Life > February 20, 2003

By Robyn Washington

Graphics Editor

In the months leading up to the 1999 release of The Matrix, the film’s promotional paraphernalia, trailers, posters, even the Web site, posed a solitary, disquieting question: “What is the Matrix?”

But as Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) replied to Neo (Keanu Reeves) when he posed that very question, “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.”

Certainly The Matrix gave us both a narrative and an arrestingly visual explanation of what the matrix is.

Now, four years later and just a few months away from the theatrical release of the highly anticipated sequel, The Matrix: Reloaded, a new question is being posed: What is The Animatrix?

To enlighten your minds, The Animatrix is a series of nine short animated films, each between six and sixteen minutes long. The films are prequels that fill in many of the holes in the mythology of The Matrix.

Larry and Andy Wachowski, writer-directors of The Matrix, wrote four of the Animatrix scripts and the Anime directors themselves wrote the five remaining stories.

Nevertheless, the Wachowski brothers worked closely on each creation with the individual directors, from initial proposals to post-production.

The first short, “Second Renaissance Part 1” was released on the official Matrix Web site on Feb. 4.

Additional films will be released each month leading up to the May 15 release of The Matrix: Reloaded. The CGI short “Final Flight of the Osiris” will be attached to the March 21st theatrical release of Stephen King’s Dreamcatcher.

“Final Flight” was directed by Andy Jones, who was also the animation supervisor on the full-length CGI film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001).

In addition to Jones, The Animatrix collection utilizes the talents of numerous other talented and well-respected figures within the animation world. 

Peter Chung, who worked as writer and director for the MTV quasi-anime series Aeon Flux, directs the short “Matriculated.”

“Beyond” is directed by Koji Morimoto, the art supervisor of the seminal anime film Akira (1988).

If you are familiar with Akira you may be wondering if these films are as fantastical and inaccessible as that film.

Or if you are completely unfamiliar with Anime, you may be thinking that you have no interest in seeing these films.

Neither group of readers need worry. “Second Renaissance Part 1” has the visual style and energy that is present in Akira and in most Anime, but the narrative is very understandable and straightforward.

In addition, “Second Renaissance” is based on The Matrix, so viewers have an immediate frame of reference on which to build.

In this first release we are told the story of how man became dependent upon the machines. We learn of the first machine revolt, and we see images of a world of humanity torn by violence and dissent, seeking to destroy and banish the machines.

The film’s director, Mahiro Maeda, uses various twentieth century images of war and oppression in depicting the civil unrest following the machine’s revolt.

We see humans chasing down robots in the street. A robot is crushed under the weight of a human driven tank in a scene reminiscent of Tiananmen Square.

In an appropriation of Vietnam imagery we see a machine kneeling on the ground as a gun is placed to its human-like “head.”

With the jerking of a human finger against the metallic trigger, the machine’s “brains” go flying across the screen.

A slow shower of bright and iridescent circuit boards and microchips float in suspended drama.

Maeda thus does a remarkable job of returning this futuristic and fantastical story into the realm of reality.

The machines become symbolic, and the viewer is forced to analyze the way that society may be exhibiting the damning attitudes condemned by the film.

All of this content is packed into nine powerful minutes, and the plot is left unresolved, awaiting the second half in the next release.

Four of the nine films will be released online and can be downloaded from the official Matrix Web site http://www.whatisthematrix.com The files are strikingly clear and detailed.

But if you simply detest watching films on a computer screen, never fear. The DVD compilation will be released on June 3, 2003. Nevertheless, the site features stills and trailers from the unreleased films along with plenty of other Matrix goodies.

If you enjoyed The Matrix then you will appreciate these short films for their graphic ingenuity and narrative elucidation of the original film. I could give an intricate description of these films and their illuminating mythology, but instead I reiterate Morpheus’ admonition: you have to see it for yourself.