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9: Animation 10, Story 5
9 boasts the most stunning computer animation I have ever seen outside of a Pixar movie.
Now if only it boasted the best story I’d ever experienced outside of a Pixar movie - but alas it does not. The screenplay is OK, but it does not come close to matching the astonishing visuals onscreen. If it did, 9 would be one of the best films of the year. As it stands, the movie is a dazzling diversion, but it had the potential to be more than that.
Enlisting the help of Tim Burton and Wanted Director Timor Membaktov as producers, “visionary” director (a suspect phrase, after Watchmen) Shane Acker has expanded his Academy Award-nominated short from 2005, but not by that much. Running only 72 minutes, not counting credits, the picture feels slight - often exciting, but slight.
The title refers to a little mechanical doll-like character (voiced by Elijah Wood) who comes to life and discovers his scientist creator has died. The scene strongly reminded me of Edward Scissorhands - it’s no small wonder Burton got involved in the movie.
The world 9 has inherited is a bleak, desolate one, with no humans left alive anywhere. Machines have won a war against man, and mechanical monsters roam the planet looking like an unholy cross between the droids of The Matrix and the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. The only other life forms are other dolls like 9, each with its own number.
When one of the other dolls, the kindly 2 (Martin Landau) is captured by said monstrosity, it falls to the others to rescue him, although the crotchety 1 (Christopher Plummer) constantly objects to doing anything dangerous.
As bleak as this world is, it’s still beautiful in its own spare way. The animation is so astoundingly lifelike, I forgot that I was watching animation, just as I did when I saw WALL-E. The plentiful action scenes are terrific, with the “camera” dashing over, under and around the action with wild abandon. There is also one lovely quiet scene, in which the characters play an LP copy of the immortal “Over the Rainbow,” standing on the record.
As effective as these scenes were, the story, penned by Acker and scripted by Pamela Pettler (Monster House), didn’t stay with me. There’s simply not much there there. Of all the characters, 9 and the skeptical 1 are the only ones who truly stand out. A female doll voiced by Jennifer Connelly barely registers. It’s that rare movie that could actually stand to be longer.
Still, for the amazing animation alone, 9 is well worth seeing. It would have been even better if it were worth remembering.
GRADE: B
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