Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is the movie based upon the video game series Final Fantasy.  It has the same theories and attempts to provoke the same emotional responses.

Fans of the game series may be disappointed by the fact that there is no blatant black mage; more recent fans will complain about the lack of summoners and moogles (neither of which were in the first games, I feel compelled to add).

Those who aren't accustomed to the method of storytelling won't always see the subtleties that we, the gaming audience, have developed senses to catch from when we first saw the exaggerated acting of a quarter-inch-tall sprite.  To them, it is a case of: why bother with photorealism?

The world created in FF:TSW does not have the restrictions of a staged set, which is a benefit to the storytelling.  Everything that happens in that world actually happens to that world.  Thus, it has the synthespians to match - as having real people over a CG landscape would have been worse than having CG characters with toned down expressions.

Expressions, by the way, that I feel reflect well the depressed world that was within the computers of Square Studios.

As for a lack of magic - if any remember a game (with bad graphics to today's standards) where magic was myth and machines were slowly becoming more powerful with a mysterious source that blended science and sorcery?  And the prominent sci-fi... there were robots and space stations in the first Final Fantasy title, if any remember.

Calmly changed to a flying castle and more golem-esque creatures in the remake, but I digress.

Final Fantasy has the look of the more recent games combined with the spirit that has always been there.
 

The presentation is not entirely original, but the story has originality.

The humans aren't human, but they express themselves.

The story is post-apocalyptic Earth, and, yes, that is what I expected for a Final Fantasy.

The music could be toned down, to my personal taste.

There is no magic, but there is magitek.

It's animated, but isn't a cartoon.

Despite popular belief, it does make sense.
 

I recommend to anyone to give it a chance.  There is no true measure for whether or not you will like it.  Some people will like it, others will hate it.  The one thing that bothers me is when people bash it (without having seen it) simply because it's popular opinion (and, yes, I've spoken to people like that).  If, when all is said and done, you don't like it, why waste your energy?

The reason one watches a movie is to be entertained.  Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within entertained me.  On a scale, I would rate it  6/5, 11/10, 21/20/ 101/100.... (and it goes on like that).