Seen on: August 28, 2009

The players: Director: Shane Acker, Writer: Pamela Pettler, Cast: Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly

Facts of interest: "9" was co-produced in Luxembourg, my home country. Neat!

The plot: In a world in which humanity was defeated in a battle against machines, a rag doll named 9 sets out on a mission to save what is left on the planet.

 Our quick thoughts: Director Shane Acker took an acclaimed short film he created and developed it into a big-screen adventure with the support of producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov. Sounds neat, doesn’t it? The result is Focus Features’ “9,” a decent animated action film that boasts incredibly intriguing visuals but fails to impress in the story department.

Set in the near future, the film introduces us to 9 (Elijah Wood), a puppet-like “stitchpunk” being who wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has lost a fierce battle against an army of machines. After joining a small group of others just like him, 9 soon embarks on a perilous mission that will eventually help him discover the real purpose of his existence.

Let me start off by saying that “9” is by no means a bad viewing experience. The visual style of the film is unique and the animation is breathtaking, and Acker successfully generated a dark big-screen environment filled with interesting details and a vibrant imagination. Furthermore, if there’s one thing I really enjoyed in this flick, it’s its sinister atmosphere.

The two things that bothered me most about this film were the lack of character development and the simplicity of the plot. The main storyline is anything but interesting, and all we get to see for 80 minutes is a series of explosive action sequences that occasionally deliver solid entertainment but don’t really serve a significant purpose.

It’s too bad really, because given the visual originality of these rag dolls and the movie’s overall look, you really wish you could accompany 9 and his friends on an unforgettable adventure toward a satisfying goal. Instead, we have to watch 9 accidentally resurrect a gigantic mechanical beast before he spends a great deal of time trying to defeat it.

That’s pretty much the entire plot right there. We do occasionally get to witness one or two calmer moments in which 9 tries to convince fellow 1 and others to be brave and join him on his quest to rescue one of their own and defeat the remaining machines, but even those moments feel a tad too bland for my taste.

I would also have liked to see these characters evolve more than they do. A majority of the dialogue they’re supplied with doesn’t add much to their personality, and none of these figures really grows throughout the film. Sure, we eventually discover why they were created in the first place, but these are characters I never really cared about.

Let me say this though: some of the action scene you get to experience in “9” are fantastic, and they certainly help to somewhat overshadow a few of the film’s more obvious flaws. Acker knows exactly how to perfectly create an intense, action-packed animated segment, and that’s what saves this one from failure.

Freaky quote: "9, you shall protect the future." – Christopher Plummer

The final word: “9” could have easily been a better film if more time had been devoted to the script, but all in all, I admit I didn’t leave the theater completely crushed. It’s not an amazing animated film as a whole, but it certainly looks great and won’t exactly bore you to death either. It’s entertaining, but not as special as I expected.

Article by Franck Tabouring