Advent Rising

Recently, footage from the much-anticipated CG movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was screened in a special showing in Venice, Italy. The movie, based on a Playstation game that is at least 7 years old, received glowing reviews from the press and gaming crowd present.
From the many reports online, this CG movie is going to give fans of the classic RPG what they've been waiting years for- a chance to see the beloved characters of FFVII as never before and most importantly, see closure in the story's most emotional issues. The pay-offs for die-hard FF fans seems as fruitful and efficient as a checklist- Return of Cloud and the other heroes? Check. Return of Shinra baddies as well as new villains? Check. Return of a certain Flower Girl? CHECK. Return of a certain silver-haired one-winged angel? DOUBLE CHECK. Heheh.

Some good news and bad news. The Good News is that producer/character designer Tetsuya Nomura has revealed that the final movie will be four times the length of the 24-minute preview shown in Venice... placing Advent Children in the length of a full feature film. So, no short OAV feature will AC be... this is a true film that will tell a whole story and hopefully give closure to the saga. The Bad News? The film, which is still in production even at this time, has been given a release date tentatively for Spring 2005. Oh well, it should be worth the wait.

Final Fantasy VII, the first Final Fantasy game on the PSOne, tells of the story of Cloud Stryfe, a mysterious young mercenary who joins a rebel group known as Avalanche in order to fight the monopolistic, world-dominating and corrupt might of the Shinra Electric Power Company. This multi-layered and complex story eventually sends Cloud and his allies into direct conflict with Sephiroth, Shinra's Ultimate Warrior who himself is on a quest to discover his identity and destiny. When Sephiroth's goals lead him to revenge against all life and causing the destruction of the world, Cloud moves to stop him. The conflict is made personal by Sephiroth's murder of Aerith, one of Cloud's close friends and the last of an elder race that protected the planet. Eventually, Cloud gains the strength to battle his seemingly omnipotent foe, and with a summoned Meteor heading for the world, he destroys Sephiroth in a climactic battle. To save the world itself from the impending comet, the very planet's life force surges up and ends the crisis in a final, miraculous event.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is set two years after the end of the game. With a seemingly incurable disease striking the populace and a sinister group of silver-haired youths on the offensive, Cloud must once again take up his sword (with a little help from his friends) and save the planet again.