Academy Award®-nominated director Shane Acker teams up with two of the world's most visionary filmmakers, Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Night Watch), to bring a totally unique and visually stunning animated fantasy epic to screen.
When the small rag doll 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the landscape intent on doing them harm. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are ever to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. What follows is a sublime, heartwarming adventure where this most unlikely of heroes leads his troops into battle and, along the way, discovers that a band of miniature warriors may be the last hope for humanity.
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"Shane Acker, who in 2005 received critical acclaim for his 11 minute short of the same name succeeds in bringing 9 to the big screen"
Shane Acker, who in 2005 received critical acclaim for his 11 minute short of the same name succeeds in bringing 9 to the big screen, however, it was unfortunately lacking on both narration and emotional levels. 9 is a visually stunning, post apocalyptic tale of a group of rag doll type robotic humanoids that are the sole survivors of a great war that has ravaged the landscape. Throughout the course of the film the vocal talents, the amazing animation and the visually stunning set pieces are what shines through for the film but it's let down by the characters and the plot being a little too under developed.
The cast are brilliant, most notably Elijah Wood as the newly activated '9', who persuades the rag dolls to fight for survival, rather than hide in the shadows. Jennifer Connelly as the heroic '7' who on more than one occasion comes to the others rescue with her amazing fighting. Christopher Plummer also shines as the dastardly elder '1', who would rather hide than fight.
At the same time it isn't aimed directly at adults, with a 12A rating. I can imagine, or at least hope that a child watching this and being bewildered and confused and mortified and entranced, just as I was watching The Secret of NIMH or The Dark Crystal, and that's good. PIXAR has its wonders, but to see this is to see the A-game upped another notch in the medium and its potential. There are times I didn't even feel like I was watching just animation. Other times, I was taken away like any good fantasy or fable: in the one little moment of respite, 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' plays on a record and there's peace... until it's broken. It's rare a filmmaker can conjure something like that, but 9 has that in spades.
