Directed by:
Shane AckerScreenplay:
Pamela PettlerComposer:
Deborah LurieCast:
Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover, Fred Tatasciore, Tom Kane, Alan OppenheimerVOD (5)
Plots(1)
In the final days of humanity, a dedicated scientist gives the spark of life to nine of his creations. The world has turned into an unrecognizable landscape of machines and spare parts, but this group of nine finds that if they band together, their small community might just be able to change the course of history. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (4)
Reviews (9)
Three and a half stars. In 9, form triumphs over content, and it does so with ease. The film is really nice to look at, the animation is almost flawless, all the technical toys are well thought out and the post-apocalyptic world is beautifully demolished and dead. But the script is also dead - it likely won't surprise anyone, and if it does, it's only because of how boring it is. That’s really unfortunate - the action scenes are nicely and imaginatively shot, the rag dolls are likeable and the robots appropriately "dark"... But the plot...
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Where Wall-E attempts to suggest a depressive post-apocalyptic atmosphere in the first half, 9 fully develops its vision of a world devastated by war and does not care about the moods of the child audience. The visual aspect is amazing and because it usually plays a significant role in my rating, I lean toward a five-star rating, even though I have a problem with the philosophical aspect of the film and consider its outcome unsatisfactory. Where, for example, Avatar has a philosophy that is too primitive, the philosophical dimension of 9 is possibly too complicated and uncertain. 9 depicts the adventures of nine extraordinary beings with a robotic foundation who look like rag dolls combined with the idea of artificial machines from the late 19th century. The retro-stylization, which seems to come from late Jules Verne novels, along with the gloomy visual aspect in shades of brown, is exceptional for an animated film made today and it boldly disrupts the idea of a positively inclined film that parents go to see with their young children. The heroes of the story face monstrous machines, from which hatred and dehumanized evil of technology are evident at first sight, escaping human hands. The creators of the film seem to work with the concerns of today's inhabitants of the developed world, to whom technology seemingly gets on their nerves and they dream of a return to a simple life in harmony with nature. The battle of the dolls with the devilish invention is full of adventurous action and unique effects. The idea that the story should be heading toward is somewhat lost under their fire, but it was still a strong experience for me. Overall impression: 90%.
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The beginning held my attention... for about ten minutes. Then came – apologies to anyone who might be bothered or offended, but I really can't call it anything else – blatant American kitsch. And it didn't hold my attention, or even seem to deserve it. Maybe Shane Acker should have stuck with his 11-minute short from 2005, because he didn't give the world anything new by multiplying the time of the short by seven. Yes, the grim depiction of a post-apocalyptic world was very successful, perhaps I could call it the animated face of Orwell's 1984, but that's just a maybe and a happy accident. Someone wrote here about the gripping action, which I certainly didn't find gripping, rather it made me worry about whether I needed to paint my nails, which I also managed to do, and that just doesn't happen with good fantasy... It would have been a good movie if it could have held my attention. And it doesn’t help that it had been one of my most anticipated films of 2009.
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Despite the perfect atmosphere, beautiful art aspects and great action, 9 is only about halfway there. Mainly due to a stereotypically constructed story, which also relies on a rather agitating and moralizing tone. One could deal with that if at least the handling had not been so wanting, and dramaturgy was also not done well. Even the characters are shallow and forgettable sketches voiced by stars. It's a bit of an issue when the screenwriter writes a weak Christian fairytale and the director tells the story as a raw apocalyptic horror. However, it is worth seeing for the bizarre world on the edge of World War I and cyberpunk... Especially if you like Bioshock or Fallout. :o) [70%]
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Acker's visionary abilities battle with a sub-par script that flutters behind his exuberant imagination, and the result desperately cries out for a more uncompromising dramaturgist whose care would ensure more than just a fully rendered variation on the most recent Terminator. Stretching the original 11 minutes into an hour, not adding a drop of added value to the plot and hoping that "it will somehow carry itself" deserves a slap to the head. Giving these zipped-up bags a chance to show themselves properly on paper would be the most original cartoon far and wide. There is talent is evident here, though.
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Gallery (85)
Photo © Universal Pictures
![9 - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/160/137/160137470_34521e.jpg)
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