Animatrix REVIEW

The Animatrix DVD: A-

Someone recommended to me to see the Animatrix before seeing Reloaded ... so the morning of the day I was to see it ... I searched the web and found some of the shorts that comprise the Animatrix

Well, actually I found four FREE shorts ... and I guess the rest were for pay? ... I don't know ... but you know me, sucker for good anime ... which most of these NINE shorts are ... pretty damn excellent anime

Ok, so it occurred to me about three shorts into the DVD that this series of shorts is really intended by the Wack Bros. to kind of paint in the edges ... build some of the mythos and side stories that simply can't be done in a two hour format of a conventional pseudoreligious gun fu movie

Again, let us give you some geneaology on my minimal Matrix expertise ... I'm a scifi fan who is from the church of Heinlein/Dick/Lucas/Roddenberry ... I don't refer to my DVD player as the Worship Machine of Zionist Freedom ... I've only seen movies uno and dos ... ONCE each front to back ... and it has been my constant impression that the original concept was fairly understandable, mostly intelligent, and made another memorable world for us fanboys (and aspiring ninja girls) to like

I think what I like about the Animatrix generally is that it paints aspects of a bigger universe .... A Matrix universe .... some of history, some in the Matrix, some in ships much like the "Mr. I saw the handwriting on the wall Babylonian ruler"

Ok, so what I'm trying to say is that vibrant universes have OTHER STORIES TO TELL besides that of the Trinity-Mo-Neo main line ... hell, tell it in a video game ... that's really a new kind of approach (game sucked, but I applaud the Wack Bros for making a good attempt out of it)

I guess my first impression is ... what a difference in is seeing it on a larger screen as opposed to my maybe 3 by 3 in. QuickTime Player

What really struck me when I was watching it was that my brain kept telling me --- Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal, Heavy Metal ... and no, this is not recurring brain damage from my obsession with getting St. Anger

And I don't know how many people remember Heavy Metal the original scifi American animated movie ... I've read elsewhere (and I mostly agree) that we all kind of built up this mystique about it because it really wasn't available in a VHS or DVD format until just recently (well, ok, maybe within the past 10 years, I think) ... and then Kikaida syndrome set in --- in other words, you watched it and went wow, this is really kind of cheesy, the effects are limited, the story is well linear but not fantastic ... same with Heavy Metal

Maybe someday we will look back at the Animatrix and say the same thing ... or maybe not

What I did find about this set of shorts is that they were all entertaining in their own way ... some of them just busted the bank with CGI, some had crappier animation comparatively but went the emotional route ... there was really always something to like about it

The aspect that appeals to the critical sociopolitical theorist in me is of course the approach which these shorts takes to deal with the key element of the Matrix series, universe, et al.

How do we as humans relate to machines? or maybe more simply (or maybe not, now that I look at the sentence ... deja vu technique ...ha), why is it that we are so technologically obsessed, when the end game of this obsession may be our own obsolescence

If you want to get really deep: Is mankind responsible for its fate in the Matrix universe ... ok, no, you want EXPLOSIONS, and car chases, and oofing ... I understand

To me, the hands down best of the bunch are Second Renaissance I and II ... they are technically the best ... and they tell the best story ... well, they tell most of the backstory that gets us to where we are 2199 or so ... blackened is the end

The scary thing to me about these two shorts is that I can imagine some damn politician or general coming up with that idea to battle some phototrophic human killing bacteria ... seemed very real to me, very human reaction to blacken the skies --- or do what must be done to survive even if it meant ecodisaster

Ok, in Reloaded, they talked about glitches and ghosts and rogues ... well, "Program" tells it so much better ... the pursuit of perfection of the system, yes ... but the wonderful bending of the rules ... rain where there should not be, gravity where there was not, cats transporting from a house to a lot across town ... neat stuff ... well to me, anyway ... and life going on anyway in the Matrix

You want a story about brain melt ... see "World Record" ... simple, visually angry, visceral piece about what happens when you awake in your pink jelly aquarium ... and you are not a track star ... yep ... drool ... drooling mento

mr. aeonflux ... "matriculated" ... very very challenging

and a word about the creator of Cowboy Bebop for the screen who had two shorts here ... I liked Detective Story as a nice noir piece ... Kid's Story is just damn powerful --- and clues us into the Neo saving the boy in Reloaded ... well seems like it to my primitive simian mind

well monkeyboy here really liked the shorts, and yes, it does make Reloaded somewhat more palatable ... but in no way yet delicious

If you really dig the Matrix, it's a definite buy ... if you like anime and creative animation, its a definite rent which you probably will like

(ed.note: St. Anger has played through ... very interesting album ... didn't seem like it was 75 minutes ... the clock says different)