Whereas the rest of the Animatrix shorts attempt an animated realism or an animated surrealism, this one is going full-fledged psychedelic. A resistance group attempts to re-program robots to join their side, basically (as I can understand it) by seducing them in a program of their creation. Somehow this is supposed to tie into choice and discussions of slavery and will, but really it's more like an attempt to see brightly colored naked figures run through phantasmagoric flowing light. It's story would be kind of sad if it wasn't for the fact that it's pretty much nonsensical. I can't even tell if its set during the primary narrative of the Matrix trilogy or if it's set before (the robot designs are different). Instead, just sit back and enjoy the visuals. It's kind of hard not to.--PolarisDiB

Matriculated is a decent effort that attempts a lot and only partially pulls it off, but contains intriguing elements and discussion; it features a lady on an island in the real world who waits by a fire by the sea, attracting the attention of 2 'runner' machines. a chase through a cyberpunk post-apocalyptic vision of the wasteland of the machines' world leads the runners to a setup where a few tests lie in wait. both are taken down but the smarter one takes a human friendly machine - their lights are colour coded accordingly, the familiar red for the runners, green for the friendly robot - down before the lady re-emerges with an energy gun from the films to take it out. a short conversation with a scientist ensues regarding the nature of reality and subjective perception and the conversion of machines to friendliness and helpfulness to humans as opposed to simply reprogramming their AI as necessary, and then all but the scientist are plugged into a simulation along with the smart machine which has been repaired.a small monkey lives with them and is also plugged in, which suggests some animals survive, or are used as batteries by the machines too; it doesn't seem to serve any other purpose but that's nothing compared to the simulation they're jacked into. director Peter Chung, of Aeon Flux fame, presents to us a severely drug induced psychedelic montage of colourful and bizarre images and interactions that make no real sense other then to, eventually, lead to the machine being stripped of its calculating logic and malignant desires toward humans and then saved from them in an act of solidarity later on, which persuades it to become friendly toward humans. i imagine it's great fun to watch if you're on drugs. sober as a judge it's an interesting visual journey but also, i feel, an unnecessarily abstract one.anyway as we see earlier one of the runners - presumably the smarter one - dropped a number 2 while chasing the girl into the human compound and that little number was in fact a warning beacon, which attracts a bunch of sentinels and other robots. just as the smart runner is converted into a friendly, those reinforcements arrive and the compound is attacked. the other friendly robots are activated and the malicious and beneficial machines and humans fight it out; basically they all die or get destroyed. one machine remains, which carries the girl away after hurting her as she pleaded with the newly converted runner to help her, having been the final straw that broke the runner's anti-human desire. it snaps out of it and attacks the machine, having watched the rest of the battle unfolding previously. it then plugs itself and the girl back into the simulation.the girl seems terrified when it sees the runner's residual self image, and fades away. it isn't clear if she died then, thought it was the matrix, thought the machine was trying to hurt her or what, but it's very a King Kong moment. the runner then waits by the fire by the sea. it's a tragic conclusion that did inspire sympathy for the runner in me, as well as for the girl and the scientist and the other humans on the island; they were simply trying to survive, and in addition reason with and make friends with machines, first steps in a possible plan for peace with the machine collective. it all ends in tragedy and death and the latest converted machine, having been shown human compassion and made friendly, has been left alone after the attack killed the humans and the friendly machines, and the little monkey. even the unfriendly machines were destroyed, leaving this lone runner yearning for purpose. bleak, full of discussion and in-keeping with the atmosphere of the films and the other Animatrix titles.a few other interesting aspects are the monkey's presence, suggesting other animal life having survived in some capacity at least - i've always entertained hopes that there were perhaps a few places on the matrix Earth of the future untouched by operation dark storm or by the machines, havens where flora and fauna still thrived and survived, a small flame of hope kindled slightly by Smith's contempt for man in his interrogation of Morpheus in the first film highlighted by his unfavourable comparison of man with other animals - the anti-matrix that the people use on the runner to convert it, taking the concept of the matrix simulation and turning it on its head by using it to placate a machine rather then pull the wool over the eyes of an enslaved human, promoting discussion on the rather blurred line between the two and how it seems to come down to intention and result, and finally the presence of a compound of humans on the surface, suggesting Zion isn't the only stronghold of people left, even though this particular compound is wiped out.it's the final Animatrix on the DVD of the nine in the Ultimate Matrix Collection and it is a quite bleak and tragic conclusion to series, that all the same contains philosophy and dialogue and ideas that promote hope and positive development. it ventures into realms of abstraction and vivid, visceral imagery that seems somewhat excessive and pointless at times as well as that seemingly careless luring of the runners into the compound - one runner calling for reinforcements which of course leads to their downfall - but the style and the substance are there, they just don't seem to overlap much. still, it's a worthy piece in the matrix universe and well worth a watch.

