The "Matrix" universe is made clear and shown in intriguing variety.

"Animatrix" is a collection of 9 short animated films related to "Matrix" and its sequels. Brief notes on each follow:

"Final Flight of the Osiris" concerns a human battleship and its last desperate effort to warn Zion (the last human haven, deep underground) that the machines appear to be drilling into the earth's crust just above them. It's a whiz-bang little drama in 3-D animation (like "Final Fantasy") -- not anime, per se, and very, very well done.

"The Second Renaissance, Part I" and "Part II" provide an excellent background to the rise of the machines, the fall of human civilization, and the creation of the "matrix" world. This is more traditional animation ... anime in the better French tradition rather than the Japanese (although all the sequences were done in Japan) -- for instance, the eyes are mercifully normal in size. This is an impressive pseudo-documentary, full of splendid ironies. If we didn't have past examples straight out of the last century and (already!) this one, we could hardly believe humanity could be so overwhelmingly stupid. The "second renaissance" was of course theirs, not ours.

"Kid's Story" also uses more traditional animation, somewhat different from (and less smooth than) the previous episodes, and (thank the gods) devoid of the Japanese goggle-eyed approach. This animation style does much to suggest the underlying unreality of the Matrix world -- very clever. The episode takes place within the illusion provided by the machines. A young student gradually learns the truth and finally transcends the Matrix.

"Program" is animated in a wonderful style very reminiscent of Heavy Metal (the 'toon-SF 'zine) in its heyday. It takes place within a beautifully realized and stylized virtual reality program being experienced by a man and woman. He wants to return to the Matrix and wants her to come with him. It's a well laid-out little surprise-ending bit.

"World Record" is animated in a beautiful style that represents the human form with a good deal of grotesquerie, using cutting edge comic-book color schemes and unusual camera angles. It also makes more obvious than usual that there's no lip-sync with the English dialogue. Within the Matrix, a track star is dealing with his personal demons. The main tension in this is whether he will wake up within his pod, whether he will free himself from the Matrix.

"Beyond" is animated in the very realistic style of "Second Renaissance", wonderfully clear. Within the Matrix a young girl searches for her cat. Told by 3 boys that the cat went to a "haunted house", she goes there and begins to encounter all sorts of anomalous phenomena. She finds the cat and finds the boys busy transcending the matrix. She joins them. Enforcers arrive, and it goes on from there.

"A Detective Story" is a wonderful anime noir -- seriously: almost no color but good, gritty black and white. The Matrix has created a pre-WW II Chicago (I think...there's a prominent downtown elevated) with rotary dial phones and old cars, but with computers. A PI is hired to find a computer hacker named "Trinity". Altogether interesting and quirky.

"Matriculated" is, like "World Record" animated in a surreal style that is eye-catching and effective. Outside the Matrix, in the real world, a woman operative and her tarsus assistant are on a mission, eluding machines. This eventually switches into a pseudo-Matrix created by humans. The level of surrealism increases, with all sorts of great images and an equally surreal progression of events. The pseudo-Matrix later has to be terminated to fight an attack by machine forces. This provides an intense action sequence and a segue into an appropriately enigmatic ending.

"Animatrix" could hardly be more entertaining and interesting. The variety of animation styles and story lines are intriguing. It's capable of standing alone because the 2nd and 3rd sequences give all the necessary background -- but the first sequence would be very puzzling without having seen the original "Matrix".