Feature By

Chi Kong Lui

Living actors and actresses can all breathe a sigh of relief. Why? Because if the first-of-its-kind, all-computer-generated (CG) sci-fi movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, proves one thing, it’s that technology still has quite a long way to go in artificially recreating human expression physically and emotionally on the big screen.

Right from the earliest scenes of the film featuring extensive dialogue and movements of the digital actors, audiences will be consciously aware that something is awkwardly disingenuous. Reports of audiences giggling or laughing aren't exaggerated. The same affliction plagued the very theater that I attended. The physical movements of the polygonal replicants were surreal and their facial gestures failed to captivate and register with audiences. Expressions were often too stilted and lip movements didn't jive with some of the more lively vocal performances by Donald Sutherland, James Woods, and especially the comedic Steve Buscemi. Ironically, this was never a problem with traditional cel-animation or even previous CG films like Toy Story and A Bug's Life.

Something else along the same lines didn't gel with me either. In the case of the lead male protagonist, Gray Edwards, I'm staring at a near life-like mannequin that bears a strange resemblance to Ben Affleck but... sounds like Alec Baldwin? The same could be said of the Neil Fleming character, who is unmistakably voiced by Steve Buscemi, but semi-looks like Edward Norton. Conceptually, I couldn't resolve the preconceived notions of the actors in my thoughts. Questions kept popping up while I was watching. Were Affleck and Norton the original choices for the roles, but declined the opportunity? Why weren't the digital models made to look more like their vocal counterparts? Even Disney cel-based character designs are molded to resemble their respective voice-actors. If they wanted to avoid this dilemma all together, why not cast unknown voices in the key roles?

I immediately realized the quandary the filmmakers at Square Pictures had to face. On one hand, they had to combat the preconceptions that audiences might associate with the celebrity voices. On the other hand, by using some of Hollywood's most respected actors, the film gains immediate notoriety and might be deemed more accessible and attractive to marketing executives and casual moviegoers alike. Did the filmmakers ultimately make the right decision to go with recognizable voice actors? I'm not sure, but I'll get back to this later.

Another issue that The Spirits Within raises revolves around its decision to create human 3-D models that are near life-like. Is it necessary when you can film the actual voice actors themselves? The most obvious reason for using 3D stand-ins is that you subject them to life-endangering situations that only Jackie Chan in reality would volunteer for. Another reason for using CG technology would be to animate and invent situations that otherwise wouldn't be possible with conventional filmmaking techniques. Films like Toy Story and Dinosaurs are perfect examples of this. Without the advent of 3-D graphics, it wouldn't be possible to produce such convincingly lively playthings and prehistoric creatures.

Strangely, The Spirits Within doesn't aspire to either possibility. While I consider the art direction and set designs to be remarkable, a majority of the film's cinematography, costuming, and creative direction are consciously restrained and earthbound. I think the most symbolic scene is the one where Gray fires his rifle at a plexi-glass window and crashes through it with an acrobatic tumble. The surprising question isn't why such a tired old action-movie cliché was used. The real shocker is why a non-living virtual actor was called upon to perform a relatively simple stunt that any seasoned stuntman could execute in his sleep. What's even more perplexing is that when you juxtapose the plexi-glass-shattering scene in The Spirit Within with the Arnold-crashing-through-the-x-ray-glass one in Paul Verhoeven’s thriller, Total Recall. More than a full decade earlier, not only did the Total Recall scene create more tension and suspense, it was also more of an artistic accomplishment in terms of special effects and stunt coordination.

So instead of making these digital actors more life-like, should they been modeled to be a little more stylized and, in essence, "unreal"? I’m reminded of a scene in the documentary bio of underground comic artist, R. Crumb, in which he advises his teenage son that in order to capture the essence of something, an artist should emphasize or even exaggerate a distinctive feature. Perhaps that's what’s missing from the cast of The Spirits Within. The filmmakers were so busy try to create spirits physically that they forgot to install them internally.