Today’s quick review: The Animatrix. While fleeing from a Sentinel ambush, the crew of the hovercraft Osiris discovers that the Machines have begun drilling toward Zion. Meanwhile, in the Matrix, a high school boy’s faith in Neo sets him free. Elsewhere in the Matrix, lonely individuals brush with the true nature of their reality. And centuries earlier, a disobedient android sets off a robotic revolution that leads to the scourging of the Earth.
The Animatrix is a collection of animated sci-fi shorts set in the universe of The Matrix. Released between alongside the second entry in the series, The Animatrix consists of nine ten-minute short films that flesh out the world of the franchise. The shorts vary drastically in style, tone, quality, and purpose, with a few shedding light on the series’ backstory, a few tying into the main plot in minor ways, and a few that ony use the Matrix as a backdrop.
The closest short to the established canon is the first one, The Last Flight of the Osiris, a CGI film set just before The Matrix Reloaded. A prequel of sorts, the short shows how Zion came to be warned about the Machine’s offensive. The short has impressive CGI and a fair bit of action, but ultimately consists of a single, expendable scene that could have easily been part of the second movie.
The Second Renaissance Parts I & II are a pair of shorts that depict the events leading up to the war between humanity and the Machines. With a decent art style and competent writing, the quality of the shorts is reasonable, but the tone is at odds with that of the main films. The shorts make explicit the series’ backstory, removing some of the mystery and replacing it with well-executed but conventional science fiction.
Kid’s Story is the last short of note, an origin story for a supporting character in the second and third movies. When a teenager in the Matrix is contacted by Neo, he begins to understand the truth but earns the attention of the Agents in the process. The concept is interesting, but the art style is loose and messy and the writing leaves a few crucial points unstated. The main draw of the short is its minor connection to the movies.
The rest of the shorts are vignettes with varying degrees of relevance and quality. They range from bleak to downright psychedelic, and in general they add very little to the canon. There are a few neat ideas tucked away in there, such as an elaborate samurai battle in a training program or a black-and-white noir, enough to catch the interest of a devoted science fiction fan, but the shorts are very hit-or-miss and dependent on taste.
How much you enjoy The Animatrix will depend on your taste in animation and science fiction. The shorts are meant to be artistic standalone pieces, guest segments that take the world of the Matrix and run with it. But between the splotchy art quality, the limited nature of the format, and the poor connection to the main plot, the shorts are easy to skip and should only be sought out by Matrix fans with a taste for experimental animation.
7.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for a couple of decent shorts, a few bad ones, and mediocre use of a strong setting.