“9” is like no animated movie you’ve ever seen. And that’s both good and bad.
It’s set in a futuristic world where all humans are gone, killed-off by man-made machines. The only living things still on Earth are a group of dolls, created by a scientist who hoped that they could help save the planet. Each of the dolls is numbered 1 thru 9.
The machines are constantly searching for the dolls, trying of killing them all off. Doll number 9 meets-up with the others and together, they try to defeat and destroy the machines.
Visually, “9” looks fantastic, great animation, especially in the many action scenes. But the rest of the film is a bit disappointing. The movie jumps right into the action, and we really don’t get any time to learn about the different characters and so we never really care about them. The story never works on you emotionally. The trailer provided more tension than the entire movie.
And the plot is very basic: dolls fight machines, a few of them die, they fight again, a few more die, and they fight some more. No “edge of your seat” moments. Much too simple and straight-forward.
Elijah Wood voices the title character. Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly are among the other voice actors but none of them add much to their characters.
“9” is rated PG-13 for action violence and some scary images. Younger children may be frightened by some of the scenes. The film isn’t designed for young kids, but it really isn’t as scary as it’s being advertised. It’s appropriate for ages 9 and up, but if your children are only used to animated movies with talking toys, sea creatures and zoo animals “9” is not for them.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “9” gets a C, a much lower grade than I was expecting to give.
Tim Burton was a producer on “9”, but this is young writer-director Shane Acker’s baby, developed from his Oscar nominated (2005) short film of the same name. It’s too bad Burton didn’t have more of a creative role because he definitely would have made the story more interesting.