Review: 9 (2009)

[Mark R. Leeper]

                                 9
                (a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

     CAPSULE: In the short film of the same title, a world
     ravaged by the vicious robots built by a fascist dictator,
     several small mute homunculi, each numbered, battle
     to survive.  The Oscar-nominated ten-minute film is
     stretched to feature length.  There are lots of fights
     and the story a little bit extended with more plot.  Also
     voices of good actors are added to the formerly mute
     homunculi.  But what worked in the shorter form is not as
     impressive as a 79-minute film.  The film is unusual and
     visually striking but not really special as an animated
     feature film.  Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or 6/10

[This is not to be confused with the film NINE.]

The doll-like homunculus 9 finds himself in a post-apocalyptic
world laid waste by evil robots.  He befriends another homunculus
like himself named 2, and when 2 is captured by a robot 9 decides
to rescue his friend.  9 leads a revolt of doll-people against the
machines.  On the way he will learn about what brought the world to
this sorry condition.

When Shane Acker released his mysterious short film "9" it had an
impressive impact and was even nominated for an Academy Award for
animation.  It featured a mysterious little mute doll-robot or
homunculus with no name but the number 9.  He lived in a ravaged,
post-holocaust version of our world.  9 and his fellows, each
roughly six inches tall, seemed not made of metal and silicon like
the robots outside but of soft materials like burlap cloth and even
a zipper.  This was a little pliable thing in a world destroyed by
hard machines with sharp edges--mechanisms of metal and bone.  The
short film was a calling card and it bought Acker an opportunity to
expand a ten-minute project into a feature-length film.  But the
perfect length for this story and these mute characters is ten
minutes.

The short film version just had to create the imagery and to tell a
very short story.  A feature film required a more complete and
complex story.  The mysteries of the short film had to be solved
for the viewer.  The characters that in the shorter version got
most of their power from facial expression without sound.  For the
feature they were given voices of familiar actors.  Elijah Wood,
Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Christopher
Plummer and Martin Landau gave voices to the characters.  But this
made them less effective and not more.

The feature really needed to be a story as good as the images it
created.  Acker faced the problem that after a few minutes the
novelty of the visuals would wear off and the story would have to
carry the viewer.  Pamela Pettler extended Acker's story by having
more fighting with more evil robots and by spelling out a whole
political back-story.  The mystical whatever-it-is that happens in
the short film happens in the longer one, but that part remains
mystical.

Disturbingly, one can easily tell whether a doll, an animal, or a
machine is friendly or not.  Evil robots have one big red eye or
many little red spiderlike eyes.  They have sharp claws.  If it
looks ugly it is bad and if it look pleasant it is good.  This is
the same convention that Disney animation films have followed for a
long time.  And that studio has been teaching children to use that
same criteria in real life, where it might not be so good an idea.

There is a lot that is interesting to see in the world created by
Shane Acker but not enough to make the feature film satisfying.
The story is somehow similar to that of THE DARK CRYSTAL, but with
less complexity.  The feel of the story is also somehow reminiscent
of the stories of science fiction writer Clifford Simak. One might
have some idea of what was coming considering that among the
producers were Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov.  The latter
directed NIGHT WATCH, DAY WATCH, and WANTED.  It is not a bad
animated feature, but in the general run of animated films these
days the word for it disappointingly is "unexceptional."  I rate it
a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or 6/10.

Film Credits: <http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0472033/>

What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1205483_nine/>

Original short film:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=964QHmjLqa0>


					Mark R. Leeper
					mleeper at optonline.net
					Copyright 2009 Mark R. Leeper