BUT!!… one of the things that really bugged me is how during the original Cloud vs Sepheroth battle the music was written to match the action perfectly, but in the new version the same music accompanied newly choreographed action and there were some distinct audio cues that were completely stripped of their effect as a result. To me that feels like a slap in the face to the music director.

If you’re going to sacrifice dramatic/thematic ‘oomph’ (pacing, significance, etc) for plot clarity…you’d better have a fantastic plot.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Advent Children. I think it is good for both the film and gaming industry that we have it as an example of what can be done with the technology and I still like this film more than most ‘hi-res’ CG movies (IE, Beowulf).

When I first heard they were re-releasing AC, my first thought was ‘Great, Squeenix squeezing more money out of the same game’ but I have to say that I was at least gratified to see that SIGNIFICANT changes were made, so that it was not simply a repackaging. It is, in fact, a different experience.

The problem, of course, is that it is not necessarily a BETTER experience.

Some of the line-changes I was disappointed in because I had liked the previous cut. Many times, like Jesse said, the movie DRAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGS.

There were some positive elements. When I first saw AC, I could not determine why geostigma was apparently a big deal. It is barely covered and there is no sense of urgency in the audience to match that of the characters. The explanation in Complete does give a better idea, and I found myself more sympathetic to the characters. The introduction of Denzel and why I should theoretically care about him was both helpful and useless at the same time.

Having more of Tifa was nice, though losing Cid’s role in the Bahamut fight was a bit unfair it seemed.
My favorite addition was blood during the SephirothXCloud fight. I’m still torn on which version I prefer, but I certainly enjoyed Complete’s rendition.

I do own a copy now, mostly because I’m the only one in my group with a blu-ray player. But if someone were to ask me, I would say this version is worth seeing once, but if you’re a fan, buy the original edit instead.

I know 2 people who liked the new version much better, 2 people that didn’t like it as much, and one person that was neutral. You very well might have the opposite opinion and there’s nothing wrong with that.