My combined knowledge of everything Final Fantasy is around absolute zero. For me this is just another movie - nothing more, nothing less. As such I like it. Yes, the animation is what draw me into it but at the same time I don't think the plot is awful. It's scifi, maybe with some clichès along the way. But I have seen much worse.
The animation really looks great even today considering it's age. It doesn't look like a nealy 20 year old (animated) movie, which is a clear indicator how far ahead this movie was in 2001. One thing that became a little anoying the further the movie ran was Aki's hair. I think they invented a special engine for that if I remember correctly but they where really milking it. I thought at times that this would make a good shampoo and conditioner commercial.