On the edge of a human colony, two `runners' surface from the sea and plan a homing device to call the sentinels to attack. As the sentinels approach, the runners are drawn into a trap by the human guards.Part of the series of animations making up the Matrix companion piece `The Animatrix', I saw this as a stand alone piece recently at a festival of shorts and animations and it displayed a problem that I noticed in some of the other shorts that I had seen on other days - that of fitting in with the matrix. In this short, the humans capture a robot as part of trying to convert them to join them and fight against the other machines. However in the Matrix itself we never see this side of the story. While I'm open to the idea that this was set many years before the films, in a more advanced time than the Zion we see, it still should have really done more to fit in.Given that it doesn't, it matters more whether the short works or not. The plot goes all a bit funny as they try and trick the robot and it clearly is going for style instead of substance. In terms of leaving out substance it does it very well - producing a film that doesn't do very well in regards logic and engaging plotting. In terms of style it only does so-so. It is good at the start and end but in the program it just seems to be as many colours as it can get rather than a style that is clever or stimulating.Overall this was the least of the shorts for my money. It has an interesting idea at the end that isn't delivered very well, thus fitting it in well with the rest of the short that never really interested me in the slightest. It doesn't fit with the incarnation of the matrix as we know it from the films and it didn't impress me with it's style or substance. The animation is good but that is not enough by itself - which it sadly was.

Spoilers Ahead.Peter Chung, creator of the cult anime 'Aeon Flux' came late to the Animatrix series and directed probably what is the most philosophical, demanding and difficult pieces of animation in the series.Chung takes the Matrix philosophy and turns it on it's head. Instead of humans being enveloped, without their knowledge, in an imagined world invented by the machines, this small band of humans have developed their own form of coersion.Inviting danger to them, they tempt machines to their barren hideaway in the middle of nowhere on the surface of the earth and then 'turn' the machines into human empathising beings through a complex and deliberate use of the Matrix itself.They 'teach' the machines what it is like to be human. They show compassion, love, fear and a host of other emotions until the machine 'gets it'. At the point which the machines begin to truly understand human feelings, they immediately switch their allegiance to the humans and fight tooth and nail to protect them, seeing them as one of their own. The humans have provided the machines with a spirit, if you like, and the machines grab this new experience, unwary of the real consequences of what they are feeling.This is an effective tool for the humans. as they have machine allegiances that can protect them. The machines, after having gone through the process, view themselves as human and it is now natural of them to have protective feelings towards the human group that 'turned' them.If this was the other way around, it may be called brainwashing, though in this scenario, brain-cleaning might be a better term. You can honestly empathise with the feelings of confusion and helplessness felt by the machine during the 'turning' process. You don't feel sorry for the machine as it is being 'educated' but you do wish for a happy outcome for it.The film is highly psychedelic and takes this course in order to confuse the machine, by placing it in a completely alien world where it has no control and where the laws of mathematics and physics (which all machines live by, obviously) do not apply.This is all part of the psychological brain ripping needed to transform the machine from an unfeeling intelligence into a being that understands what it is all about to be alive.Many questions are asked in this picture. Does this make the humans as bad as the machines, in their attempts to fool their enemies into compliance? Does this prove that the humans have actually learnt nothing from their horrifying experiences with the machines? It was after all, their responsibility that the machines overthrew them in the first place.Does this action by the machines and the same actions by man on machine have the same meaning? It takes the concept of Artificial Intelligence to it's conclusion by turning the whole thing full circle and looking at it from an entirely new perspective and asks if it is right to do it.An excellent story, combined with outstanding special effects, this film truly makes you stop and think about the actions of both human and machine in the Matrix universe and it's consequences on the real world.Highly recommended for the Matrix fan in mind.