Final Fantasy VII Advent Children​ (ファイナルファンタジーVII アドベントチルドレン Fainaru Fantajī Sebun Adobento Chirudoren) is a 2005 Japanese computer-animated science fiction film directed by Tetsuya Nomura, co-directed by Takeshi Nozue, and produced by Yoshinori Kitase and Shinji Hashimoto. It was written by Kazushige Nojima and the music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu. Developed by Visual Works and Square Enix, Advent Children was the first announced title in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII series, which is composed of titles related to the highly successful 1997 console role-playing game Final Fantasy VII.

It takes place two years after the events of the game and is set in the city of Edge. Cloud Strife, now living as a delivery boy alongside Tifa Lockhart and taking care of two kids, is summoned to find the cause of "Geostigma", a mysterious disease that is threatening the city's population. The film was released on DVD in Japan on September 14, 2005, and a year later in North America and Europe. Special editions of the film contain official tie-ins that depict events that happen before and after the period covered by the film. On April 16, 2009, Square Enix released a director's cut version titled Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Complete for the Blu-ray Disc format which was also released overseas.

The idea of the film was conceived when Kitase wrote a script that focused on Cloud's and Tifa's story. Visual Works picked Final Fantasy VII as the theme for their next film, and Square Enix helped them develop it. Final Fantasy VII Advent Children received mixed reviews by online writers, who praised its battles and animation, but criticized how non-Final Fantasy VII gamers would not understand the plot. The film received the "Maria Award" at the Festival Internacional de Cinema de Catalunya in 2005, and it was awarded "best anime feature" at the 2007 American Anime Awards. As of May 2009, the DVD and Universal Media Disc releases of Advent Children sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide. Advent Children Complete earned better reviews due to some changes and new features, and it also enjoyed good sales.

Btw, what's the connection with Spirits Within? Movie I thought was beautiful, yet trash in any other way.

Gulli my love.

I viciously disagree. As a "fan" of the Final Fantasy 7 story I have to say that this film is in "D" terroitory. The characters are poorly sketched, the story isn't particularly engaging and the film throws in popular characters (Sepherof and everybody not Cloud) simply because people want to see them but then fails to do anything exiting with them. They don't even play into the story.

The summon fight is cool, but that's pretty much it.

I thought The Spirits Within was a failure of understanding an audience but Advent Children was basically just an attempt at a cash grab without doing something truly amazing with the series.

Also, with Final Fantasy 7 story already played out, giving them something significant to do do, a story meaty enough to play with, was a necessity.

They didn't do any of that.