It is amazing to think that twenty years ago, the original Matrix came out and took the world by storm. While the movie ended with and definitive victory for Neo and his cyber punk pals, the stage was also set for more films, should the public demand be there. As the Wachowskis planned the two sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, they also teamed up with several of the anime world’s finest to create The Animatrix.
The anthology movie came out around the same time as The Matrix Reloaded was released. In fact, one of the film’s stories, Final Flight Of The Osiris was released in theaters. Some fans might bemoan Reloaded, Revolutions, or both. But The Animatrix is where the really cool sequel lies.
It Doesn’t Focus On The Main Heroes
While several of the film’s main stars did lend a cameo to several of the stories, The Animatrix focused more on the everyday people that were living, trapped in the Matrix. The constraints of a movie don’t allow to bob around and focus on ordinary citizens who don’t know they’re living inside of a computer program, much less being held a prisoner by it. The Animatrix made full use of this, by telling all kinds of stories about that startling realization.
The Second Renaissance
In the original film, Morpheus explains to Neo how for years now, we’ve been living in a dream world and we’ve been nothing but batteries for the machines for years. That horrific backstory is played out during the cryptic, two-part “The Second Renaissance.”
Humanity finally created Artificial Intelligence. Like we humans do, the AI was created to be subservient to us (no one ever remembers the lessons of Terminator). The robots rebel, attack, and learn that we are a pretty decent food supply.
The Agents Are Even Worse
While the Agents in the films are pretty terrible, in The Animatrix, they’re just completely brutal. Case in point - “World Record.” In this story, we meet a marathon runner, who pushes himself to near limitless speed. Strangely enough, it’s his athletic prowess that frees him from his pod - for about a millisecond before the Agents shoot him and render him catatonic. But even then, there’s always a chance, there’s always hope - the runner stands up in his chair, albeit only for a moment.
The Matrix’s “Holodeck”
We saw a little bit of The Matrix’s training sessions as Neo began to learn his way around the program. It was sort of a Holodeck, ala Star Trek: The Next Generation, where you could imagine any and all scenarios. The Animatrix showed even more of that world in two different stories - Osiris and Program. While there wasn’t a lot of deviation in either training scene, it still showcased a myriad of possibilities for future problems.
The Animation
If you know the genre, then you knew very well that one of the Wachowskis biggest influences for The Matrix was classic Anime and Manga stories. Those influences got to come to life when The Animatrix was produced.
Animators that worked on the classics like Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and Aeon Flux all contributed their top-notch talents to make The Animatrix very special.
The World Is Wide Open
One of the coolest things about expanding the world of The Matrix, is expanding the world of The Matrix. Plenty of fans just couldn’t get enough of the world, and The Animatrix was a nice appetizer before Reloaded and Revolutions. Now that it’s been announced that franchise is going to be rebooted, hopefully The Animatrix can become a wild anthology series; perhaps one that would give Black Mirror a run for its money.
Not All Stories Have To Be Violent
Beyond was one of the better stories of the anthology series there’s no giant battle sequences, no freedom fighters being chased by Agents. No, Beyond is just a simple story about a group of kids who happen to inadvertently find a glitch in the Matrix and they take full advantage of it, as kids would. They love jumping and leaping and playing kick the can. Just kids being kids. It doesn’t last long though; the Agents eventually find the problem and fix it. But the story itself is very relatable and proof that not all of stories have to be violent, action filled stories of revolution.
The Voice Acting
Did you ever think you’d see actresses like Pamela Adlon (Better Things) to be in a Matrix movie? Or Kevin Michael Richardson for that matter. Yet, they’re both part of The Final Flight Of The Osiris, the first part of the anthology. You can cast virtually anyone you want for a cartoon feature, as opposed to people who “look” the part and can physically act the part. No disrespect to either Richardson, Adlon, or anyone else for that matter, but you’ve actually seen either actor in an action movie, have you?
Different Teams = All Sorts Of Creativity
It goes without saying that the Wachowski Siblings ran a tight ship for The Matrix Trilogy. The cyber punk thriller featured all kinds of wild ideas mixed with tried and true philosophical concepts.
The action scenes were live action anime scenes fully realized. When the Wachowskis opened the doors to their franchise, along with it came a slew of accomplished directors and writers, like Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) to come up with their own takes on The Matrix.
Not Nearly As “Heady”
Being heady and insightful is awesome. Movies that make you think are awesome, especially good action movies. But sometimes movies can get a little bit up their own derrieres. Which is what happened during The Matrix Reloaded’s climactic sequence. Neo and the Architect have a discussion about choice and about what everyone prior to Neo had done once meeting the wannabe Colonel Sanders. Even though The Animatrix is thoughtful and insightful, there’s no need to take a deep dive on the source material.