Movie Review – 9 (2009)

Movie Synopsis:

In a world destroyed by war, a small doll-like figure named “9” wakes up in a laboratory, unsure where he is or what has happened around him. When he starts exploring the desolate, destroyed streets and buildings around him, he encounters another life-form named “2” who helps explain a few things to him. However, when a robotic beast attacks them, they must jump for cover immediately.

So begins an incredible adventure for 9, who must work with a collection of characters with different personalities, save some who have been captured by the evil machines, and try to understand more about what happened, why they exist, and how to stop the evil machines in this world, once and for all.

Movie Review:

This dystopian fantasy, produced by Tim Burton, truly had a beautiful, unique style and design. Director Shane Acker, who created a short film of the same name in 2005, one which received an Academy Award, works with an amazing cast and crew to bring it to the big screen in a bigger way in 2009. Acker and Burton have a vision which is executed flawlessly in this film, with a beautiful esthetic and a steampunk feel. The incredible adventure is told through rag-doll characters, in settings of gothic abandoned churches, dark industrial sections, and streets and buildings abandoned of all life, with only murky gas and whistling wind all that remains. The film had an eerie tone that was truly captured.

Strong voice performances made for a solid animated film, with actors including Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover, and Christopher Plummer, among others. Although at times the script felt a little stilted and bare, in some ways perhaps that was just right, given this post-apocalyptic world was a barren wasteland.

The film is very short, at 80 minutes, and although it is visually incredible with some great themes raised, it feels like not all the themes are fully explored or resolved to satisfaction. Additional focus on themes of war, violence, technology, science, environment, and pollution, all of which seem to be raised in the dialogue or picture, could have been explored to a larger degree.

That being said, the astonishing visuals and creative uniqueness of this movie definitely make it an enjoyable film worth watching.

Overall: 4 stars out of 5 stars.