Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9105 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-02
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: German, English, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish
• Dubbed in: English, French, Italian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Animatrix is a series of nine stories by different directors set in the Matrix universe, all of them conceived and commissioned by the Wachowski brothers. They demonstrate an eclectic mix of anime animation styles, stories and characters, most of which intertwine with the narrative of the first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded.

The first and most impressive is the Final Flight of the Osiris (from the director of Final Fantasy). In a breathtaking computer-generated short that would have worked well as a pre-title sequence for the second film, the crew of the ill-fated Osiris discover the sentinel army and the machines drilling towards Zion. This most filmic of the offerings guides fans into the more individualistic animated styles of the subsequent features.

The second and third instalments, The Second Renaissance, Parts 1 & 2, turn the tables on the man vs. machines battle by telling the story of the emergence of artificial intelligence and the ensuing (mostly human instigated) carnage leading up to the subjugation of the human race. The remaining features are: Kid's Story (directed by anime supreme Shinichiro Watanabe), which introduces us to the Kid, who also features in Reloaded; Program and World Record, written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, better known for schlock horror anime Vampire Hunter B; Beyond, which tells what happens when ordinary people discover bugs in the system; A Detective Story, a homage to film noir as PI Ash is hired to track Trinity; and the distinctly psychedelic Matriculated.

The standard of animation is high throughout, even where the storylines are confused (and in one or two cases little more than conceptual). This is a fascinating collection of shorts that will appeal to Matrix and anime fans alike, as well as shedding light on some of the more obtuse plot machinations of Reloaded.

On the DVD: The Animatrix is primarily a visual offering, so it's good to see that this anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 video transfer is near-perfect, with CGI extravaganza signature short The Final Flight of the Osiris being about as stunning as is possible on a small screen. Extras are plentiful: the commentaries for The Second Renaissance Parts 1 & 2 are in Japanese with English subtitles; there are two more commentaries, for Program and World Record. There are also some features, including one on the history of anime and seven on the individual films in the series; the best of the latter is the featurette for Osiris, which goes into detail on the CGI and contains a "square celebrity death match" sequence of a modified Aki (from the Final Fantasy film) battling a sentinel. --Kristen Bowditch

Special Features
"Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime" documentary
Seven featurettes with director profiles, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of each of the films
Four audio commentaries
"Enter the Matrix" videogame trailer
Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio
Widescreen 16x9 2.35:1
Languages: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Synopsis
A collection of short films which explain the story of the 'Matrix' universe.

Customer Reviews

Ani-[insert hilarious pun here]
Firstly, apologies for the length of this review - but in my defence, there is an awful lot to say. As you already know, having read the Amazon.co.uk review (you did read it didn't you? They're generally over-positive to boost sales but they're really very good), the animatrix is a collection of 9 short, animated stories set in the world of the matrix. They were made by different directors most of them Japanese, and so the style is mostly animé, although the style of the animation in each case is very distinctive. Three of the stories were written by the Wachowski brothers (writer-directors of the Matrix trilogy), and provide back-story to certain elements of the films. The others are more stand alone stories, but will still require an affinity with at least the first film, to which they are most closely related, to appreciate.

The total playing time for the collection is only 89 minutes, so the animations are fairly short. This means that each is a very brief affair, and means there is only so much characterisation and detailed story-telling that can be done in each. For me this detracted from the enjoyment slightly, but I still enjoyed it immensely. Some of the cast (Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss) of the films provided voice-overs for their characters in the Animatrix, but mostly the animations feature characters not in the films. Over-all the DVD is excellent, featuring fantastic art and imaginative stories which, fans of the Matrix will be pleased to hear, fit in with the over-all style of the franchise fairly well. The only issues which stopped it from receiving five stars from me were the unsatisfying shortness of each animation - when something's this good, you always want more, the headache I got while watching one of them (I think it was Kid's Story) as the camera angle on bright green text kept flipping, and the enormous confusion my poor, mortal brain suffered at the hands of the monstrously dreamlike, largely close to abstract, Matriculated. However, in order to get a decent impression of this product, because the individual films are so different, you really need a mini-review on each, so that's what I'll provide.

ANIMATRIX ANIMATIONS REVIEWED [in order of appearance on disk]

Final Flight of the Osiris: This comes, chronologically, immediately before the beginning of the second film, Reloaded. It details, aptly, the final flight of the Osiris, the ship that first discovers the sentinel army digging its way down to Zion. The animation here is very impressive computer-animation. Not quite up to the standards set by Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but very much indebted to it. I did like this one, but the somewhat pointless acrobatics (in the first film, while the cartwheels, backflips and impossible jumps were very impressive, they were never entirely without reason), and the near lack of story (two members of crew realise they're in love, find sentinels, try to get message out, manage but the ship is destroyed - it's a story I suppose, but it didn't seem like it when watching). 7/10

The Second Renaissance (Parts 1/2): From an animation point of view, probably my favourite of the lot - a truly beautiful blend of computer-generated and hand drawn, telling the story of the creation of the machines, their revolt against their masters, and the eventual enslavement of the human race. These two stories are told in pseudo-biblical voiceover in the form of a 'historical document' existing in Zion. It's main twist on the Matrix as we know it is that the machines are portrayed as being far more human than the clinical, alien sentinels, making the holocaust-reminiscient persecution of them by the humans rather disturbing. If you like the books of Isaac Asimov you'll love this. 9/10

