The Compilation of Final Fantasy VII is best known for its games, but Square Enix branched off into other forms of media, which included a CGI movie that acted as a sequel to Final Fantasy VII and an OVA that showed another perspective on the events su🌄rrounding the Nibelheim Incident and Zack's escape from the Shinra Mansion.
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children was released in 2005 in Japan, while Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- was released alongside it, but wasn't included in international home releases until 2007. The former is a garish affair that at least offers a satisfactory conclusion to the series (so long as you ignore Dirge of Cerberus), whil🉐e the other is a flashy, but pointless entry in the series.
Advent Children Complete - Style Over Substance & Endings Over Beginnings
Final Fantasy VII had a pretty bad ending which stopped in the middle of the action and then showed a post-credits scene set 500 years later that answered nothing. Fans debated for years about whether humanity survived or whether it was only Red XIII who made it in the end. Advent Children finally answered those questions - The Lifestream (guided by Aerith) helped Holy to defeat Meteor. The planet was saved, but Midgar (now called Edge) was badly damaged in the process. Reeve (the controller of Cait Sith) has founded the World Regenesis Organization to help rebuild things, while many former Shinra operatives have turned away from their dark past and are trying to redeem themselves. Cloud Strife now runs a courier service and Tifa runs the 7th Heaven bar. They have taken in a young boy named Denzel and they take care of Marlene (Barret's adopted daughter) when he is away on business. The film is set two years after the events of Final Fantasy VII and a disease called Geostigma is kil🍨li🍸ng people around the world, with both Cloud and Denzel suffering from it.
At its core, the story of Advent Children is about Cloud coming to terms with the death of Aerith and learning to move on anꩵd become both a better person and a family man. He learns how to do this when three remnants of Sephiroth emerge from the Northern Crater to try and resurrect Jenova.
The three villains in Advent Children are the Remnants of Sephiroth, and a lot of the problems with the film can be attributed to them. Kadaj, Lazoo, and Yoz look more like Kingdom Hearts characters than ones from Final Fantasy VII, but the reason it's hard to take them seriously is that they are constantly begging and asking for their mother, wh🐻ich isn't the most intimidating of threats. They are a combination of plot devices and flashy outfits, so they are essentially the Tsviets of the film and aren't as memorable as the other villains in the series.
The story of Advent Children mostly takes a backseat to the action set pieces, which have some incredible choreography and are worth watching for the sheer spectacle alone. The only issue is that there is no grit or tension to the combat, as characters keep shrugging off hits and never taking any damage. Cloud is shot in the head during the opening chase scene and is only left with a small wound, which sets the tone for the movie. Advent Children also has the Captain America: Civil War problem, in that the best action scene is in the middle of the movie. The scene where the party members from Final Fantasy VII team up to fight Bahamut SIN is the highlight of the movie and final confrontation with Sephiroth feels less interest♔ing by comparison. The fact that Cloud just busts out a new Limit Br💙eak and finishes Sephiroth off so easily is also a let-down.
Advent Children should have used more of the original cast, as only Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent are given significant screentime. Instead, we have Denzel (the Phantom Menace Anakin Skywalker of the film) who mostly goes around reacting to things, and Reno & Rude of the Turks, who have become the comic relief of the movie. Reno & Rude used to be assassins and they did a lot of nasty work for the Shinra Corporation. They are unsuited to the role of Looney Tune cartoon characters and we wish that we had s🅠een more of the main cast instead of them.
The voice work in Advent Children is mostly great, especially considering that the actors have to deal with the mouth flaps and pauses of the Japanese animation (which became more of an issue in the Dissidia games). Cait Sith and his awful Scottish accent can🐠 burn in hell, but the rℱest of the cast did a great job with the material they had.
The best thing about Advent Children is that it makes up for the mistakes of Final Fantasy VII, in that it has an ending. Humanity survived and started to make amends for the pollution it had caused, many of the Shinra characters had a shot at redemption, and the main cast got their happily ever after. Even Zack's tragic ending from Crisis Core is given closure, as he is reunited with Aerith in the afterlife. Advent Children is not perfect, but at least it offers a proper ending to the game and even Dirge of Cerberus couldn't undo its good work. Advent Children is worth checking out if you are a fan of the original game♛.
Last Order - Canon Crisis Core
Last Order - Final Fantasy VII - is a short animated film that combines elements from different parts of the Compilation, but was ultimately retconned by stuff that was released after it. The movie was animated by Studio Madhouse, which was the same studio that did the animated segments in Before Crisis, so it makes sense that Last Order references that game several times.
Last Order tells several different stories at once. We🀅 see Tseng and the Turks on a mission to reclaim Cloud and Zack after they have escaped from the Shinra Mansion, we see Zack fighting Shinra soldiers in an effor🔯t to keep Cloud safe, as well as a flashback to the Nibelheim Incident.
Last Order has some flashy action sequences, but it doesn't add anything except complications to the timeline of the series. We don't even get to cry again at Zack's death, as the film cuts off before that happens. It's an interesting little curio for fans of the series and has been included on home releases for Advent Children, but it's not worth going out of your way to see.
Final Fantasy VII Remake will be availa𝓡ble for PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2﷽020