A little puppet rag doll machine with a 9 painted on his back comes to life in a deserted room, he opens a window to find that everything outside has been destroyed as if in a war. The best part for me was the visual design of those small rag doll machines, a mix between the evil Oogie Boogie from Nightmare Before Christmas and the protagonist Sackboy from the game Little Big Planet. I found their mechanical "eyes" fascinating but also distracting. The doll creatures showed emotion and some character but nowhere near the same league as Wall-E's robots who had much less to work with. To be fair, the limited (some would say lacking) characterizations of the rag doll robot creatures can theoretically be explained by their origins but that could have been better told and exploited. The animation for them was top-notch though. I liked the production design of the post-apocalyptic world but nothing blew me away.
9 is produced by Tim Burton but it doesn't have the same sense of wonder and cleverness present in most of his films so be forewarned. The action scenes were exciting and well shot but the storyline didn't feel satisfying especially the ending. The reason for the creation of the little rag doll creatures didn't make much logical sense to me. There's not much social commentary, originality (beyond visual) or humor in here that would have pushed 9 in the realm of classic. So overall, although I enjoyed the look of the film, I was left wanting in terms of story and emotional involvement. Adults would probably like it more if it was more mature, complex and darker while children would probably like it more if the characters were more personable. I wouldn't pay full price for 9 in the theatre.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
9 is produced by Tim Burton but it doesn't have the same sense of wonder and cleverness present in most of his films so be forewarned. The action scenes were exciting and well shot but the storyline didn't feel satisfying especially the ending. The reason for the creation of the little rag doll creatures didn't make much logical sense to me. There's not much social commentary, originality (beyond visual) or humor in here that would have pushed 9 in the realm of classic. So overall, although I enjoyed the look of the film, I was left wanting in terms of story and emotional involvement. Adults would probably like it more if it was more mature, complex and darker while children would probably like it more if the characters were more personable. I wouldn't pay full price for 9 in the theatre.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10