Man created Machine in his image, and for a time, it was good.

The animatrix is an impressive collection of 9 short stories from the matrix universe, filling in some of the gaps between the original Matrix and the Matrix: Reloaded.

All of the stories have very different animation styles and narratives making for an enjoyable varied experience.

The first short animation "The Final Flight of the Osiris" is based immediately before Reloaded and does exactly what it says on the tin (as far as the plot goes). It is however one of the most visually impressive computer animations that I have ever seen (The animation is rendered by the same group that made Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within)and actually manages to look as if it's live action at points. While laking in new concepts this animation seems to be more to ease the viewer into the matrix universe on common ground, scenes such as the dojo and the interior of the ship should be familiar to fans of the original movie.

The next two short movies "The Second Renascence Part I and II" delve into the history of the war between man and machine and show how the feud began and how the matrix was formed. The animation in these movies again is absolutely stunning while at the same time more conventional for an anime than Osiris. Not only does this movie have excellent animation but the concepts and references that fill this anime are also well incorporated. The writer has added in familiar scenes from actual history (such as the tank crushing a defiant man in Tiananmen Square) but made the victims robots to suit the narrative. It succeeds at showing our worst flaws as a species. All in all these two were my favourite tales in this collection.

All of the other stories have good points and bad points that it would take too long to list, in order to save your (no doubt) tired eyes I will finish on the story that I liked the least,

Story number 9: Matriculated

This story involves a group of humans who work their way to the surface world in order to catch a robot and change it's programming to be friendly with humans. First off, although the animation is pretty good to begin with, the CGI that takes over about half way through is rubbish, dated and a complete eye sore. The over use of primary colours and cheap parady sound effects made the entire thing unenjoyable to watch. The concept is ok, converting some machines to our side in order to help with the war, but it is poorly executed and doesn't make much sense. I've no doubt that it probably deserves a bit more credit than i'm giving it but it just isn't to my liking.