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The Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris
(Reviewed March 12, 2003)
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This is one of several animated "Matrix"-related "shorts" (nine minutes short, in this case) that are being attached to Warner Bros. releases in the hopes of getting "Matrix" fanatics to part with as much money as humanly possible before the actual sequels are released. (In this case, the short is attached to the stupendously lousy "Dreamcatcher.")
"Final Flight of the Osiris" is done in a pretty-close-to-realistic computer-animation style similar to that used in 2001's feature-length "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within." The technology still isn't flawless--you always know you are seeing pixels, not people--but that very artificial quality gives the animation a hyper-real sort of style. (Translation: Purty pikchurs!) Also, you realize early on that lots of "outside the ship" scenes here look indistinguishable from the same sort of scenes in the actual "Matrix" movie...because those SFX scenes WERE animated in the original movie.
"Final Flight of the Osiris" begins with a hot Asian beauty and a studly black guy engaged in an erotic, clothes-slicing fencing match, then leaves that virtual-reality to show them and other crew members on a ship identical to the one Neo and Co. used in "Matrix." Nastiness ensues with flying mechanical squid, and the chick has to jump into Matrix-space to get word to the citizens of an imperiled city that Things Don't Look Good.
As with "The Matrix," everything is so eye-candy beautiful, fast moving, and just plain cool that you end up not caring about the lack of logic or sense in the story itself. For example, when people mentally journey into the Matrix, why can't they pop in wherever they want to be, instead of having to run and jump around to avoid detection? More important: Why would the "computer overlords" that created and run the cyberspace "universe" of the Matrix restrict themselves to kung fu and handguns, when they could simply write some code that would drop large nukes on interlopers such as Neo as soon as they set their virtual feet within that artificial world? (Maybe I'm overthinking all this...)
Having said that: Who cares? Not everything good-looking has to make sense. When you see the Hot Asian Chick twisting and posing as she falls through the air, or when a swarm of those creepy squid come after the ship, just detach your logic centers and enjoy.
Back Row Grade: B+
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