The Animatrix

Review by Jason Donner

What is The Animatrix?

Well, simply put, it’s a collection of nine animated shorts based on the world of The Matrix. Simple as that. These stories range from stand-alone stories to prequels to The Matrix Reloaded to even a history lesson of the machine war.

The first is "The Final Flight of the Osiris." This Final Fantasy style short played before the craptacular Dreamcatcher and serves as a prequel to The Matrix Reloaded.

In it, we are introduced to the two main characters as they play a little strip swordplay. The entire scene may seem a little unnecessary, but it’s mainly the animators showing off and, believes me, they have a lot to show off. The animation is spectacular and probably the most photo realistic CGI I’ve ever seen.

Of course, the swordplay ends when they are spotted by Sentinels in the real world and soon, they are on a mission to warn Zion of the upcoming invasion.

"The Final Flight of the Osiris" is smart, sexy, action packed, and amazing to look at.

Next, we have "The Second Renaissance Part One and Two." In these two shorts, we are shown the events leading up to the machine war, the machine war itself, and the machine’s enslavement of humanity.

This two-parter is my favorite of the lot. It’s done in an anime style and the story is just astounding… pulling no punches with the horrors of war with lots of blood and lots of splatter. "The Second Renaissance" fills in a huge gap in The Matrix’ mythology.

Up next is one of the more disappointing segments called “A Kid’s Story” where a high school skateboard kid discovers the truth about the matrix by corresponding with a mysterious person online. The animation is stylistic… but so much to a point where it is ugly and unpleasant to look at. Still, it does answer the question of who the hell that annoying little kid was in The Matrix Reloaded.

The pace picks up again with “Program.” Two people, a man and a woman, spar in a Samurai simulation when the guy drops a bomb… he’s planning on betraying everyone, returning to the matrix, and living a normal life… and he wants the woman to go with him.

It’s a pretty effective story of betrayal and trust with some nice animation and ends with a satisfying twist.

The next segment, “World Record” tells the story about how a determined track star discovers the matrix through the pain of tearing ligaments and straining muscles.

The animation in this cartoon is once again stylized almost to the point of ridiculousness, but the direction sells the surrealism. The event is tense and exciting and then ending is almost heartbreaking.

In “Beyond,” we see the story of a young woman looking for her cat who enters an abandoned house and discovers a place where the laws of physics appear to have taken a vacation. Objects float, doors open to nowhere, time and space seem to have gone nutty.

This is a magical mystical story that also ends on a tragic down-note. While the content may seem a little weird, the direction and mystery of the piece really sells it.

One of the more stylish films (and I mean that in a good way this time) is “A Detective Story,” a black and white noir movie where a private detective is hired by an unknown party to track down a hacker named Trinity.

Punctuated by an occasional flash of color, “A Detective Story” is an example of the right way to use animation as the detective finds Trinity (voiced by Carrie Anne-Moss) and then comes close to discovering the secret of the matrix.

The last and definitely the most surreal ventures of The Animatrix is “Matriculated.” Done in the style of Aeon Flux, this film shows a group of humans living on the surface trying to get machines to identify with humans, rather than hunt them.

A good deal of the story takes place in a kooky virtual environment where a lot of the fun is trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Of course, this one ends on a down-note as well.

On the whole, if you’re a fan of The Matrix then The Animatrix is definitely something you should check out. Even though I’ve enjoyed both The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded, I believe that this collection is superior both in direction and imagination.