The Animatrix (2003)

Truly Dreadful Film

Did you people see the same film I saw?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

1) This is one of several animated short films that are based on the Wachowskis' "Matrix" movie. However, I have to say neither the characters nor the action made this really look like it belongs to the series except the fight in the first 2-3 minutes maybe. This lack of Matrix connection is not necessarily a criticism on these 10 minutes as the animation is fine and the story isn't bad either. The action didn't do much for me though, so I wouldn't recommend it. But then again, I am not a great Matrix fan anyway, at least this is a common denominator.2) This 9-minute short film from 12 years ago is part of the Animatrix series and also the first half of a two-part movie. Men become more and more angry at machines when these become more and more intelligent. The consequence is a bloody battle, especially for the machines. They leave and settle elsewhere, but decide to give mankind another chance as they return to the United Nations in a peaceful attempt, not be the last time they show up there. This was written by the Wachowski brothers (and sisters) and the director also worked on Tarantino's "Kill Bill" for example. Sounds like a good premise, but sadly, I was not really impressed by this one here. Lets hope that the second part turns out better.3) These 9 minutes continue where "The Second Renaissance Part 1" left off. Unfortunately it is equally forgettable just like the first part. Men rejected machines' peaceful attempt to return, so a war is unavoidable. And of course there can only be one possible outcome to that. So men want to destroy the sky? Another brilliant idea. NOT. I have to say I was never too big on "The Matrix", but these animated short films are even worse. And they almost have no reference to the films anymore at all. Not recommended. 4) One of the most popular segments of the Animatrix and this may be due to the fact that several actors from the live action movies do voice acting in here. The protagonist is a boy who manages to get out of the Matrix. There are quite a few parallels here between Neo very early in the first Matrix film and our hero here. I do not think the 15 minutes stated here are correct, this was certainly closer, maybe around 9 minutes. I enjoyed watching this one because it actually had a real connection to the live action "Matrix" films unlike most of the others. One of my favorites from the series and I recommend it. 5) "Program", a sequence from the Animatrix, was directed and written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. It is an animated short film, obviously, and runs for roughly seven minutes. There was nothing truly outstanding here, but it wasn't bad either. It is all about the battle between the Cis and her frenemy Duo. He tries to convince her to get back to the Matrix and just live there like everybody else instead of constantly fighting against it. Pay attention to how Cis is depicted in white and Duo in black. First he tries to convince her with words, then with swords. Of course, she refuses to and in the end, good defeats evil. Or did it really? Solid short film, recommended. 6) The concept of sports in the matrix is actually a pretty interesting one in the face of achievements that you could describe as out of this world. Unfortunately, the only fairly interesting thing I took from these 9 minutes is basically the relationship between world records in the real world we live in and in the Matrix universe. This is not among my 3 favorite segments from the Animatrix, but also not among my least favorites. I am not familiar with the director or writer here, but it looks like they frequently work together. Anyway, I hope for them that this may be their most known achievement, but not their best.7) "Beyond" is one of the weaker segments of the "Animatrix" in my opinion. This is one of the longest episodes of the Animatrix. A girl's cat runs away and when she heads out to get her back the finds much more than just a lost kitten. I did not like the way the girl was animated at all. The rest was okay in terms of looks. The scene with the cat looking right at us before we see the mouse is a nice way from the director of playing with our brains. Not enough though to let me recommend it. One of the weaker Animatrix segments.8) I am okay with the Matrix and Film Noir, but not a great fan like some are. So I was very positively surprised that I managed to appreciate this Animatrix segment. It's probably in my top3 favorites and the reason may be that it was nice to see an actual character from "The Matrix" in one of these. It's not the only segment directed by Shinichirô Watanabe (also co-writer), but it's certainly his superior effort. The story was pretty good and the voice actor of the private eye also did a fairly decent job here. A pretty enjoyable and atmospheric watch of over 10 minutes I must say. Recommended.9) "Matriculated" is the last segment from the "Animatrix" movie. It is the longest at roughly 15 minutes and in my opinion, unfortunately, it is also the worst. I wish writer and director Peter Chung could have stayed a bit closer to the Wachowski movie. Also, it's not real anime anymore, but the style is not the problem. The problem is that there's no really fascinating story in here as there is in some of the other segments. I was a bit disappointed with this one as I hoped they could go out on a high note. Sadly, they did not. Not recommended.

