10 out of 10, Filmtracks gave 4 out of 5, and Dan Goldwasser from Soundtrack.net gave 4 out of 5, calling it a must-have.

Release

Before release, skepticism existed about the film's financial potential; Chris Taylor from Time magazine noted video game adaptations had a poor box office track record and that it was Sakaguchi's first feature film. The film premiered on July 2, 2001, at the Mann Bruins Theater in Los Angeles, and was released in the United States on July 11, earning $11.4 million in its opening weekend, ranking fourth behind Legally Blonde, The Score, and Cats & Dogs.

It grossed $32 million in North America, selling 5,961,378 tickets there, and $85 million worldwide, including in Japan. In France, 1,456,523 tickets were sold; 4,299,604 in other European countries; and 446,728 in Brazil. It achieved average to poor results in most of Southeast Asia but performed well in Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, with 160,100 tickets sold in Seoul City. In 2006, Boston.com ranked it the 4th biggest box office bomb, estimating losses over $94 million; in March 2012, CNBC considered it the 9th biggest.

The film holds a 44% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 144 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10 and a critical consensus calling it a technical achievement but dull and emotionally removed. Metacritic gives a score of 49 out of 100 from 28 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews. CinemaScore audiences gave it a 'C+'. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3½ stars out of four, praising it as a technical milestone and the realism in Aki's face, while having minor plot criticism.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the plot as adequate but clichéd, praising the animation but lamenting that faces did not look quite real enough.