9 may fail when it comes to story, but it is still visually stunning

 9 is a post-apocalyptic film where the human race was entirely destroyed by stronger, and more intelligent machines that completely blew to pieces any army the world could come up with. But just before his death a scientist tries to keep the world going, so he creates nine rag dolls that come alive, and can talk. #1 (Christopher Plummer) is the obvious leader of the group, and knowing that they have no chance at defeating the great machine monters he insists on hiding until the one day that the final machine dies. Whether the group disagrees or agrees with #1's plan, they must have a leader so most of them go along with the plan. However, the last rag doll created is #9 (Elijah Wood) and he is not used to the group's ways. Then before he is discovered he is met by #2 (Martin Landua) who is almost instantly taken off by the machine beast. When #9 reports this to the group #1 says that there is no hope for #2 and that he must be left alone so the rest can be safe. But this does not satisfy #9 as he believes they should fight for their friends, and over time he convinces the clan that their only hope in surviving is to stand up and fight the machines. Only later will they learn why these machines are after them, and that the future of the world rests in their hands.


9 is a film that I have been wanting to see for awhile, and I suppose I can say it lived up to my expectations. It was produced by Tim Burton obviously, which even though he has had some excellent films seeing his name worried me a bit. Whether he is the director, producer, or just associated with the film in some way it always seems to have some sick twist to it. And even though I enjoy plenty of strange films, when I sit down to watch a little animated film, Tim Burton just isn't the name I am looking for. But I am here to say that 9 is actually a quite enjoyable film, though I would not go as far as seeing this with young children, because I can assure you there are scenes that will be very frightening to children, mainly the younger ones. I have to say this turns out to be a problem I think; if 9 is a pg-13 film more for adults than children then the story nearly fails, which is why I did not rate this higher. The story here is just all too familiar to the audience. I mean here we go, man makes machine to help increase technology and make the world a better place, but the very intelligent machines get too smart and take over destroying man kind. That just seems like a story I have heard more than once. The funny thing though, is that the director Shane Acker actually made an eleven minute short version before this, and from what I have read Tim Burton came along and wanted to make a longer version of it, so they did. And I am glad that they did, but the problem is the longer version just was not long enough. The film is only 80 minutes, which just hurts it more because the familiar story is underdeveloped. By the time the film ended I didn't even feel like I had watched a full length movie, and that was 9's biggest and most obvious flaw to me.


However, other than that 9 is a very good animated movie. It was back in 2005 that I first saw or heard about this film, and I immediately wanted to see it. I absolutely love the style of animation, and it really seemed like a good movie to me. But for whatever reason I forgot about it entirely, and it wasn't until just the other day when I saw it coming on HBO that I watched it. But despite the mixed reviews this film received, my exectations were still pretty high for the movie. And I can gladly say I really did enjoy this film. It has honestly one of my favorite animation styles, the characters are made so brilliantly, and it is amazing every move they make in the film. All of their facial expressions are very life-like, and that is saying something considering they were rag dolls. It isn't just your basic computer animation, and it was really quite worth the watch only to see how well animated this film was.


The film also had a surprisingly good script, and the vocal cast was very good. I cannot say I am much of an Elijah Wood fan other than The Lord of the Rings, but I thought he did a wonderful job here. It is always a pleasure to watch a movie with Christopher Plummer, whether he is actually in it, or just voicing a character, and he was perfect for the part of #1. Jennifer Connelly is another actress that always seems to do a fine job with her roles, and the acting here by everyone may not have been the best I have ever seen in an animated film, but it really was good acting. I enjoyed the musical score as well, which is another thing I have come to expect from any movie wth Tim Burton's name.


Overall, 9 suffers its way down to a 70% rating with one big, and very obvious flaw. The story is underdeveloped, too short and way too familiar to the audience. Even with the story being as it is, it would have been nice to at least have a longer film. But other than that 9 is top notch as far as animated films go. The soundtrack is very good, and the script worked well too. It has an excellent vocal cast, and the animation was just plain brilliance. If you can get past the failing story, 9 is actually a very well made film.