The film opens with a rather lengthy introduction. I was confused by a number of things, like the princess staying behind and Lucis being the name of the good guy. Since when? Good guys in a city behind a wall. It is protected by the "Divine Crystal" whose magical powers are channeled through the aged King Lucis to both make a wall and give the Kingsglaive magical powers, particularly warping. Outside the city of Insomnia (seriously?) lives the evil empire with Starship Trooper bugs and a Kracken looking thing. They want the city and the rock.Like most films based on a game, there is little drama and a lot of fighting. I love the graphics and the Barbie Doll Uma Thurman Princess. My background is the gaming world is I played FF 1-8. Having spent the bulk of several months breeding and racing Chocobas, I got the sign on the truck. The film didn't allow me to connect to the characters. When a major character dies, I was emotionless unlike the week I had to take off of work when Aerith died. Apparently this game didn't having any healing spells as one character spends the entire film on a crutches.The plot twists around deceit and a royal wedding. And the ending...if I understand it...leaves things terribly open. Great action, great graphics, a plot you needed to pay attention to, and no Tifa Lockhart looking characters. Much better than the FFVII film.

Square Enix has a problem. Their ability to tell stories is just not good. For some reason they aim to sabotage their own story lines by forcing viewers to guess, and pick up on very vague hints that are revealed for just half a second. They always aim to mix too many stories together, while none of them carry any weight.That said. This film has got to be the most impressive CGI film in the history of movies as of 2017. If you want to see a demonstration of just how far CGI has come, without any compromise, you have to see this film. Pixar and most Hollywood studios can just go to bed. Square Enix Visual Works is simply the best CGI studio in the world.Thats why its also good this basically is just an action film. Loaded with amazing battles, wars and magic from the very start. So watch this movie knowing you want to see an awesome action pop corn movie. Not much else. Its just too bad that the convoluted story telling prevents viewers from understanding the meaning of it all.

Alright, this movie might seriously have the best CGI I have ever seen in my entire life. Then again, I guess it's still not quite as good as "The Adventures Of Tintin". Nonetheless, there were so many times while watching this film that I confused it for a live-action movie. I mean, this is just so amazingly realistic! I'm glad we have more good movies for such a beloved franchise. I've now seen every "Final Fantasy" movie! Okay, there were only three of them, but still. It's hard not being a "Final Fantasy" fan, but the thing is, most of the games themselves aren't related to each other.With every movie, there are new characters so it's very difficult to keep up. This has a 13% on RottenTomatoes?! These people are completely insane! I mean, I guess the plot and characterizations could be a little better, but this is just an amazing film to look at with its fantastic action scenes. It's not like they make the whole movie one big fight scene. They really do have nice character development. Well, I can't really remember any of their names but that's because "Final Fantasy" has such a massive mythology that it's hard to keep up. It wasn't just one long video game cut scene. It was an epic film great in its own right. ***1/2

It is rather obvious, the name of the game included in the title and all, but it also aptly describes the movie. An animated movie, and for the most part animated well in my opinion, but heavily influenced by the game I presume. And when it comes to graphics, that's nothing bad. But when it comes to story, that's a different matter. Here, the media movie and game differs wildly. In games ( I should note that I have not played Final Fantasy and can't refer to that specific game) the story is pretty linear. One event after another, mostly one battle (or challenge) after another. That doesn't really cut it in a movie though. Here you need more of a background, more character and more of an explanation of why things is happening. The story in this is pretty thin about such things, but acceptable if you think of it as a simple action movie. The ending though is a letdown. It is not much of a ending at all. No resolution of what becomes of the characters or what they fought for. It is nothing more but an empty promise of more, a next challenge or battle. I guess the story continues in a game somewhere, making this one of the longest commercials ever made.5/10