Subtitles: English, German, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish
Widescreen: 2.35:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £15.99
Extras:
"Making Of Documentaries", "Scrolls To Screen: The
History & Culture Of Anime", "Director Commentaries; 'The Second
Renaissance, Part I & Part II', 'Program', 'World Record'"),
Director/Animation Producer Biographies, & "Enter The Matrix Video Game
Trailer".
Directors:
Andy Jones ("Final Flight Of The Osiris")
Mahiro Maeda ("The Second Renaissance, Part I & Part II")
Yoshiaki Kawajiri ("Program")
Koji Morimoto ("Beyond")
Shinichiro Watanabe ("Kid's Story", "A Detective Story")
Peter Chung ("Matriculated")
Takeshi Koike ("World Record")
Writers:
Larry Wachowski & Andy Wachowski ("Final Flight Of The Osiris"/"The
Second Renaissance, Part I/Part II & "Kid's Story")
Yoshiaki Kawajiri ("Program" & "World Record")
Koji Morimoto ("Beyond")
Shinichiro Watanabe ("A Detective Story")
Peter Chung ("Matriculated")
Cast:
Neo: Keanu Reeves
Trinity: Carrie-Anne Moss
Cis: Hedy Burgess
The Kid: Clayton Watson
Alexa: Mindy Clarke
Crew Man: John Di Maggio
Old Woman: Bette Ford
Pilot: Rick Gomez
Operator: Tom Kenny
Duo: Phil LaMarr
Thadeus: Kevin Michael Richardson
What is The Animatrix?
Well, put basically, The Animatrix is comprised
of nine animated short films that provide a foundation for The Matrix
trilogy; helping to add layers to the Matrix and, in a few cases,
provide key narrative accompaniments to the ground-breaking movies.
The Matrix was undoubtedly inspired by Japanese anime films
(particularly
Ghost In The Shell),
so the majority of the shorts
presented here all have a distinct "Japanimation" flavour to them.
"Final Flight Of The Osiris" is the most essential episode, as its
storyline directly affects that of
The Matrix Reloaded.
Here, the crew
of the titular Osiris discover 250,000 Sentinel machines burrowing down
to Zion (the human resistance stronghold) and so must leave a message in
The Matrix to alert their comrades to the coming danger.
'Square', the company who provided the startling animation work in Final
Fantasy: The Spirits Within, are responsible for "Osiris". Needless to
say, the visuals are fabulous and effortlessly recreate the ambience of
the films in tone, action and sound.
The character animation is fluid and an improvement on Final Fantasy,
despite the fact facial expressions are still an obvious stumbling
block. Cruelly, as with their Final Fantasy movie, the real stinker here
is the undernourished plot (courtesy of the Wachowski Brothers
themselves) which is painfully thin.
"The Second Renaissance, Part I & Part II" are easily the most
entertaining episodes in terms of narrative. Effectively, these shorts
are prequels to 1999's The Matrix, recounting the real-world uprising of
sentient machines, their resulting war with humanity, and eventual
enslavement of mankind in the virtual-world of The Matrix.
The animation is very occasionally crude, but mostly very effective. The
pastel-coloured gloss of "Part I" takes the form of a newsreel, mixing
traditional 2D animation with 3D flourishes. "Part II" is much darker in
tone, and concocts some truly nightmarish scenarios as the machines
slaughter their creators. Excellent, memorable and scary stuff.
"Program" is the most overtly anime offering on the disk. It spins the
yarn of two lovers duelling in a Medieval Japanese training program. The
visual style is excellent and it's well directed, but the plot is
practically non-existent and instantly forgettable.
Much more entertaining is "A Detective Story"; a film-noir instalment
utilizing a smudged charcoal palette. The plot concerns a gumshoe
detective embroiled in a case to find a mysterious hacker named Trinity
(voiced by Carrie-Anne Moss herself, although it's difficult to tell!).
The animation is wonderful throughout and - in a rarity for The
Animatrix - the story holds your interest until its ominous ending.
"Kid's Story" is another chapter that ties-in directly to The Matrix
Reloaded, as it features 'The Kid' - that annoying character in Reloaded
who hero-worships Neo. In this instalment we discover how The Kid freed
himself from The Matrix, with help from Neo (voiced by Keanu Reeves,
although it's difficult to tell!).
The visual style is very odd, varying from stylishly accurate renderings
of human movement, to oddly warped approximations. Moviegoers may recall
a similar style employed in the movie Waking Life, where animators drew
over existing footage of real actors. There is a certain amount of
enjoyment to me found here, but ultimately "Kid's Story" is a weak mix
of other Animatrix offerings, and the Wachowski Brothers' plot is
by-the-numbers.
