PPR at the Movies: Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light Review
GeorgieBoysAXE
he impact that a video game can have on any one person and the relationships that they share with the people closest to them is hardly a foreign concept these days, but it’s certainly one that hasn’t had the best representation in films or television that that use it as the main framing artifice for a character-driven narrative.
Whether it’s the light-hearted classic, The Wizard, where a bunch of kids embark on a journey of self-discovery through their shared love of gaming, or Reign over me, a more somber film about a traumatized man who’s coping with the death of his family through his PlayStation 2; this MacGuffin has a storied history of good intentions, and awful execution.
In spite of this checkered past, Square-Enix took on a gamble to collaborate with Japanese media company Oricon to tell the story of a son concocting an elaborate plan to rekindle the bond between him and his estranged father through the iconic MMO, A Realm Reborn: Final Fantasy XIV within an eight episode series.
While the premise sounds like one that’s ripe for gross exploitation, the end-result is thankfully much more heartfelt in its presentation, as Final Fantasy XIV: Dad of Light strives on to be a touching tale of the human condition that manages to authentically capture the timeless charm of Final Fantasy in the process.
