 The Spirits Within debuted to mixed critical reception , but was widely praised for the realism of the computer @-@ animated characters . Due to rising costs , the film greatly exceeded its original budget towards the end of production , reaching a final cost of $ 137 million , of which it recovered only $ 85 million at the box office . The film has been called a box office bomb and is blamed for the demise of Square Pictures . It was the first animated feature for Columbia since Care Bears Movie II : A New Generation . 