"World Record" is a frustrating entry, concerning the accidental 'waking
up' of a champion athlete from The Matrix using pure will-power during a
hundred metre sprint. The animation is distinctive, but displeasingly
angular, while the plot hardly sustains its meagre runtime.
One of the most entertaining episodes has to be "Beyond", which concerns
a glitch in The Matrix. The fault in question is focused on an urban
neighbourhood where physical law has been altered, resulting in a
"haunted house" where levitation and ghostly apparitions are the norm.
The animation is vivid, with a pleasingly child-like style resembling
"The Second Renaissance, Part I" in many ways. While the plot is basic,
the overall pleasure in viewing is reward enough, particularly as
"Beyond" is one of the few Animatrix episodes without an oppressively
negative focus.
"Matriculated" is a curious final instalment, and one of the few that
takes place in the real world. A group of humans scouting the scorched
surface of Earth capture a 'Runner' machine and attempt to reprogram it
using a mind-to-mind interface. The animation is good, with hard-edged,
occasionally exaggerated characters mixed with 3-dimensional robotic
animations.
The plot is also quite diverting, if only because it's refreshing to see
a story set in the real world, but the overall premise of hacking into a
robot to teach it humanity is a little far-fetched. The plot eventually
spirals into an openly surrealist angle once inside the mind of the
machine, which at first is quite intriguing - then quickly tiresome.
Overall, a good stab at a flawed idea.
The Region 2 release of The Animatrix arrives in a god-awful 'Warner
Brothers' clip-case - yes, they still make them! This is disappointing,
but not unexpected.
The animated menu screens are good, particularly due to the rather
groovy backing music (used during The Animatrix advertisements). The
menu is fast and easy to navigate, although in essence it's nothing new
or particularly interesting.
Picture quality is magnificent, with each episode a vibrant 2.35:1
anamorphic widescreen presentation. As with most animation on DVD there
is literally nothing to distract you in terms of ghosting, artefacts,
smearing, etc. Everything is pin-sharp and gorgeous to behold.
Each episode is also encoded with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound,
although most of the time the rear speakers aren't given much to do.
This is a frustrating, but the 5.1 track does deliver crystal clear
audio and occasional surround sound surprises.
The extra features on the disk are fairly standard and quite a
disillusionment given the rich possibilities of the Matrix franchise.
There is a good "Making Of Documentary" that charts the creation of The
Animatrix, plus "Scrolls To Screen: The History & Culture Of Anime" - a
very good documentary on Japanese animation in general.
The "Director Commentaries" cover "The Second Renaissance", "Program"
and "World Record", and are occasionally enlightening, but not
essential. Rounding things off are some Director/Animation Producer Bios
and the brilliant trailer for the "Enter The Matrix" video game
(interspersed with making-of footage).
The main frustration with The Animatrix is the thin storytelling, some
drab voice-over work, and the fact episodes tell a depressing story. The
expected high-octane action is, with a few exceptions, essentially
replaced with depressing images and sombre moods.
The DVD itself is blessed with a good transfer, despite the
disappointing use of 5.1 sound, but could have done far more in terms of
Extra Features. One guesses that this DVD was rushed to tie-in with The
Matrix Reloaded marketing blitz (rather like the Enter The Matrix game).
I'd still recommend The Animatrix - but only for Matrix fans and/or
anime fanatics: the target audience, I dare say. There are plenty of
flaws in assembled animations, but there wasn't a single entry that
didn't hold my interest on some level.
So, in summation, is The Animatrix worth watching? Undoubtedly yes,
particularly for fans of the movies. The DVD remains essential because
of "Final Flight Of The Osiris", and the excellent "Second Renaissance"
prequels are indispensable for fans. But the rest is of varying quality;
ranging from the strong ("A Detective Story"), the mediocre ("Program"),
to the terrible ("World Record").
Every episode has its positive elements, however, and it's refreshing to
see such an inventive marketing venture. Personally, I've never been a
big fan of anime, so those with a taste for Japanese animation will
likely be more satisfied.
"Final Flight Of Osiris"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"The Second Renaissance, Part I"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"The Second Renaissance, Part II"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"Program"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"A Detective Story"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"Kid's Story"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"World Record"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"Beyond"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
OVERALL
"Matriculated"
Direction Plot Animation Sound/Music Voice Artists
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
