Skip to content

Nights and Weekends

Reviews of movies, books, music, and board games

Primary Menu
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Pin Posts
  • Privacy
  • Home
  • 9

9

kdk September 9, 2009
0 0
Read Time:2 Minute, 29 Second

In the post-apocalyptic world of director Shane Acker’s 9, humanity has been completely destroyed by war. All that remains are the machines—and nine little hand-stitched dolls, whose purpose is…well…unclear.



After the newest of the bunch, 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), is awakened, he’s befriended by 2 (Martin Landau), the wise old inventor of the group. So when 2 is captured by one of the machines, 9 is determined to stand up and fight—even if it means defying 1 (Christopher Plummer), the group’s leader, who demands that they stay hidden.



With help from loyal 5 (John C. Reilly) and brave 7 (Jennifer Connelly), 9 sets out to battle the machines—but, in doing so, they awaken an even bigger, more dangerous machine that threatens to destroy them all.



Based on the Oscar-nominated short of the same name, 9 is a pitch-black animated fantasy that features even more nightmare-inducing creatures than Coraline. 9 is rated PG-13 for a very good reason: because it’s really scary. This dreary world is populated with giant, mechanical monsters that chomp, claw, consume, and suck out the characters’ souls. It’s pretty gruesome stuff for an animated movie.



As terrifying as it is, though, the animation in 9 is still simply stunning—and, for the first half hour or so, the animation alone makes the film mesmerizing. Whether depicting the nine intricately detailed “stitchpunks” or exploring the dreary but imaginative world around them, each frame is crisp and breathtaking.



Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the story. As is often the case with feature-length films that started out as shorts, 9 seems to run out of things to say quite early on (the original, after all, is only 10 minutes long), resulting in a jumbled mess of added action sequences and some complex exposition that feels pointless and unnecessary (not to mention that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense).



The extra time could have been more wisely spent developing some of the characters—or even the story itself—to give the audience some kind of reason to care about what happens. Instead, we’re given the bare minimum on the characters: 1’s the narrow-minded dictator, 2’s the inventor, 8 (Fred Tatasciore) is a brainless goon (who also seems to be a stoner)…and, of course, 9 is the hero. But while most of the stitchpunks do have character traits, few have character. Though they can walk and talk, they still feel like little more than stuffed creatures—and when their story comes to an end, you’ll realize that you don’t really care.



9 is definitely a sight to behold, but with its flat characters and its pointless story—complete with muddled philosophies—it makes for a drab and dreary 75 minutes. I recommend watching the trailer to get a glimpse of the gorgeous CGI and skipping the rest.

Share

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn

About Post Author

kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it. Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course. As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com). Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
kdk@nightsandweekends.com
http://www.NightsAndWeekends.com
Happy
Happy
0 0 %
Sad
Sad
0 0 %
Excited
Excited
0 0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 0 %
Angry
Angry
0 0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 0 %

kdk

Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.

Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.

As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).

Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.

See author's posts

Categories

Archives

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

You may have missed

Road to Perth
  • Melodrama
  • ON FILM

Road to Perth

January 7, 2022
American Siege
  • Cardiac Corner
  • Melodrama
  • ON FILM

American Siege

January 7, 2022
Good as Gold (Whatever After #14)
  • COVER TO COVER
  • Kiddie Lit
  • Listen In...

Good as Gold (Whatever After #14)

January 4, 2022
Just Haven’t Met You Yet
  • Chick Lit
  • COVER TO COVER

Just Haven’t Met You Yet

December 28, 2021

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Pin Posts
  • Privacy
Copyright © All rights reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.