The director of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Naoki Hamaguchi, attributes an unexpected source for inspiring their approach to reimagining the beloved 1997 JRPG: a live-action Disney remake.
In a discussion with Spanish outlet Vandal, Hamaguchi recounts a pivotal moment in 2017 when he went to see Disney’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. He reflects on how the experience influenced his perspective on how much to retain from the original material versus what to innovate upon, especially during the early stages of development for Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
“At that point, we were grappling with questions about the balance between fidelity to the original and introducing new elements,” Hamaguchi elaborates. “Watching Beauty and the Beast provided me with valuable insights into how to navigate that dilemma because I was striving for a similar approach.”
Square Enix developers had previously expressed a desire to remake Final Fantasy 7 once they could achieve production values comparable to the CGI quality seen in the film Advent Children.
This aspiration seemed to gain further traction in the wake of Disney’s wave of live-action remakes. “The underlying goal was consistent: to reimagine and modernize a classic animated style with a more realistic aesthetic,” Hamaguchi adds. “Seeing Disney’s take on this concept was both illuminating and beneficial.”
However, Final Fantasy 7 Remake was not merely a graphical upgrade of its predecessor. It boldly reinterpreted pivotal moments in the narrative, almost functioning as a sequel within an alternate universe. As for the subsequent parts of the remake trilogy, their approach remains a mystery. Yet, despite occasional complexities, our review of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth showered the sequel with accolades.
