Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within - Reception

Reception

Before the film's release there was already skepticism of its potential to be financially successful; Time magazine noted that video game adaptations had a poor track record when it came to the box office, also noting that it was Sakaguchi's first feature film. The film was released in the United States on July 11, 2001; making $32 million in North America and going on to gross $85 million in worldwide box office receipts. The film achieved average to poor results at the box office in most of Southeast Asia; however, it performed well in Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

"If the ambitious mix of East-West, movie-game and anime-action doesn't pay off, we may still remember this as the moment true CG actors were born."

The Spirits Within holds a 44% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 143 reviews (62 positive, 81 negative), where the consensus is the film "raises the bar for computer animated movies, but the story is dull and emotionally removed." Similarly it has a weighted score of 49/100 at Metacritic based on 28 professional reviews. The film was nominated for "Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film, Domestic and Foreign" at the Golden Reel Awards as well as "Best Animated Feature" by the Online Film Critics Society but did not win either award.

Roger Ebert was a strong advocate of the film; he gave it 3½ stars out of 4, praising it as a "technical milestone" while conceding that its "nuts and bolts" story lacked "the intelligence and daring of, say, Steven Spielberg's A.I." He noted that while he did not once feel convinced Aki Ross was an actual human being she was "lifelike", stating her creators "dare us to admire their craft. If Aki is not as real as a human actress, she's about as human as a Playmate who has been retouched to glossy perfection." He also expressed a desire for the film to succeed in hopes of seeing more films made in its image, though he was skeptical of its ability to be accepted.