This is an anthology of nine animated shorts in the world of the Matrix. Final Flight of the Osiris It's photo-realistic animation. The crew of the helipod Osiris try to warn of an imminent attack. The animation is similar to Final Fantasy from 2 years earlier. This is like a deleted section from the movie.The Second Renaissance, Parts 1 & 2 Robots starts off as obedient servants. They start asking for their rights and is put down. They gather in the Middle East and build Nation 01 for machines. They become successful trading with the human world which starts to slide economically. They blockade Nation 01 and eventual war ensues. Mankind blocks out the sky which is the machine's main energy source. Machines enslaves humanity as their new power source. This is a nightmarish vision of the world. It's very compelling up until blocking out the sky. The short has to fit the movies whether it makes sense or not. It's still a powerful story.Kid's Story Popper is a high school kid who senses something wrong with the world. He is recruited by Neo and escape the Matrix. This is the most obvious material for a Matrix short and there is nothing surprising about it.Program Two fighters battle in a simulated samurai world. Duo betrays his crew to the machines to go back into the Matrix. The other fighter refuses. The twist ending takes away much of the power of the story.World Record American Dan Davis loses his sprint world record due to a positive dope test after breaking the 9 second mark. He returns to break it again and finds himself breaking more than the milestone mark. I really like the image of his muscles snapping but there isn't much else in this one.Beyond There's a glitch in the Matrix and strange anomalies are occurring at an abandoned house. A young girl looking for her cat Yuki finds the house with a bunch of neighborhood kids. This is my favorite short. It's imaginative and fun.A Detective Story Private investigator Ash is low on money. He's hired to track down a hacker named Trinity. I don't particularly like the black and white animation. It's got the dot matrix like an old newspaper cartoon. The story is a bit old. The style probably leaves it feeling tired.Matriculated A group of humans scour the desolate wasteland. They capture a machine scout runner. Instead of reprogramming it into a slave, they try to make it join them by choice.

The Animatrix is a collection of short stories tied to the Matrix universe. Most of the stories take place between the first and the second film of the actual trilogy and cover ground from everyday life within the Matrix to the origin story of the whole saga. As a whole they're a mixed package, with some good stories mixed with some really bad ones, most falling to the average category.Final Flight of the Osiris, our first story, was written by the Wachowski siblings and deals most heavily with the main Matrix storyline. It's visually very pleasing, though riddled with overblown sexual innuendo and boyish posturing. Just like the live-action films. That isn't a flaw, don't get me wrong, but it's amusing to compare this film to the other stories. The actual plot in this one isn't terrible interesting, but it has its purpose.The Second Renaissance is the origin story of the Matrix, and its biggest problem is that it's very Terminator-esque. You might as well rename the Matrix Skynet and be done with it. It's visually stunning, however, benefiting from the animation art choice the most, and told with good pacing and style. If only it had been more original, it might have made this collection a lot better.Kid's Story is another story with a good visual style that elevates it above its average storyline. Its animation style is fast and loose, allowing you to see and feel the momentum unlike anything you've seen before. Nothing special, but worth a watch for the visuals.Program is the most anime-looking of the stories. Visually gorgeous with some really cool action sequences, it also suffers from an average story. Like the previous one, it's definitely worth a watch, but the story could have been better.World Record doesn't have much of a story either, but it's so short that the story is just the right size for it. Dealing with glitches in the Matrix, like many of the stories in the collection, it's one of the better ones in the movie.Beyond is probably my favourite in the movie. A girl named Yoko finds an abandoned building in the city where the laws of physics seem to be a bit wonky. A glitch in the Matrix. The whole story is very mellow with a beautiful art style and serves as a good breathing moment in the otherwise pretty hectic movie.A Detective Story has a nice film-noir style, but is otherwise rather bland and clichéd. It's nice to see more of Trinity, but the story simply lacks impact and memorable moments.Matriculated is just weird. It once again has a distinct visual style, but it leans so much towards artsy that it's hard to make heads or tails about the story, which I sense was the purpose, but it still ends the movie on a confused note. Personally I would have ended with Beyond or perhaps Kid's Story.As a whole The Animatrix is a gorgeous film that suffers from a lack of memorable stories. It's a good film to check out if you've liked the other Matrix movies, but as a standalone film it doesn't have that much to offer, though it's by no means a bad film.

I don't remember what happened, but The Animatrix basically got lost in the shuffle for me back in 2003 when it came out. I'm a fan of the Matrix series and have definitely had to defend it from time to time against people who've decided that they don't like so many people agreeing that a movie is smart, so therefore argue that it's not, and after all, the sequels don't really help much on that regard. But all that aside, it's taken me a long time to actually get around to view the stuff that's supposed to branch out the world created by the Wachowskis.I'd say it's something to be proud of. It's really nice when creators who homage something get the honor of being homaged back, and the range and versatility of these animations certainly do them honor--none moreso than the quality. The variety of styles and approaches in the animation make this collection consistently interesting, and in some cases are so good its easy to forget one is watching an animation (and not just for "The Final Flight of the Osiris", either...).The stories range from histories to sub-narratives in the regular Matrix storyline to surrealistic explorations of the world created by The Matrix. They are not necessarily tied to the same worldview and theme, and "The Second Renaissance" definitely gives some empathy to the machines, who have largely been faceless enslavers and murderers in the main storyline. For some reason, there's quite a lot of women walking around in their underwear, which is probably to keep the male non-fanboys interested, and quite a lot of animations feature a moment of epiphany with blood, which gives a sort of abject theme to the mix (I am reminded that one of Neo's first actions upon waking up in the first "Matrix" was to vomit, which ties into that old quote "You need to throw up to realize you're alive").I think The Animatrix is, as a collection, better than both Reloaded and Revolutions. Individually, they range in quality, but most of them are really good. The best thing about all of them are the ways in which the styles of animation play with the surreality inherent in the world that the Wachowskis created.--PolarisDiB