Movie Time! The Matrix Series: The Animatrix

Well, this is highly embarrassing. I could blame this mistake on any number of things, and there are some really good excuses that I've been working on, but the sad fact is that I forgot to post The Animatrix before I went ahead and posted Reloaded. Totally my bad.

Anyway, here's the Animatrix review/rant/whatever these things are.

Final Flight of the Osiris:

I don’t know about the inclusion of this movie. It’s good, and the animation is fantastic, but I think it takes away something from Reloaded. It’s something that bugged me in Reloaded, and I thought they could have done more with. In that film, everyone takes it as obvious that the files from the Osiris are true. During the meeting at the beginning, one man doubts their credibility, but Morpheus says that they must be true, so everyone believes it. This annoyed me because these people are free because they didn’t believe what a computer was telling them, and now they are blindly accepting the information that was sent along through a computer. It could all have been a set up, making them move into weakening positions. It wasn’t a set up, obviously, but that no one thought it could be annoyed me.

The Second Renaissance: Parts 1 and 2:

I liked these films. It offered some good back story that wasn’t needed, but still proved interesting. I like that it wasn’t evil computers stepping up to control people, but it was a machine’s will to live that sparked the entire war. No one was at fault; humans can’t be blamed for wanted to destroy a machine that has proven its ability to kill. How many Toyotas were destroyed with that whole breaks thing a year or so ago? Yet B1-66ER can’t be blamed, either. It just wanted to live.

Kid's Story:

Kid’s Story is one of my favourite pieces from the Animatrix, although I feel that it’s way too short. Kid’s absolute trust in Neo comes way too quickly, and I don’t really understand it. He researches him once, and then he’s sold. Even Neo didn’t trust Trinity of Morpheus that quickly.

I also really like the animation used for this film. I like the rough, rush feel of it. Like the story is too important to worry about waiting for it to animate properly. Just draw it and go!

Detective Story:

All I can really say about this film is eh. It didn’t really pull me in, and didn’t much interest me, either. I don’t know if it is meant to put Neo in a good light, because he’s the only one that Trinity met that didn’t die or go crazy, or it’s meant to put Trinity in a bad light because everyone she goes to ends up a whole lot worse off. But it is good to see The Matrix in the world of noir.

Program:

Again, not one that really caught my attention. I do like it that the Redpills are trying to fight against another traitor like Cypher; but I gotta say it seems a little harsh. Redpills and Zionists alike shouldn’t be branded a traitor because they’re sick of war, and they shouldn’t be forced to think that they’re killing a friend because of it. But they are fighting a war, so harsh behaviour is necessary.

World Record:

Now this one I like. It was interesting, smart, and it was well animated. I like the character, and the idea that if you go fast enough, if you are focused on something for long enough, then you can break through the matrix into the real world. This guy is so awesome that he woke himself up without even trying, and he had fancy skills in the hospital, too, which shows that he knows he is in control of the matrix, not the other way around. Again, Neo couldn’t do this without going through serious training.

Beyond:

This was pretty awesome, I love that the matrix glitches sometimes. Even though the Oracle mentions them in Reloaded, it was here that my roommate and I extrapolated on other matrix glitches: ghosts and aliens for one, but also things like Schizophrenia, OCD, ASD, and Multiple Personality Disorder. Schizophrenia could be the result of two personalities in one body, and OCD could be a way to distract potential Redpills from thinking too much about the matrix. Autism Spectrum Disorders are characterised by a lack of social skills; these people could know about the matrix and see the code but haven’t been picked up yet by agents or by Redpills/Zionists.

But onto the film itself, especially like when the kids jump off the roofs and stop falling centimetres before hitting the ground, and the bottle fixing itself after it had broken apart was very cool.

Matriculated:
I don’t know why they saved this one till last, because for me at least it wasn’t very compelling. It was interesting to see people trying to get the machines to change sides, but the trippy simulation sequence was very weird. I got it, but it was weird. And the end of was of sad, too, with the poor machine left all alone, so instead of a hopeful finish, the entire Animatrix leaves you feeling sad and depressed. Although, come to think of it, none of these short ended happily, except maybe for Kid’s Story, and he woke up to a face full of Keanu Reeves, so that wasn’t exactly a happy day, either.

So let me know what you think. Do you disagree with any of my reviews here? I’ve been told I can be quite harsh with reviews, so please comment if you don’t agree with me.

Next up: The Matrix: Revolutions.

Kathy