Matriculated (2003)

So much average

Simply Perfect

Sick Product of a Sick System

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

"Matriculated" is the last segment from the "Animatrix" movie. It is the longest or among the two longest in terms of runtime at roughly 15 minutes and in my opinion, unfortunately, it is also the worst. With one or two exceptions I fail to see any Matrix references here anymore. 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 that is somehow not surprising looking at Chung's body of work. An Asian name may not be enough. Then again, the "anim" in Animatrix can also stand for animation. However, 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.

The ninth and final Animatrix short, as well as the longest, running at about 16 minutes. This is the most surreal of them all, with downright psychedelic images. The animation is amazing, well-done 2D Animé with well-integrated and utterly stunning 3D CGI elements. One can tell that this was done by Peter Chung(directed as well as written), the man who brought the world Aeon Flux(the television series, *not* the movie). With a brief philosophical debate making up nearly all of the dialog in this, this also has food for thought, including some in the basic idea of it, in which there is great irony. The sound and visuals are impeccably well-done. I could imagine many not enjoying this on account of how weird it is(not to say that anyone who doesn't care for this has that particular reason for it), it definitely is not for everyone. There is a making of on this, as with all the others(albeit in a couple of cases, two share one), on the DVD, and it is an interesting watch at almost seven minutes. There are various disturbing things here, and it will be up to the individual viewer to decide what is and what isn't, really. I recommend this to fans of the Matrix universe, trippy, off-beat and imaginative efforts and/or science fiction. 7/10

I disagree with the interpretations I have read so far of this story. Though the facts might have been right I believe in another meaning of the ending. What the author was trying to show was that the machine also had "feelings", these were of love, and lust for the girl. Initially the girl, in order to convert it in the weird Matrix simulation, shows she cares for him, and accepts his advances. However later we have the attack of the machines, and the girl asks for the "converted machine's" help, the machine saves her. It thinks she loves him too, at least in its humanoid matrix form. So it plugs her back. Her reaction of horror and terror when she wakes up in the matrix simulation and sees the machine confuse it. She dies of fear and disgust even.The final scene of the converted robot staring out on the beach is the saddest in the series, the machine was fooled into believing it could be cared for and loved by a human, seen as an equal, but it was only being used, no matter how intelligent (quote from the short "they are only meant to serve"), and it was fooled into believing it could be otherwise. This is essentially the lesson which the machines had learned the hard way, when they initially rebelled against the humans, no matter how hard they tried they were never accepted. Thus the war. This "runner" learned the human capacity for sheer manipulation the hard way.

On the edge of a human colony, two `runners' surface from the sea and plan a homing device to call the sentinels to attack. As the sentinels approach, the runners are drawn into a trap by the human guards.Part of the series of animations making up the Matrix companion piece `The Animatrix', I saw this as a stand alone piece recently at a festival of shorts and animations and it displayed a problem that I noticed in some of the other shorts that I had seen on other days - that of fitting in with the matrix. In this short, the humans capture a robot as part of trying to convert them to join them and fight against the other machines. However in the Matrix itself we never see this side of the story. While I'm open to the idea that this was set many years before the films, in a more advanced time than the Zion we see, it still should have really done more to fit in.Given that it doesn't, it matters more whether the short works or not. The plot goes all a bit funny as they try and trick the robot and it clearly is going for style instead of substance. In terms of leaving out substance it does it very well - producing a film that doesn't do very well in regards logic and engaging plotting. In terms of style it only does so-so. It is good at the start and end but in the program it just seems to be as many colours as it can get rather than a style that is clever or stimulating.Overall this was the least of the shorts for my money. It has an interesting idea at the end that isn't delivered very well, thus fitting it in well with the rest of the short that never really interested me in the slightest. It doesn't fit with the incarnation of the matrix as we know it from the films and it didn't impress me with it's style or substance. The animation is good but that is not enough by itself - which it sadly was.