Au-delà

Unlike the other Matrix films and short films which seemed dismal and nihilistic, this short film has a very bright and lively feel to it. The characters are very human and expressive rather than stiff and wordy like they can be in the other films. The story is told through emotion and wonder, and it works.

Beyond is, hands down, the best of the Animatrix shorts, a simple story about a woman who explores a "haunted" house in search of her missing cat. It's a bit difficult to understand if you haven't seen The Matrix Reloaded, but it does address one point that was made in that movie that I had hoped they would go into in more detail, namely ghosts, vampires, werewolves and other paranormal phenomena being entirely the result of a glitch in the Matrix. Beyond is a haunting piece reminiscent of the "Labyrinth" segment of Neo-Tokyo, an obscure anthology of anime shorts by Rin Taro (Metropolis), Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll) and Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira).

Beyond will probably score high in almost everybody's list of the Animatrix shorts, and I am one of them. It tells the story of a haunted house (a glitch in the matrix), in which a group of kids play with gravity and such.

A good story well told and well animated, it is one of the highlights of the Animatrix. It's actually an addition to the movies, which should have been the case for all of them. Instead, we got silly shorts like Matriculated and Program. So, if you only have time for a couple of the nine, check out this one as well as the first 'Last flight of the Osiris', and leave the rest of them.

7/10.

This is the sixth part of 'The Animatrix', a collection of animated short movies that tell us a little more about the world of 'The Matrix'. In this short we see some kind of flaw in the matrix. There is a house where things can not break and it seems that there is no gravity there. There is not much action and may be that is why I didn't like it as much as the other shorts. It was still a nice fantasy story so I was still entertained.

Coming in at about 13 minutes, this, the seventh of the Animatrix short is the longest of them all. The pacing is mostly good, and in spite of sometimes being laid-back, it's never boring. The animation is great, a nice mix of 2D Animé style and gorgeous 3D CGI elements. The many surreal visuals are beautifully realized. The writer and director behind this has a vivid imagination, however, this is not for everyone. It deals with the idea of glitches in the programming, and how they are perceived or treated by those who discover them. The themes explored aren't bad. The concept doesn't go as far as it arguably could, but I understand that the Wachowski's requested that it go no further than it does. The sounds and music are well-done. Voice acting has fine performances. The characters are credibly written and portrayed. This doesn't directly relate to the films, other than taking place in the same world as they do. It has a making of, on the DVD, which runs at about nine minutes, and is interesting and worth watching. I recommend this to fans of the Matrix universe and/or science fiction. 7/10