Two years after the events in "Final Fantasy VII", a disease called 'Seikon-Shoukougun', or 'Geostigma', is spreading through the planet. This disease is believed to have been caused by the body fighting off foreign material that invaded the body two years earlier, at the end of "Final Fantasy VII". Guilt-ridden and haunted by his past, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife has decided to live a secluded, solitary life away from his friends while maintaining "Strife's Delivery Service", whose headquarters is located in Tifa Lockheart's bar, the Seventh Heaven.
Tifa's bar serves as an orphanage for children stricken with Geostigma. Here, Tifa keeps an eye on Barret's six-year-old daughter, Marlene, while Barret searches the planet for an alternative energy source to the Planet's energy, Mako. One day, Cloud receives a phone call from the former Shinra, Inc. president, Rufus, asking him for protection from a mysterious man named Kadaj. Kadaj, in the meantime, along with his brothers Loz and Yazoo, are searching for their "mother", and seem to believe that Cloud knows where to find her. Meanwhile, Vincent Valentine has been wandering the planet gathering information on Kadaj's scheme, and Cloud and his friends must come together again to fight these new enemies.
Ever since I heard the buzz about this movie in the FF fandoms, I have really wanted to see this. And though the dvd was entirely in Japanese with Jap dubs, I still liked it a lot (Never mind the fact that I couldn't understand half of what was being said.)
The animation of SquareENIX is top notch and character design is absolutely wonderful. Sure, the story does lack depth but the entertainment quotient balances that particular weakness of it. The scene of Loz versus Tifa in the derelict church, Kadaj and Cloud's motorcycle rally in a broken down town and the final battle of Cloud vs Sephiroth are the best battle scenes I have ever seen. There is plenty of katana fighting to keep me happy for the rest of my life. (We all have a thing for swords.)
Reno was a hoot. His laid back persona, his goggles and his tendency to irritate Rude was hilarious. He turned out to be in the list of my favorite characters from the movie along with Kadaj. The latter was just too brilliant and villainous.
On the whole, an enjoyable movie. For people in Chennai, I suggest going to Odyssey where Advent Children original dvd is available at an affordable price of Rs. 499.
