I watched (for the third time in my life) FF7:Advent Children. Only difference of this one was it was the blu-ray with some added scenes. Time for an assessment.

This movie felt exactly the same as the other two times I’d seen it. The added scenes made me feel a bit more confused, mostly because it kept insisting on switching to different time frames. I got bored pretty quick, and started to riff the damn thing. It had it coming. The fight scenes were all the same: Cloud runs after/is chased by bad guys, someone he knows appears, and he doesn’t recognize them until five minutes after they show up. It seems all the characters have this problem. In the church fight scene between Loz and Tifa, Loz throws open the doors quite violently. Marlene proceeds to run forward thinking it’s Lightni-I mean Cloud. There’s no way a woman like Cloud could ever throw open doors like that, especially giant church ones.

There are some positive notes. I did enjoy the Hi-def quality, despite being a full CGI film. The blu-ray didn’t give it that horrid effect of looking REALLY fake, like with films such as King Kong. The soundtrack was as good as ever, although I cringe whenever I hear Aerith’s theme. Seriously, you’re dead. Go away. You too, Zack. I made the suggestion Ali Hillis dub Cloud with Lightning’s voice; I wonder if I should run that past her…maybe have Rachel Robinson do Fang for Tifa.

Final bit- If you like FF7, chances are you already got the dvd when it first came out. The blu-ray is worth the 20 bucks if you’re a big fan. If you’re new to the whole series…I don’t know what to tell ya. Go play the PSX game, or do it in chronological order and play Crisis Core first. Or if you’re a big enough weeaboo, just go spend the money. You can’t resist; it’s from Japan, thus superior.

7.3/10