Am I the only one who thinks this is a marvellous film? I just rewatched it on bluray tonight and couldn't help but really enjoying myself, the animation quality is amazing (especially how the Phantoms look) and holds up even today, and I like the post-apocalyptic future where humans live in barrier cities. Afaik it has nothing to do with the Final Fantasy games so no idea why they used that title apart from marketing reasons. It got mostly negative reception from what I understand which baffles me, the script isn't amazing but it's a compelling film. It would make a good video game as well.

I remember seeing it at the cinema and being fairly underwhelmed. I'd be willing to give it another shot if it popped up on Netflix or something though.

I wouldn't say it has any less to do with any of the games than a lot of the games have with each other though. What do FF IV, VII and XI have to do with each other after all?

Themes. This movie doesn't have most of the same themes.

I thought it was a good movie. I enjoyed it plenty.

I don't think that FFs IV, VII and XI share many themes but I guess it's subjective. I'm happy to agree to differ.

I will always remember this film as it is the first movie I fell asleep watching.

FWIW I also remember it fondly. Not sure if I'd call it an amazing movie, but it's more than alright, especially for the day and age it was released in. I guess most people who are disappointed by it expected it to be more "Final Fantasy"-y, yet I did not particularly care on that point.

The use of the Final Fantasy name for something that has nothing to do with the games may have been at least part of the reason.

To me, Final Fantasy means knights, monks, and White/Black Mages, and without them (or at least things that look enough like them), it no longer feels like Final Fantasy. (Yes, this means that Final Fantasy 6 didn't really feel like Final Fantasy to me.) If you ignore the post-FF5 games, the games really have a lot to do with each other, with perhaps FF2 being the oddball.

In fact, even if you allow FF9 and the online games (which should have been labeled as spin-offs, but that's another story), then the games still have a lot to do with one another.

It's only when you start factoring in some of the modern games, like FF6-8, FF10, FF12-13, and FF15, that it loses that feel.

It was promoted as a Final Fantasy film, but had very little to do with Final Fantasy VII or VIII.

If I ordered fish and you brought me soup, I wouldn't sing your praises even if it was the best soup.

It was -- still is -- visually beautiful.

With a mediocre script.

And isn't at all "Final Fantasy".

I liked it well enough (have on DVD). But was pissed at everything it wasn't.

I liked Spritis Within' but bottom line Square should've just made it a movie version of FFIV or FFVI, doing this would've pleased the fans and they would've made their budget back and a profit as well.
By making it nothing but Final Fantasy in name and with a character named Cid, well it pissed fans off to no end. I liked Sakaguchi but Square screwed up by giving him free reign even though he had done no wrong with the FF series till that point. They should've told him what I said then after that was successful he could make whatever movie he wanted, FF name or not.

Remember seeing it when it came out. Wow is it available anywhere streamed?.

Since when I happened to see the movie on TV back in the had I hadn't had any contact with Final Fantasy, just took it for what it was and yeah, seemed all right.
... And then was rather confused when I played FF8 in 2009, because I had happened to see this video before that and it created the mental link, so I was looking for the movie in the game.

I remember vividly being bored at the movies...
My expectations were entirely shaped by playing FF7 and FF8. FF: Advent Children absolutely was the movie my 14-year-old self would have loved.

I don't recall that much from the story, I recall it had similar themes as PSX and maybe PS2 era Final Fantasy games, the Avatar movie etc... Bad corporations and powerhungry military persons and gaia and whatnot, right?

But I recall re-watching some parts of it maybe a year ago, and thinking it has aged quite badly, technically. All the characters etc. just look so blatantly fake and computer generated. I am not sure though why that annoys me in this FF movie more than in e.g. game trailers and intros, where I don't mind the CGI look and feel, and still think they are super cool (e.g. Dawn of War 1-3 trailers and such).

Another CGI movie that I originally thought was hot shit technically, but now feel it is not, is Beowulf. Somehow it is just painful to watch it nowadays, and try to take it seriously. I recall liking its technical marvels a lot over 10 years ago...

Maybe it is when these CGI movies try to be realistic, with humans. Shrek 1-2 and Monsters Inc. are technically still fine to me, I consider them as cartoons and don't feel they have aged at all. Go figure.

One of these days I'll re-watch Avatar, to see if I still consider its CGI great. But then I saw it on a 3D movie theater which was a big part of going to see it... And then there is also Alita: Battle Anger which I saw on IMAX, but it is too recent to check whether it has aged... Then again I guess it wasn't full CGI, IIRC?

That's a very "no true Scotsman" sort of argument. Yes, FF1-5 have a lot to do with each other thematically, but that ship sailed a long time ago and quite a while before the film.

So yes, I concede that the film stands out if you selectively define Final Fantasy as being only games made before 1994.

I get it - I'm sure the way you feel about most of the games after FFV is how I feel about Breath of the Wild. It doesn't change the fact that the FF series has moved on.