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U.S. Cast on Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the get-your-fan-candy-here dept.

Siliconera writes "Last night in Hollywood Square-Enix and Sony showed the English version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children on the big screen. Fans lined up overnight to snag tickets to the premiere event where many of the voice actors/actresses and director Tetsuya Nomura showed up. After seeing the film Rachel Leigh Cook said the movie was "stunning" and she's a 'fan (of Final Fantasy) as of today.' Mena Suvari (Aerith) said 'it was a great experience to be part of something with such a following.' About the movie, director and character creator Tetsuya Nomura said, 'This is a special piece for us and I hope it is for you.'"

10 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by itistoday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In terms of visual effects and animation, sure I can agree to the "stunning" remark, but when it came to the plot, Advent Children fell more along the lines of mind "numbing".

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    1. Re:Hardly "stunning" plot-wise by DorkusMasterus · · Score: 2, Informative

      Did you ever play Final Fantasy games? I personally love them, but also recognize that the plots have more holes than swiss cheese, and make about as much sense as a drunk stutterer. Seriously, this film is about a plot similar to FF7 and stunning visuals. I'm still excited about the film, as this is kind of what I expected. :)

  2. Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by falcon5768 · · Score: 2, Informative

    She's horrendous in Kingdom Hearts II. I can only hope that she shows a inkling of emotion in AC because if its just as bad as KHII she's going to ruin the whole movie.

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    1. Re:Too bad Mena Suvari sucks as Aerith by The-Bus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is not Mena Suvari, it's movie studios and game producers relying on "famous voices" as opposed to "voice actors" when they create new works. While a lot of famous voices make pretty good voice actors (see: SSX Tricky, the GTA series), I think you'd see a bigger payoff in using real voice actors than just someone famous. Look at Futurama for example: with the exception of Katey Sagal, the entire cast is made up of voice actors who do (did?) a fantastic job. But everytime I see a Hollywood starlet used as voice "talent" in an animated show or game, I cringe. Half of the time, these women are used because they're attractive and their acting qualities come in second, third, or N/A. What would make anyone think you'd want to hear their voices?

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  3. IMDB by steveo777 · · Score: 2, Informative
    IMDB has the list up as well. For those of us at work who can't read about video games (grumbles for a while and goes back to work).

    By the way, saw the movie in Japanese a while ago. It's amazing eye candy. Loved it.

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  4. Voice actors by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's good to see the professional voice-actors getting some props alongside the stars in this article (though admittedly this is a gaming blog, not Variety).

    As Billy West has noted in the past, when animation goes Hollywood, the professional voice actors who draw a normal-sized paycheck get pushed out in favor of big-name movie stars. But the big names don't do much more than just stand there and read their lines, because they don't know the first thing about breathing life into a character or making the character memorable.

  5. Re:Aer-who? by genx88 · · Score: 2, Informative
    Pfft, forget the "s" and "th" debate and just stick with the katakana.

    Now, it'll be interesting to see what Square does with the Tseng/Zeng thing-- oh wait, the U.S. isn't getting "Last Order" released so it's a non issue.

    Although, the name swapping for "Shera" and "Sierra" will be interesting. Since Cid's assistant was "Shera" in the localization and "Sierra" in the Japanese version in and the Advent Children action figures have the new airship labeled as "Sierra". If Squeenix can't make up their mind, why should we. ^_~

  6. Depends on the voice actor by phorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Many of the animes I've heard with english dubs were painful. The ones that were worst, however, were generally when I'd heard the (better) original Japanese voice-acting while watching with subtitles.

    I do remember that the voices on Trigun were actually decent.

    However, in this - the day of DVD's - one should be able to get a disk with subtitles and voice-tracks in both English and the original Japanese.

  7. Re:It's just me... by ROBOKATZ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think it has anything to do with education. Watching a movie with subtitles is like trying to drive while staring at the speedometer the whole time. Admittedly when you are watching a foreign language film you have two choices: read subtitles or put up with possibly a poorly performed dub job. Or learn the language. I think most people prefer taking their chances on a dub and not having the suspension of disbelief constantly ruined by needing to look away from the action to read. To suggest that most Americans prefer dubs because they can't read is ridiculous. Most Americans consider film watching a relaxing activity and do not want to have to put effort into watching movies. Hence subtitles are only used on 'art' films where it is given that the viewer will have to do some thinking and would rather hear the original performance (even if they can't understand it).

  8. Re:It's just me... by Mike+deVice · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Personally, I prefer to hear the original language while reading subtitles. But dubs have their place, I think, for two reasons. Well, not reasons... just my preferences. ;)

    The one downside with subs is that you almost have to keep your eyes glued to the screen if you want to be sure not to miss anything. When I first watched FF:AC I did so at a time I wasn't likely to be distracted. Good thing too, because some of those subs flash by lighting fast at times. But sometimes you wanna watch a movie and not have to give it your wholly undivided attention. Just be casually entertained rather than a wholly submersive experience.

    Another interesting thing about dubs versus subs is that they're never the same. That is, subs tend to be translated slightly differently than the dubs. Subs usually are more precise... more faithful to the original. Dubs seem to be more flexible. For example, idioms tend to be more literally translated in subs, while dubs will substitute a similiar but more familiar western idiom in it's place. As a result, I'll usually watch the sub first, and then watch the dub at some later time. Comparing the two can occasionally provide interesting insights.