Animatrix

What is it about that darn Matrix, anyway? Despite the philosophical bombast and gleeful incomprehensibility of "Matrix Reloaded," this summer's disappointing sequel to the reality-bending special-effects extravaganza that was "The Matrix," I'm still strangely intrigued by the Wachowski brothers' grimly dystopic view of mankind enslaved by its own creations. So I couldn't resist this complementary project consisting of short animated features set in the world of the Matrix. Maybe, I thought, this collection would contain some of the answers to the questions that we reluctant Matrix fans so heatedly debate.

"Animatrix" consists of nine short films, each one ten minutes long, which aim to further explicate the world of the Matrix. Some were written by the Wachowskis, then given to design studios to animate; others were independently created and directed by the studios. Surprisingly, the better pieces weren't necessarily those written by the brothers W.

The Final Flight of the Osiris is the account of the ill-fated ship that managed to warn Zion of the invading Sentinels moments before its own destruction. Directed by Andy Jones, and produced by Square USA, Inc. (makers of the "Final Fantasy" movie), Osiris features lush, breathtakingly detailed digital animation and not much else. The two-sentence summing-up at the beginning of "Reloaded" pretty much renders this piece redundant, though it is lovely to behold.

The Second Renaissance, Pt. I & II is the two-part history of how A.I. overthrew and enslaved mankind, narrated by a foxy data-nymph called "The Instructor." Assembled from (animated) news footage, U.N. conferences, and court hearings, the history lesson follows the sensational court case of B166ER (called N166ER in Geof Darrow's original story, a visual pun on the robots' enslavement), who, tired of demeaning servitude, kills his owners. B166ER's conviction causes rioting in the streets; the robots gather in the post-nuclear wasteland of the Fertile Crescent to form their own country. But the humans just can't let the robots be, and planetary war is on. Directed by Mahiro Maeda (Studio 4oC), Renaissance is a beautifully animated, surprisingly affecting piece; though it's set in the world of the Matrix, Renaissance is also the only successful stand-alone in the collection.

Kid's Story, on the other hand, is everything I was hoping "Animatrix" wouldn't be: a smug insider's joke that caused a gratuitous scene and character to appear in the movie solely to give this piece a reason for being. Remember when Neo steps off the Nebuchadnezzar and has to fend off the ecstatic, puppy-like greetings of Kid? Remember wondering, "Who is that kid? Should I know him?", then forgetting him because he's completely extraneous? Well, this is the story of that Kid's escape from the Matrix. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (Studio 4oC), the piece has a pleasingly sketchy, dreamlike style, reminiscent of "Waking Life." The story is merely average, however, hardly justifying the awkward maneuvering of Kid's character into "Reloaded."

Program is an entertaining, if slight, addition to the collection, written and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Madhouse Studios). Inside a martial-arts training program, a young woman newly saved from the Matrix faces a difficult choice, when her sparring partner offers her the chance to forget everything and return to her old life. Angular and stylized, with a palette of red, white, and black, Program is quite watchable, but doesn't cover any new ground.

World Record, directed by Takeshi Koike (Madhouse Studios), is one of the more disappointing pieces. While in training to break the world record, a male track runner unconsciously taps into the Matrix, supernaturally enhancing his physical capabilities just as the humans of Zion do; the Agents sense a threat and close in. Animated in a jagged, abstract style that's difficult to watch, Record is a good idea (there's more than one way to break out of the Matrix) but poorly executed.

Beyond, directed by Koji Morimoto (Studio 4oC), is a lovely, haunting story about a young woman who discovers an "enchanted" old ruin while searching for her missing cat. Within its crumbling walls, gravity is negotiable, and anyone can perform magic. Of course, we know that it's not "enchanted," but rather a bug in the massive computer program that forms the Matrix, and it can't escape the Agents' notice forever. Charmingly rendered in a sort of anime/realism blend, it's a wistfully melancholy paean to lost innocence briefly recovered, enjoyable even for non-Matrix fans.

A Detective Story is a satisfyingly noirish tale, with a nod to the Alice-in-Wonderland themes that permeated "The Matrix." A hard-boiled detective takes the strangest case of his career: to track down an elusive hacker known as "Trinity." Soon enough, he discovers that he's not the first P.I. on the case... and all his predecessors have died violently or gone mad. Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (Studio 4oC), Story is animated in grainy, tactile black-and-white, which makes the splashes of crimson blood stand out all the more. It's a fun peek at what Trinity does when Neo's not around.

Matriculated, directed by Peter Chung (DNA Studios), is the weakest piece of the bunch. Somewhere, sometime (setting is not established, although it seems to be during the A.I./human war), an isolated band of human fighters captures robots and tries to convert them. Plugging the robots in to a mini-Matrix full of rainbows and acid hallucinations, the humans pretend that the hippie haven is "reality," and deceive the robots into joining up. Brought to you by the guy who did "Aeon Flux," Matriculated features the same mantis-like people and jerky animation. In addition to being visually unappealing, the piece is burdened by apathetic storytelling; much of the story takes place in the LSD-soaked virtual world, defying you to make sense of any of it.

As I understand it, the Wachowski brothers originally envisioned an interwoven, multimedia experience, where you'd need to read/watch/hear (and most importantly, buy) everything in order to Really Get It. This sounds suspiciously like crass, exploitative marketing, designed to suck as many dollars as possible out of the open wallets of gung-ho fanboys. Because, let's face it, casual fans don't care enough to go hunting down every snippet of Matrixabilia – nor should they. The movies should make sense on their own, and it's a weak excuse to point at some ancillary animated short and say, "But the answer's right there!"

And, as it turns out, these short films don't shed all that much light on the lingering questions drifting along in "Reloaded"'s wake, anyway. Though undoubtedly of interest to the hardcore-fan contingent, "Animatrix" certainly isn't essential viewing (though it may provide you some extra ammunition for those late-night Matrix debates).