Opinion: The Animatrix
I realise it’s been out for quite some time, but I feel the Animatrix is somewhat under-appreciated. Firstly, let me explain what it is. The Animatrix is a collection of nine short films (each around the ten minutes long) based in some way around the Matrix universe. All but two of them are by different directors, most of them established Japanese anime directors. It’s essentially the movie equivalent of a short story compendium.
So what are the stories told in this collection? Well, there’s the expected stuff: a back story to the events that lead up to the creation of the fictional Matrix and a fleshing out of an event mentioned within the films (the final flight of one of the ships, previously mentioned but not shown, that had been destroyed) and then there are some quirky little narratives based on single concepts such as ‘what if there was a glitch in the matrix that altered the properties of objects in a certain area?’ or ‘what if someone pushed themselves to the limit and caught a glimpse of outside the matrix?’
What all these stories do is demonstrate the possibility for rich ideas within the concept of the Matrix, which is more than I can say for the actual Matrix trilogy. Honestly, I never watched past halfway in the third film, and I found the second one to be as dire as the first one, after the novelty of ‘bullet-time’ had worn off. I think the main problem with the films was characterisation, it was all just posing and running through set-pieces, without adding any depth to the characters. Really, I just didn’t care about any of them. But, like I say, there were some good ideas in The Matrix and, even if it did lean towards the pretentious, some of the concepts and minor characters (the oracle, the architect, the keymaker) were, potentially, pretty cool.
Where, I think, the Animatrix’s strength really lies is in its variety: we’re not spending five-and-a-half hours watching Keanu Reeves walk around and pose in a leather trench-coat and sunglasses. Instead, we’re being presented with concise, engaging narratives. The Animatrix is successful too in turning cliché into homage. Where the Matrix took the slow-motion bullet effects and unlikely hero turned expert fighter/shooter/hero and fell into the dirge of action movie conventionality, the Animatrix, in one story, takes film noire cliché (the jaded, hat-and-trench-coat New York private eye) adds a steam-punk flavour and grainy black-and-white aesthetic and creates an fresh-feeling story. This is not just isolated to a single story in the collection, however, for a similar technique is used on another, this time taking the conventions of anime. At first, it seems a generic feudal Japan piece, with all the big-hair, impossible swordplay cliché of the style, but then the Matrix simulation element kicks in, allowing the scenery to cycle seamlessly between locations, and suddenly, rather than a rehashing of the anime style, it becomes an exercise in style. Yes, everything in this particular story you will have seen before, but when it’s done this stylishly, you won’t really care.
The animation is, of course, where this collection really needs to shine and, for the most part, it does. The CGI at worst is serviceable and at best, while not matching up to something like Advent Children, can be quite pretty. Most of the collection, however, is traditional animation, and some of it is very nice indeed. My favourite of this animation comes in the films entitled Kid’s Story and World Record in both of these distortion and caricaturing of the body in motion really helps to add a sense of movement to the characters and creates a distinctive visual style.
One final note to make, if I still haven’t interested you in this fairly unique film collection, is that it’s incredibly cheap: I bought my copy a couple of years ago from HMV for £3, and that included a pretty decent soundtrack CD in the case. Recently however, I’ve seen it for just £1, albeit without the soundtrack CD. And if that’s a little costly for you, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to find out on Youtube or somewhere.
Tags: Animatrix, Anime, CGI, Japan, Kid's Story, Matrix, World Record
