Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete

1. Vital Stats

 

Publisher: Square Enix

Format: Blu ray

Directed by: Tetsuya Nomura
                   Takeshi Nozue

Number of Discs: 1

Languages: Japanese, English

 

We give it:

Cloudo and the gang return for another dose of Advent Children this time in HD! But is this extra content worth the wait and the extra money and definition?...

You know when you're a true fan of something when you can watch a film in a foreign language and still kind of understand the plot. This is what happened to me back in 2005 when I watched through the Japanese version of Advent Children on DVD.

This level of understanding though could be from the fact that Advent Children lacked a lot of the exposition a lot of films contain and some viewed the plot as just an excuse to go to the next battle scene. Well Square Enix has responded to this with Advent Children Complete.

For those who don't know Advent Children Complete is the Blu ray re-release of this film with an extra half an hour of new footage, bringing the running time up to 2 hours. There is also a Denzel (shudders) anime and a few new extra features added to the disc.

The added footage is mostly extra scene of dialogue between characters and adds a bit extra to the story. These new scenes are mostly added seamlessly to the running of the film and you'll only notice they're new if you've seen the original film. The characters also seem to pick up more dirt on their face now and there seems to be more blood in the film, this is probably down to the fact the film is on Blu Ray and Square want to show off their new graphical powers!

The new scenes are a great addition to the story as it gives some background to the new characters appearing in the film and scenes showing where they've come from and their motivation etc. Other scenes include more details on geostigma, a nod to Crisis Core which is probably the best new scene and also a humorous helicopter scene including the Turks. Some of the old scenes have also been tweaked, especially the final fight and new music has been added to some of these scenes.

The new scenes don't radically change the plot, it is still focused on Cloud trying to overcome the demons of his past and trying to stop Kadaj finding Jenova. So from this it is debatable whether Advent Children is still pure fan service as a non-FFVII player might still be baffled from the plot though. The added content though means that this edition is more of a fleshed out film though rather than a series of fights which drastically improves the quality of the experience.

The English dub is still one of the downers of this film, it does seem a little better in this film but still has some of the baffling lines such as "I feel lighter......" and some long pauses. More music has been added and its great to hear some of the old tunes appearing.

The film does look good on an HD TV, some scenes still suffer from being a bit grey but some scenes in the film will make you stand back and go wow (especially an image in the credits).

All in all Advent Children Complete is an enjoyable film in which even if you are a fan of the original you will get some enjoyment from this version. If you haven't seen the original it's worth watching especially if you're a fan of FFVII. It is certainly the most complete Advent Children experience you're going to get.

*Note this film is out on Blu Ray in Japan and is out in Europe hopefully later this year*