With the exception of the third film, I love the MATRIX trilogy so when this anthology was released I was excited at being able to delve deeper into the MATRIX universe. The collection contains nine shorts from acclaimed anime directors and animators. Some stories expand on existing plot points from the movie while others are merely a chance for a director to give us their own glimpse into the world of the MATRIX. Some of the shorts are downright amazing, both in content and visual quality, while others fail to really hold my attention. Still, there are no truly weak stories in this collection and each addition has something to admire about it.
Some of the highlights of this anthology are "The Second Renaissance, Parts I and II", "Beyond", and "The Final Flight of the Osiris". Director Mahiro Maeda has created the best installments of the series with "The Second Renaissance", a glimpse into the Zion historical archives to view how the machines became sentient and their war with the humans. It fills in all the information gaps from before the first MATRIX film and the animation's realism gives the brutal violence an extra kick when you watch it. "Beyond", from director Koji Morimoto, was one of the more fun stories, with a young girl in search of her cat being led to a building where the Matrix has glitched and reality is warping. "The Final Flight of the Osiris" from Andy Jones is another bridging story, with the crew of the hovercraft Osiris discovering the sentinels in the process of digging to Zion and setting off the events of the MATRIX sequels. Jones, who was the animation director on FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (2001) brings the same lifelike CG animation to the ANIMATRIX and I admit it looked amazing.
I suppose I should also give an honorable mention to Peter Chung's "Matriculated", in which a group of humans have devised a process to give the machines a choice in joining their resistance, because of it's trippy, surely LSD-inspired animation style. For the majority of the piece, I had no clue what was transpiring but I just loved the tripped out visuals. The remaining films, while I was not as impressed, were still beautiful pieces. The collection gives you a wide variety of animation styles, ranging from the beautifully contrasted ("Program") to the bizarrely fluid ("World Record"), from multiple directors. If you've got the DVD, I also recommend the special features. Almost as entertaining as the films were the chance to listen to each director and learn what inspired their contributions and how their style is influenced in life.
Some of the highlights of this anthology are "The Second Renaissance, Parts I and II", "Beyond", and "The Final Flight of the Osiris". Director Mahiro Maeda has created the best installments of the series with "The Second Renaissance", a glimpse into the Zion historical archives to view how the machines became sentient and their war with the humans. It fills in all the information gaps from before the first MATRIX film and the animation's realism gives the brutal violence an extra kick when you watch it. "Beyond", from director Koji Morimoto, was one of the more fun stories, with a young girl in search of her cat being led to a building where the Matrix has glitched and reality is warping. "The Final Flight of the Osiris" from Andy Jones is another bridging story, with the crew of the hovercraft Osiris discovering the sentinels in the process of digging to Zion and setting off the events of the MATRIX sequels. Jones, who was the animation director on FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN (2001) brings the same lifelike CG animation to the ANIMATRIX and I admit it looked amazing.
I suppose I should also give an honorable mention to Peter Chung's "Matriculated", in which a group of humans have devised a process to give the machines a choice in joining their resistance, because of it's trippy, surely LSD-inspired animation style. For the majority of the piece, I had no clue what was transpiring but I just loved the tripped out visuals. The remaining films, while I was not as impressed, were still beautiful pieces. The collection gives you a wide variety of animation styles, ranging from the beautifully contrasted ("Program") to the bizarrely fluid ("World Record"), from multiple directors. If you've got the DVD, I also recommend the special features. Almost as entertaining as the films were the chance to listen to each director and learn what inspired their contributions and how their style is influenced in life.