10 Greatest Video Game Movies Of All-Time

The first thing to note about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is that it doesn't really have anything to do with Final Fantasy. I know: all of the Final Fantasy games are self-contained entities and they each exist in their own universe, but even taking that into consideration, this doesn't feel like Final Fantasy. Not really.

Still, for what it's worth, I'm in the small camp of people (and it's a very small camp) who believes that The Spirits Within - slated upon its release and a box office flop - to be a somewhat underrated film, and by no means anywhere near as bad as its reputation as a "boring and terrible" picture suggests. 

The plot concerns a scientist named Aki Ross and her attempts to stop an alien invasion (I think), and though there are plenty of things to dislike - namely its pacing - it's by far one of the most ambitious video game flicks ever made.

Because there are a lot of interesting ideas floating around here, and though none of them really come together, The Spirits Within is an admirable attempt at making a "smart" sci-fi movie with photorealistic characters. It's kind of like Final Fantasy, had the the team who made it decided halfway through that they really liked Starship Troopers and just set out to make a Starship Troopers rip-off instead.

And I'm totally okay with that. I just wish it hadn't cost $137 million to create.