THE ANIMATRIX *** (out of ****) Based on the films “The Matrix” and “The Matrix Reloaded” directed & written by Larry and Andy Wachowski. 2003 NR (should be R)
					“Kid’s Story” Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe & written by Larry and Andy Wachowski “World Record” Directed by Takeshi Koike & written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri “The Final Flight of the Osiris” Directed by Andy Jones & written by Larry and Andy Wachowski “Matriculated” Directed & written by Peter Chung
			“The Second Renaissance, Parts I & II” Directed by Mahiro Maeda & written by Larry and Andy Wachowski “Program” Directed & written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri “Beyond” Directed by Kouji Morimoto “Detective Story” Directed & written by Shinichiro Watanabe
	The animated short films that comprise “The Animatrix” are all foreplay and no climax.  The payoff to every film is stuff that we already know from having watched the two “Matrix” features.  What we get are details, backstory, footnotes, a few samples of the limited variations of what can go on within the Matrix, and in a few cases, virtual re-enactments of interludes from the two feature films.  “The Animatrix” is intended for fans who just can’t get enough, who don’t just gobble up sci-fi movies but the novelizations, websites, and fan-zines that go with them.  They are unwilling to let their knowledge of their chosen pop-culture mythologies be anything short of exhaustive, and instead of the magical mystery of the unknown they prefer the diagnosis of a post-mortem. Film critic Roger Ebert says that “part of the fun is becoming an expert in the deep meaning of shallow pop mythology; there is something refreshingly ironic about becoming an authority on the transient extrusions of mass culture.”  While I share a certain smiling affinity with those who take this approach, life is too short to make it my own.  I never want to read Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” I don’t need to understand “Mulholland Drive,” I don’t need to know exactly what happens to Nick Nolte at the three-quarter mark of “The Thin Red Line,” and I never want to know the identity of that guy who deactivates the nuke in “Goldfinger.”  Some will say that art that does not cater to an audience by not answering all its questions is mere masturbation.  But I say that trying to reduce the world to a list of dry facts, and rob it of its wonder in order to inflate one’s sense of intelligence, is vanity. But foreplay can be pretty cool, vanity has brought us all the wonders of science, and, as eye candy, “The Animatrix” is a success.  The nine segments of “The Animatrix” are more often than not visually splendid, kinetically exciting, fast-paced, and lucid.  The work of multiple studios and directors, they also serve as an accessible sampler of animation styles that haven’t quite broken into the mainstream.  They are all based around the same points established in “The Matrix” features, which is that the world we know is a computer simulation (the Matrix) built by machines intent on eating our mental energy.  A human resistance exists, both inside and outside the simulation, and their main adversaries are the agents, human-looking programs that keep order within the Matrix. The first two segments are the centerpieces of “The Animatrix.”  Entitled “The Second Renaissance,” they bring us up to speed if we’ve never seen “The Matrix” or if our Matrix-ology is a little shaky.  In the not-too-distant future (God, I love that…let me just say that again…in the not-too-distant future), mankind has become dependent on legions of robots to do everything for him.  But when a particular robot becomes self-aware, and kills the family that intends to throw it on the rubbish heap, a schism between man and machine develops.  The robots try protesting, creating their own nation, and joining the UN.  All these attempts fail and soon there is an all-out war that the machines win, bringing us to the beginning of “The Matrix.” Page two of "The Animatrix."                                                     Back to home.