Animatrix, The

Publisher
Warner Bros.
Director
Koji MorimotoKoji Morimoto, Andy JonesKoji Morimoto, Andy Jones, Mahiro MaedaKoji Morimoto, Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Peter ChungKoji Morimoto, Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Peter Chung, Shinichiro WatanabeKoji Morimoto, Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Peter Chung, Shinichiro Watanabe, Takeshi KoikeKoji Morimoto, Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Peter Chung, Shinichiro Watanabe, Takeshi Koike, Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Production
Warner Bros.
Country of origin
USA, Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
9 short films
Year
2003

The Animatrix

By Eric
26th Apr 04

Final Flight of the Osiris - This one is a setup for the Matrix: Reloaded. It's done with realistic CG and tells about the crew of the Osiris sending out a warning to Zion before their deaths.

The Second Renaissance - This one is a two-parter, and the most important feature for Matrix fans. It explains how the war began and how mankind fell to the machines.

Kid's Story - It's a backstory about a minor character from Reloaded who becomes conscious of the Matrix and guides himself into the real world.

Program - A friend must find a way to survive a friend who tells her inside of a program that he's surrendered the both of them to the machines...to the matrix.

World Record - A determined track runner goes so fast that he briefly breaks out of the matrix

Beyond - A glitch in the matrix is mistaken as a haunted house when unexplained phenomena happens there

A Detective Story - A private eye is hired to track down Trinity, but for who? Why?

Matriculated - A machine is captured and reprogrammed inside of a 3D animated program to side with the humans.

THIS IS NOT FOR KIDS BY ANY MEANS. If you're a cautious parent who just barely caved in to your kids seeing the Matrix, give even more consideration to the surprisingly more violent Animatrix. Yes, that's right. It's more violent than the movies! One particularly gory scene involves a machine grabbing a human's head and pulling both ways until his skull splits apart and exposes his brain.

The Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance, and Kid's Story were written by the Wachowski brothers. Those three (four if you count both parts of the Renaissance)contain the information about the plot to the Matrix that fans will be looking for. You'll know more about a character, about what happened to the real world, and what happened to the Osiris that is often mentioned in Reloaded. The rest of the stories, excepting Matriculated and Program, are about the experiences of normal people still trapped in the matrix and how they either encounter phenomenon within (agents, glitches). They're just for fun, and have no real relevance to the plot's continuity.

Special attention should be paid to the Second Renaissance, the most explanatory film in the Animatrix. It is the most powerful and disturbing short in the entire thing. Machines are discriminated, beaten to death in streets, there's even a mass grave where the corpses are dumped. That's the first half, though...In the second half, the machines fight back and give the humans what they had coming to them. If it's justifiable, why oh why is it so horrifying to witness? I shuddered when I saw sentinels dismember a screaming man and when the machines began to hook writhing, moaning victims up to the matrix. It's absolutely chilling. It's necessary viewing for any Matrix fan.

All this time I've been talking about Matrix fans. What if you're not a matrix fan? What if you just like anime? Pass this up. You wouldn't understand what the hell is going on in any of these shorts. They're beautiful to look at, but if they don't make sense to you then their meaning is lost and you're left looking at pretty pictures.

All in all, the Animatrix has both powerful, amazing shorts (The Second Renaissance, World Record) and a couple of duds (Matriculated, A Detective Story). It's not expensive, it's worth the cost of admission just to see the juicy bits that the Wachowski brothers give us alone. Consider the rest of the shorts a nice perk. Something pretty to look at and enjoy.

7/10

-- Eric 26th Apr 04

Animatrix, The Images