Best & Worst: Animated Videogame Movie
The Best
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
Why It Rocks: The first near-photo realistic CG rendered film, and though it was a box office bomb of nuclear proportions, Final Fantasy was praised for it’s visionary production techniques.
In the years since its release, Spirits has gathered significant praise for being well ahead of its time, and though the plot is rather straight forward, it beats the crap out of most video game adaptations, animated or otherwise.
The Worst
Pokemon 3 (2000)
Why It Sucks: Poorly animated rush job to cash-in on the worldwide Pokemon phenomenon, this was released in relatively quick succession to its predecessors with little attention to quality.
With glaring continuity errors with the accompanying cartoon series, the film earned only a third of the gross of the previous films. Pokemon 3 a prime example of franchise lag, an unnecessary cash-cow milked for every last drop.
Comments
paddyg11
Sep 2nd 2009, 11:04
When Silent Hill is, questionably, the best movie in a list I don't think the word 'best' should be in use anywhere
Alert a moderator
durden
Sep 2nd 2009, 16:54
okay...this is THE WORST list Total Film has ever made!!you guys really blew it this time!!i'm sure everyone disagrees with many of your "best and worst" decisions...what the hell?!were you guys high when you made this or something?!?!
Alert a moderator
darjeelingmike
Sep 2nd 2009, 16:56
To be fair, this list has made me realise that not all hope is lost for videogame movies. Yes, more than half of them are terrible beyond words, most of them helmed by Uwe Boll. But that's half the problem! A good deal of them don't have half decent writers, directors etc. and the actors they do get turn in mediocre performances. Having said that TF, you have highlighted some of the better points in adaptations as Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy (that animation really was good) and Silent Hill are all pretty good movies. Hitman as a film was awful but some of the action sequences were really decent and as s**t as it is I think Street Fighter is one of the all time great movie guilty pleasues! I heard that Michael Mann was once circling very average game Kane & Lynch with Bruce Willis. If this were true, you have your first truly great adaptation straight away. It's hard to do games justice but it really can be done with the right cast and crew, we only need one film to prove the world wrong. Shame we leave these adaptations in the hands of cineliterate hacks.
Alert a moderator
darjeelingmike
Sep 2nd 2009, 16:59
To be fair, this list has made me realise that not all hope is lost for videogame movies. Yes, more than half of them are terrible beyond words, most of them helmed by Uwe Boll. But that's half the problem! A good deal of them don't have half decent writers, directors etc. and the actors they do get turn in mediocre performances. Having said that TF, you have highlighted some of the better points in adaptations as Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy (that animation really was good) and Silent Hill are all pretty good movies. Hitman as a film was awful but some of the action sequences were really decent and as s**t as it is I think Street Fighter is one of the all time great movie guilty pleasues! I heard that Michael Mann was once circling very average game Kane & Lynch with Bruce Willis. If this were true, you have your first truly great adaptation straight away. It's hard to do games justice but it really can be done with the right cast and crew, we only need one film to prove the world wrong. Shame we leave these adaptations in the hands of cineliterate hacks.
Alert a moderator
SCQ47
Sep 2nd 2009, 17:55
@durden, Do you have an actual argument behind your accusation or are you simply ranting like a typical hormonal imbalanced teenager? My only criticism for this list is you should have shoehorned Uwe Boll into every category. "The Worst Super Mario movie: Uwe Boll. The Worst Tomb Raider movie: Uwe Boll." But I hold that criticism because Wing Commander might very well be the worst movie on this entire list.
Alert a moderator
Ali1748
Sep 2nd 2009, 19:23
Man I forgot about Mortal Kombat me and my mates would watch that alot back in school. Street Fighter is so bad it's funny I can enjoy the cheesy dialogue and terrible acting in it. Lets hope Len Wiseman's Gears Of War will break the mold.
Alert a moderator
Bojangles17
Sep 2nd 2009, 23:37
@SCQ47 I don't know if any of these were Durdens points, but I agree with him for these reasons: Silent Hill is much better than Wing Commmander but by *no* means is it "a spot-on adaptation" for fans. Dimming the lights and throwing Pyramid Head into the the mix is not an accurate recreation of the atmosphere...You couldn't make a spot on adaptation of Silent Hill because of the *lack* of action in that game. I like Hill but not anywhere near as much of the games. I personally prefer Max Payne to Hitman. Sheerly because Max Payne looks better the whole way through. And I can live without Olga Kurylenko if needs be. Comparing an ostensibly adult targetted CGI film to a childrens targetted standard animation film is completely unfair and pulling in Resident Evil degeneration or Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children would have made more sense (and I propose that Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is a fans idea of a spot on adaptation. Or sequel, anyway. Anybody who thinks DOA is better than Street Fighter is technically correct, but has no heart. Resident Evil was tonnes better than the two s**tstorms that followed, so how Resident Evil: Extinction is the best zombie game based film ever is waaaay beyond me. Although there are a few decent Video Game adaps, The Best and Worst Videogame Movies is a horrible idea for a list because the ratio of good to bad is far from equal.
Alert a moderator
Jason Voorhees
Sep 3rd 2009, 0:16
I always thought that Max Payne would be the most sensible choice for a film from a video game. I was quite wrong although it is probably the better out of all the dodgy ones i have heard. I am just waiting for a Grand Theft Auto based game ala gone in 60 seconds nick as many motors as you can. Res Evil ExStinksion is a catastrophe, i preferred apocolypse to that.
Alert a moderator
SCY385
Sep 3rd 2009, 17:30
Silent Hill, the movie, got me into playing the games. I love both of them.
Alert a moderator
locobison2008
Sep 7th 2009, 16:12
Just question whilst i can agree that final fantasy: the sporits within is un underatted film, surley Final Fantasy IIV:Advent Children is a much greater film not only for animation but sheer story and depth!!!
Alert a moderator
YungPinoy
Sep 30th 2009, 12:29
Super Mario Bros is by far the worst video game movie. It goes: 5. Wing Commander 4. Bloodrayne 3. Alone in the Dark 2. House of the Dead 1. Super Mario Bros Check out my blog I made about the worst video game movies ever. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2232157/sometimes_video_games_and_hollywood_pg2.html?cat=40
Alert a moderator
acrestare
Jul 22nd 2011, 20:05
That's kind of strange because tomb raider: the cradle of life is considered better than the first tomb raider, but in another article on this website it talked about how the cradle of life was a terrible sequel. Hmm....
Alert a moderator