The Animatrix shines not as a cohesive package, but as a collection of several different stories by different writers and animators, each different in style and narration. "Final flight of the Osiris" features 3d animation but falls behind other sequences in style and atmosphere. Plot does not evoke strong feelings either."The Second Renaissance" part I & II brings out the sociocultural critique, asking the viewer questions about the uneasy alliance between robots and humans, criticizing the absurdity and utter desperation which war can bring."Kids Story" embraces the individuals problem of resisting the conspiracy and staying strong in ones belief. The segment is strongly visual, with an experimental style."Program" excels in style and animation; the color palette is beautiful, while contrasting shades are used extraordinarily in the scenes. The result is something one could hope to see more in animation."World record" continues the experimental, original animation style retaining a feeling throughout, a clear vision, while staying true to the idea of telling a small tale, like a short story in film. One of the most skillfully crafted plots regarding the ending scene."Beyond" is a true gem of this collection; depicting a little scene taking place in the summery afternoon. The glitches in the matrix are one not too often depicted perspective without the usual doom and gloom of the Matrix. The atmosphere is carefree, different and mystical with some nice moments in it."A detective story" continues in a fashion of hard-boiled noir-like detective story, with a detective hunting "a case to end all cases." The segment stands out because its own style and genre, while still staying true to the ideology and world of Matrix. "Matriculated" continues as a post-apocalyptic story in the fashion of Second Renaissance. The animation style changes, showing futuristic 2003 animation production. Overall only a moderately effective story with some substance and attitude, with the most of the attention focusing on the visual aspects, which really get quite psychedelic at times.Overall a good watch, a collection of early 2000's Japanese animation films with Matrix themes, focus being on the visual aspects, the feeling in the moment, and the society-critique of the Matrix. Recommended if you loved both Matrix and older 80-00s Japanese anime. 9/10

If you like the original series, especially the story and premise there is a good chance you will like this one even more.In 'second renaissance', it explains the war between the humans and people. This short is somehow very violent, but beneath all the violence is hidden a message.In 'world record' things become more philosophical. This short ask a question whatever would happen if somebody would break his own body/mental limits. In it we follow the runner, whom runs so fast the he breaks his own 'chains' and wakes up on the other side in one of those "beds", the same one Neo wakes up in the movie. Very good short, with visuals that go well to the short story feel. My favorite.In 'beyond' we follow some young children's who find some old hut with BUGS in the systems. Not that crawling little creatures, but mechanical/system bugs, like time and gravity getting reversed. Very good short. Probably my second favorite.The others, i remember 'detective story and 'kid's story' which are also good.As I said this is simply a must watch for any fan of the original series.

As part of the hype generated by the "Matrix Reloaded," this series of anime shorts was developed and distributed to provide more insight to the worlds in the Matrix saga (and possibly to wrangle up some more fans). With the efforts of Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Shinichiro Watanabe, Peter Chung, and other Japanese directors, it's a varied collection that offers multiple insights and a variety of styles and quality. This collection is like a sampler plate for anime (incidentally, it was the first anime I really watched and got into, and it inspired me to check out the real thing)."The Final Flight of the Osiris" is the first of the lot, and of all computer-animated films I know of, this one still shows superior quality. Characters look incredibly life-like at times; by modern standards, it resembles a video game clip more than anything, but considering that there aren't a whole lot of CGI movies with human characters, this film is quite impressive. It's a short, action-packed, and fairly invoking. Above all, it helps bridge the gap between the first two Matrix movies."The Second Renaissance" Parts I and II serve as the Matrix prequel, chronicling the war between man and machine. It's extremely bleak and quite violent. With its portrayal of nuclear devastation, environmental warfare, and the eventual enslavement of the human race, these two episodes really get to me. The animation is quite smooth and slick, with lots of memorable imagery. It is fast-paced, almost erratically so, but the biblical-style narrative keeps it entrancing. In a proper Matrix marathon, I place these before the three main movies, and it is worthwhile seeing for all Matrix fans."Kid's Story" doesn't have the same momentum as the last few episodes, but it is a nice little story that shows how the Kid character comes into being in the Matrix sequels. Its slower pacing and sketchy graphics don't really appeal to me, but it is another requisite bridge between the first and second movies."Program" has always been my favorite of the lot, featuring fantastic visuals and fast-paced action. The duel between two lovers is quite intense, and their actions really underscore the philosophical issue of whether or not it's better to live a lie or suffer the truth. The animation quality here is strong and the character designs are excellent."World Record" is one of my least favorites in this collection. It does have a really funky style and quality, with interesting visuals. It is a pretty good story, but it is lacking in action."Beyond" strikes me more as a Miyazaki-style story, with its emphasis on child-like whimsy and wonder. It has a cast of likable kids, some wonderful visuals, and it is a cute little story overall. Once again, it doesn't offer much action, but it isn't totally dull either."A Detective's Story" is my least favorite of the lot. It does have some nice film-noir style visuals and characters. I'm just disappointed in the story, which is a little too short to serve as an effective mystery, and by its conclusion it doesn't really resonate."Matriculated" is something very weird and trippy, almost dream-like at spots. It's a solid and original story with a profound conclusion and some interesting implications. Its visuals are fantastic, and it's the one other story here that I consider most worthwhile.All of these stories show quality animation style and quality; some of the digitally-animated backgrounds may show some anomalies, but it holds up for the most part. Voice-acting can be a little cheesy, but is still decent. Production designs are strong, with plenty of cool settings, vehicles, weapons, robots, and objects that correlate to the Matrix movies well. The feature also has one of the coolest soundtracks.I highly recommend at least the first three stories to Matrix fans; the feature as a whole I'd recommend as a rental to anybody who's interested. But if you're getting this as part of the Ultimate Collection DVD or Blu-Ray package, why not check it out? 5/5 (entertainment: 4.5/5, stories: 5/5, films: 4.5/5)

