9 (Movie Review)

Clocking in at a mere 79 minutes, this movie is no epic, but still creatively ambitious. Marketed as "not your little brother's animated movie", just who is this movie for?

The story takes place on post-apocalyptic earth. Mankind has destroyed itself and only machines and 9 mysteriously animated rag dolls remain. The dolls, named 1-9, struggle to survive as an evil, monstrous machine aims to hunt them down and kill them. The movie is not graphic, but death is a common reality in this film. The advertising campaign and the PG-13 rating ought to be enough warning, but just in case I'll let you know that this movie probably isn't for most young kids. Though tweens and early teen boys will likely enjoy it a lot.

The visual look certainly contains some hallmarks of producer Tim Burton's early work, though not excessively. Both grim and child-like, the design of this world is captivating.

Cast with celebrity voices like Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Crispin Glover, you might expect the characters to really stand out, though the roles would have likely been serviced just as well with unknowns. Plot and concept are the real stars of this movie, and they carry it pretty well. Though I could have used 10 more minutes of character development spread throughout the cast. As it stand, the characters are not very fleshed out, leaving the movie feeling somewhat like a "Twilight Zone" episode or other short story.

The action is exciting and executed well. The bad guys are creepy (especially a strange "snake with a doll's head" creature) and hard to take your eyes off of.

For most of the film, we're asked to simply accept that the dolls are alive somehow, without knowing the reason. And though the plot doesn't continue asking the question of their origins, it is explained at the end of the film.

The plot is not complex and the premise (man vs. machine = end of the world) has been seen a dozen times. So it's not a story that will stimulate the mind of a sci-fi geek. But it will likely spark the imagination of a pre-teen boy and be a movie he looks back on in adulthood the same way I might look back on "The Dark Crystal" or "The Neverending Story".

For parents and kids, themes of death and the human soul are both given springboards for conversation in this flick. The human soul, in particular, is ripe for discussion among viewers of all ages as you leave the theater. Keep an eye out for some discussion points on the nature of the human soul near the end of the movie. You'll also notice a visual cue just before the credits end, suggesting a sort of reincarnation with a touch of Pantheism or Monism(All are one. No individuality. Each piece part of one whole.)

Probably not a movie that everyone will embrace, but a certain slice of the populace will find it scratches a very unique itch.

Rated PG-13 for violence and scary images

Quality: 8.5/10

Relevance: 7.5/10