Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, the actual first Final Fantasy movie
If you ask a Final Fantasy film about Final Fantasy movies, there are two that will probably come to mind: Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (generally regarded as a terrible idea in everything except the animation) and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (Still flawed, but a hell of a lot better and significantly more memorable). But I have yet to see anyone have Legend of the Crystals be their first thought, which is honestly a bit of shame because I quite enjoyed this movie.
Similar to how Advent Children is a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, Legend of the Crystals is a sequel to Final Fantasy V, although one that takes place far further in the future than the two year time gap in Advent Children. Legend of the Crystals takes place 200 years after Final Fantasy V, and follows Prettz, an adventuring swordsman, and Linaly, Bartz’s descendent and apprentice summoner. After three of the elemental crystals have been stolen, Linaly and Prettz depart to protect the Wind Crystal. But similar to how Final Fantasy V had a simple premise but expanded it’s story through escalating developments, so too does Legend of the Crystals as the movie’s villain, Ra Devil is an alien, who wants to use the Four Crystals to become the god Deathgyunos and destroy the world. Compared to the average Final Fantasy plot, it’s surprisingly simple. The villain’s main strength comes from his intimidation factor rather than being deep or complex (similar to Exdeath). The movie itself also features many references back to Final Fantasy V, but because of the 200 year time gap, the world is much different, with technology being a lot more common than magic.
Normally, I would get into discussions of spoilers, talk about the plot or themes of this movie, but I struggle to identify anything particularly interesting on those fronts. But that isn’t to say it’s at all a bad movie, because by far the best praise I can give is that it is really fun. The animation is pretty good, but the characters and writing are genuinely hilarious. It’s definitely a movie that knows its being ridiculous and takes it in stride. But it does try to have its more serious moments, some of these can be tonally jarring and not work for everyone, but I think they did a good enough job in those moments to make you take them seriously, for a bit at least. Overall it’s really just a a fun time to watch and have a few laughs
Should you watch Legend of the Crystals? Probably. Playing Final Fantasy V and/or knowing it’s story aren’t necessarily required, but they definitely enhance the experience. It’s definitely a movie that can be hit or miss, both from the somewhat weird tonal shifts when things turn from silly to serious (and vice versa), and with just how ridiculous this movie can get sometimes. You might not consider a good movie, but it can definitely be a fun movie.