9 (2009/I)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Shane Acker

Writers:

Pamela Pettler (screenplay)
Shane Acker (story)

Release Date:

9 September 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

A post-apocalyptic nightmare in which all of humanity is threatened.

Plot Keywords:

Machine | Beast | Cape | Fall From Height | Drawing

Cast

Christopher Plummer	...	#1 (voice)
Martin Landau	...	#2 (voice)
John C. Reilly	...	#5 (voice)
Crispin Glover	...	#6 (voice)
Jennifer Connelly	...	#7 (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	#8 / Radio Announcer (voice)
Elijah Wood	...	#9 (voice)
Alan Oppenheimer	...	The Scientist (voice)
Tom Kane	...	Dictator (voice)
Helen Wilson	...	Newscaster (voice)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and scary images.

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #45249) | France:U | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Ireland:12A | Finland:K-11 | UK:12A | Netherlands:9 | Australia:M | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Company:

Focus Features

Trivia:

The design of 3 and 4 is based on a pair of garden gloves - the thumb can be seen in the back, and the wrist is gathered at the top.

Goofs:

Continuity: When searching for the tunnel 5 loses the map and it blows away, yet when 7 finds the tunnel she finds the map propped on a stick a few feet from the tunnel.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Scientist: We had such potential, such promise.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: (2009-09-05)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Beautiful animation; undeveloped, incomplete story

This movie feels like it starts in the middle. I don't instinctively identify with robot rag dolls. So, for most of the movie I didn't care much about what happened to them because their plight, purpose, and origin are not explained at all until the movie is almost over. At that point, I felt like "Oh, okay, if they had explained that in the FIRST 15 minutes of the movie, I might have cared what happens". But they didn't explain it, and I didn't care what happened.

I won't even go into the conclusion of the "story", except to say that it makes no sense at all and is riddled with holes and ambiguity.

Yes, the animation is very nice. Yes, there are some decent action scenes. Those are the strongest points of the movie. But, honestly, beyond the unique look and style of the artwork, it's the same stuff, the same action, that you see in every other animated movie. Ho hum.

Summary: nice animation, cliché action, underdeveloped plot, and very little story to pull the (over age 16) viewer in.