Based on an Academy Award-nominated animated short film of the same name, 9 (Focus Features) is the feature-length debut of director Shane Acker. Backing his work are two of the film’s producers, Tim Burton (who also produced Nightmare Before Christmas) and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted).
9 is set in a post-apocalyptic world where mankind has been destroyed by machines, a la Terminator. Trying to preserve some form of humanity, a scientist finds a way to preserve pieces of himself into nine rag dolls, known as “stitchpunks.” These stitchpunks are supposedly responsible for continuing life on earth, but also must stay alive and avoid the remnants of the machines. Each stitchpunk is named for the number it was given, 1 through 9, and the film’s main protagonist is 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings).
9 awakens in the scientist’s destroyed workshop and quickly gets involved with the other stitchpunks. 2 (Martin Landau, Ed Wood) has been kidnapped by the “Cat Beast,” a machine resembling a feline, and the bitter old stitchpunk 1 (Christopher Plummer, The Insider). 1 is the self-proclaimed leader of the stitchpunks and is backed by the hulky 8 (Fred Tatasciore). 1 also protects the friendly 5 (John C. Reilly, Chicago) and the eccentric artist 6 (Crispin Glover, Charlie’s Angels) and falsely believes 7 (Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind), 3 and 4 to be dead.
9 decides to disobey 1 and attempts to save 2, bringing 5 with him to help. Things go from bad to worse when 9 accidentally awakens B.R.A.I.N., which is this movie’s SkyNet. 9 and the other stitchpunks must try and stop B.R.A.I.N. while discovering the secrets of a strange talisman and ultimately finding out their purpose in the greater scheme of things.
9 is basically a visually impressive film that lacks a good story or coherent narrative. The film shows promise, but never seems to know where it’s going. With its brisk 79-minute runtime, everything that happens seems rushed, and many plot points are either poorly explained or just completely ignored. It’s always a pleasure to see innovative animated films coming from sources outside of Disney/Pixar, but this film doesn’t quite fit the bill (something February’s Coraline was able to do).
Even though 9 is all style and no substance, it shouldn’t be entirely dismissed. The basic premise behind the film is definitely interesting; it just didn’t flesh out as well as it could have. The backgrounds and character design are actually rather stunning and worth checking out, and this is a rare instance of an animated film where the characters aren’t mere characterizations of the actors providing their voices.
The movie does suffer from being too adult-oriented for children (it has a PG-13 rating), yet not necessarily offering up too much for more mature audiences either. However, an innovative animated film that doesn’t fully satisfy is much more pleasing than generic animated films that rely solely on talking animals and pop culture jokes.
