Earth is a wasteland, humanity has been practically wiped out by an alien invasion. Living under the protection of what looks like a glowing circus tent, human survivors go about their working lives, trying to comprehend their fate, while The Phantoms devour the spirits of all living things.

It is up to Dr Aki Ross (voiced by Ming-Na) and her mentor, Dr Sid (Donald Sutherland), to search for eight missing spirits, that are capable of wiping out the enemy. With a rag tag team of Marines, led by Captain Gray Edwards (Alec Baldwin), the scientific duo set off to capture the spirits before General Hein (James Woods) manipulates the government into attacking the aliens with an orbital laser, which has the potential to destroy Earth.

Hironobu Sakaguchi has directed the best film based on a popular video game to date - not an easy thing to do. A particular genre transferred to a game can be original, but when it becomes so popular that a film is produced, it doubles back on itself and ends up as nothing more than a farce. Tomb Raider, anyone?

The secret to its success is the fact that the movie is entirely computer-generated. There is a distinctive style, which is particularly suited to cinematic adaptation, with its impressive visuals, original story lines and precision editing

This is animation up there with Pixar's Toy Story and Dreamwork's Shrek, only more serious. I have no doubt that if either of these companies were behind the film, it would have had a cleverer, more concise script. It is no cartoon, but a computer generated comicbook brought to life by the best animators around, with characters who are far more impressive to watch than the crew of Titanic.

Here we have a state of the art piece of cinema, something which hasn't been done before in the realms of CGI animation. Columbia Pictures, backed by Square Studios, who worked on the original video games, demonstrate exceptional talent, not just with the animation, but in other key areas as well.

The design is practically flawless, the use of textures and atmosphere so real that you are fooled into a sense of realism. There is something about the structure, however, that plays at the back of your mind, a lack of emotion, perhaps. The story is strong, but the script lacks clarity at times, becoming muddled - common in a lot of Japanese animation - which is enough to confuse adults, let alone children.

Although not the most original story, with its use of mythological references, it seems that the animators and writers regard it as nothing more than an experiment, at times. Okay, it can be cliché. There is the military leader, blind to the truth and bent on the use of force over logic and then there is the hero and the wise old man, etc, etc.

It is still an entertaining film, which will certainly become a cult classic and pave the way for the next attempt from a major studio.

If you are going to produce a movie that is as visually stunning and pushes the boundaries of computer animation, make sure that you have a script as clear and concise as every pixel thrown in to it. Otherwise, it's like pissing on a Picasso - what you have here looks surreal and impressive, but is tarnished by something not quite right.