Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Survivors of a ravaged Earth battle a species of ghostly alien invaders. Another computer game hits the big screen, but unlike Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, this one is entirely computer-animated in a photorealistic style, and much of the animation is truly stunning. On the down side, the script mixes standard videogame exploits with pseudo-science and superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Worse, the characters are frankly boring—the directors might have mastered explosions and clanking machinery, but facial expressions and lip movements still elude them. Even so, there’s an almost evangelical, wave-of-the-future excitement to the film, promising more and better to come.