9

Review By: Tom Herrmann
TomHerrmann@TheCinemaSource.com

Movie Grade: B

Just to get this out of the way early, Tim Burton did NOT direct this film. Yes, he is one of its producers, but Shane Acker took the reins on this animated adventure. The trailer does give away the impression that Burton directed this for two possible reasons: either they realized that Acker has no directing experience in full length films and wouldn’t draw a crowd, or they realized that Burton’s name alone will guaranty a high box office outcome and merchandise sales at your local Hot Topic. This is similar to the Coraline trailers early this year, which claimed it was from, “the director of A Nightmare Before Christmas,” who, despite popular belief, is not Tim Burton.

9 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where all of humanity has been wiped out after the machines created by man turned against them - very original. Just before dying, a character merely known as “The Scientist” (Alan Oppenheimer) created nine stitchpunks, which is actually what they are called for some reason. The Scientist hoped that by creating these stitchpunks he could ensure that even though the world he knew had ended, a new one would bud and flourish in time. In a sense, the film managed to do exactly what Battle for Terra attempted by making an animated action movie for an older audience.

Despite the fact that the trailer tries to pull the wool over our eyes with the whole Tim Burton thing, there is very little negative to say about the film. It accomplished something really hard in bridging the gap between old and young audience by having mostly child friendly material while incorporating all of the vitality it promised. What is most notable about this is that 9 actually has a healthy balance between the two. Being animated allowed it to have more violence without being too intense for children, but the lessons that we learn and the lighthearted fun is never anything that would make an adult feel nauseous.

Just as you might have assumed from the whole “evil machines” back-story, this movie deals heavily in social symbolism ranging from environmentalism to anti-war, and even treads on a corrupt government thing. Regardless of the fact that it is easy to see this coming, it is done very well. None of the issues seem overbearing, something that can’t be said for all films since ideals are force-fed to us without poise in most films with a message. To get a point across properly, it has to be done a certain way, which 9 did for both young and old.

With that said, there is almost nothing else about this film that can be described as predictable. We see the creation and awakening of 9 (Elijah Wood) and are given no information about his purpose or the world we are entering with him. Throughout the film, we only know what 9 knows, and that made for some really unexpected twists and turns. ...