Kid's Story: Not my favourite this one. The animation is hand-drawn and fairly realistic, and though impressive, it's not the nicest style to look at. This tells the story of 'Kid' - the obsessed-fan of Neo in Reloaded. A school-kid hacker, he is shown glimpses of the truth by Neo, who then calls him on his mobile (in lesson, how inconvenient) to tell him that agents are after them. Can he get out before they kill him or change his memories? Well guess why don't you - he's in the film. 6/10

Program: Some stunning art here, particularly at the opening and on the rooftop. A woman is in her favourite simulation program, fighting a small army of horse-riding attackers who fire burning arrows at her. A crew member arrives, telling her that he's going back into the Matrix, and that it's 'all sorted with them'. It's a test of her faith in The Truth, but how will she cope with his proposition of her joining him, particularly as he says he loves her? Featuring a classic 'it was all a dream' ending, Matrix style. 8/10

World Record: Answers with the question of whether or not someone can awaken from the Matrix under their own steam and without being told about it. A world-class athlete experiences a spiritual awakening while breaking world records, but the agents are out to stop him. Again, not my favourite style of animation, but pretty good all the same. 7/10

Beyond: This one's a little weird, but still great. A young girl goes looking for her missing cat and finds a run-down haunted house where the rules of gravity apply in strange ways, letting the local kids invent games involving jumping from great height onto the floor, only to stop just above the ground. To begin with I thought the kids were special, like the 'potentials' in the first film. However it turns out the explaination and resolution of the story is rather different. Features another class 'was it all a dream' ending. 8/10

A Detective Story: A beautiful Matrix-universe film noir, animated stunningly purely in noir et blanc, this film involves a detective (who also narrates the story) being hired by a mysterious person on the end of a phone to hunt for a certain... Trinity. Featuring more of those Alice in Wonderland references Matrix fans know and love, and some great art, this is a favourite of mine. 8/10

Matriculated: The last of the 9, this is just totally bizarre. The animation is slightly similar to The Second Renaissance, but the story is totally different. In it, a crew of a ship is attempting to defeat the machines by persuading them to join forces with them. To do this they plug themselves in, and enact 'dreams' for robots they've captured involving some seriously mad imagery. This one raises the same questions about the possibility of the consciousness of machines and their ability to feel as have been raised many times in the past, but is just too darn bonkers to be truly likeable. 6/10

Gives good extra info on the Matrix
The Matrix films so far have raised more questions than they have answered i feel, the Animatrix answers some of those questions and raises new ones, and i think it is a great addition to the movies, i will review the 9 stories individually:

Final Flight of the Osiris: This is a sort of prequel to the Matrix Reloaded and tells the story of a ship, The Osiris, that discovers the machines digging down towards Zion, they have to warn the city, but have the problem of being chased by about 100 sentinels. The animation in this short is the most sophisticated, and it is one of the best of the 9 shorts. 4 stars

The Second Renaissance parts 1&2: These are two excellent shorts that show how the machines came to be in control of the humans, i.e, the events leading up to the enslavement of mankind. Two very good stories with some good action and can be brutal at times, i've also heard they have a link to the ending of Revolutions. 5 stars each

Kids Story: This is the story of how the character 'The Kid' in the Matrix Reloaded breaks out of the Matrix. I really liked the animation in this one, everything is made to look like something out a dream, which is what the Matrix is meant to be like, strange ending thought. 3 stars

Program: Tells of how someone training within a Matrix program falls in love with a programmed character, that has she thinks has done something to betray the humans, quite good, but not the best. 3 stars

World Record: This short tells of how an olympic runner wakes up from the Matrix through sheer willpower, also has a confusing ending, but listen to the commentary on it and you'll know why. I cant put my finger on a reason but i just love this short, i really enjoy it every time i watch it. 5 stars

Beyond: In my opinion the worst of the shorts, and the one i have watched the least. Some kids discover a 'haunted house' which is really a glitch in the Matrix program, they have plenty of fun there, until exterminators show up to spoil the fun. 2 stars

Detective Story: Back to form on this one. A detective is hired by an anonymous person to track down Trinity, and discovers all sorts of surprises along the way, very good. 4 stars

Matriculated: Humans capture a machine and try to 'convert' (not reprogramme as other reviews suggest) it to be human friendly using a form of virtual reality to sort of fool it. But they didnt know the machine had a tracer. Will it help them when more machines come? Again very good. 4 stars

Extras are also quite good, i highly recommend the purchase of this to Matrix fans.

ANIMAGIC
I was a little dubious of this title, as I usually don't like short films, but because it was anime, and cheap, I decided to buy it. The first film, "Final Flight of the Osiris", is a dazzling opener, with amazing animation and great action, as well as being a direct precursor to the Matrix Reloaded. It concerns the Osiris, a hovercraft which discovers the machines attemt to tunnel to Zion. "The Second Renaissance" is an interesting story detailing the machines motives to rebel, finishing with the construction of the Matrix. "Kid's Story" is one of the best, about a boy that realises that he is in the Matrix. It has nice , although unusual animation. "Program" is a very well animated slice of action."World Record" is also well animated, concerning an althlete who temporarily "wakes up", only to be re-inserted. "Beyond" is a great piece about a group of kids who exploit a "glitchy" area of the Matrix. "A Detective Story" is my favourite, and any Cowboy Bebop fans will like it. I fell it also has the best "traditional" animation. It is about a private detective paid to track down Trinity. "Matriculated" is the only letdown. People who like animation with a lot of wierdness will lap it up, but I was let down by the barely-existent storyline. It is definately a case of style over substance. Its about a group of humans who try to use a Matrix program to convert some machines over to their side. Apart from this last film, the DVD is perfect, and at least is a showcase of many different, and well-done, styles of animation,and will hopefully make a new generation of anime fans in the same way as Akira.