Animatrix is a collection of nine animated shorts related to different aspects of Matrix. The stories are directly or indirectly related to what happens in the movie, filling-in some unexplained facts, and exploring the matrix from an outsider-insider point of view."Final Flight of the Osiris" (Andy Jones) is a literal transcription of an episode in the movie. The animation itself is amazing, and the opening scene extremely sexy, but the virtuosity of the video-game animation is not paired with a creative approach. I suspect, it was included in the compilation to catch the eye of those video-gamers who might end buying the Matrix's video-game."Program" (Yoshiaki Kawajiri) is an Akira-style short animation piece. The use of basic colors (white, red, black and gray, traditional Japanese elements (castles, samurais, swords, bamboo, silhouettes), and an edgy Manga action creates a visually astonishing piece of animation. It re-creates Cypher's betrayal of his crew of renegades, but giving it a medieval-Japan-Samurai twist."World Record" (Takeshi Koike) is an original piece that uses the matrix concept to expand it on its own, unconnected to any direct episode in the movie. It is about the awakening to the reality of the matrix by the main character, a famous Afro-American runner. The piece is shot in a mix of grays, blacks, beige and yellow colors, and uses shading brilliantly. The backgrounds are very artsy, according to Koike they were inspired by Gaudi's architecture. I found the piece, despite being made by a Japanese, very American in its vibe and energy, in the drawing of the characters and their personalities; still, there is a powerful unique narrative that is very Japanese, that tries to tell a story without forgetting technical innovation. Terrific is the way the movement of the athlete is captured, slowed and micro-analyzed, and also the fact that the Afro-Americans are not drawn in brown colors but in different shades of gray. Supercool."The Second Renaissance 1 and 2" (Mahiro Maeda) fill in the missing story of what happened to the Human Race until they became dominated by the machines. In another words, it offers a mythology of the Matrix that was only hinted in the movie. It uses colorful Mandalas (with a mix of Buddhist and Brahman elements)attached to the female goddess-narrator, but has subdued colors when the documentary-like piece fill the viewer with the details of the war between humans and machines. It has a terrific story-telling, and it is very universal in a way. It uses elements of all religions, shows humans from different religions and cultures, depicts the violent acts of the humans using embedded references to tragic events happened in recent wars (WWII, Vietnam, Irak) and offers an unadorned, still entertaining, view of the sins of the modern human race."Beyond" (Koji Morimoto) is a beautiful naturalistic short, Ghibli-Studio-like in the use of colors, shadows and lighting, the magic realism of of daily life, and the virtuosity of the drawing. The episode has a connection to the Matrix, the cat appearing from another dimension in the movie, is the one here. But that is is. Morimoto creates for us an error in the matrix program affecting a house visited for the characters in this movie. The house is sort of enchanted, and visitors can levitate. It replies with verisimilitude to the question, how would humans notice a loop in the program? how would affect them? Simply wonderful."Kid's Story" (Shinichiro Watanabe) tells about the awakening to the reality of an American teen student who has been contacted by Neo. It has a lucid dream approach and has some lyric moments. However, this is mostly an escape story, full of action and angst. The animation style is a bit weird, as it the movie was constantly blur. This is intentional, and it is used to tell the viewer that our character is in a reality that is not dream, still not completely awake. The piece is extremely dynamic, with a great music, and some poetic moments, but not as engaging as the others."A Detective Story" (Shinichiro Watanabe) is a masterpiece of animation, drawn in a grainy BW that mimics ink-drawing, but adding some cut-out colors, typical of some American comics for adults. It also replicates the mood and style of the detective B-movies of the 50s, but mixed with a retro-futuristic Chinatown approach the matrix (very Dark-City in a way). It is super-stylish and engaging, linked to the movie by the search of Trinity. The music is very jazzy, perfect for a 1950s sort of film. I would have liked to be longer and a bit more daring, so much I enjoyed it!"Matriculated" (Peter Chung) is a very psychedelic, hallucinogenic, colorful and philosophical piece of animation, and the most daring, from a narrative point of view, of the lot. It does reverse the matrix principles of the machines using a program mimicking human reality and subconscious world to put them at their service. In this short, the renegades reprogram the captured machines and connect them to their consciousness so it tricks the machine thinking that is a program and that they are also machines. It explores the concept of universal consciousness, and how machines could be fooled. It is a very Asimov approach to the story.Animatrix is funky, artistic, and very entertaining. Not for small kids, though. The main problem with the compilation is that the quality of the pieces varies enormously, and that you need to watch it after the Matrix (the movie), and understand the intricacies of the matrix itself to comprehend the stories in the shorts. It is not rocket-science, but if you haven't done that, the movie won't work for you. Animatrix is a companion to the film, therefore, watching it on its own could be disappointing, unless you are interested in animation per se.