9

Genre : DVD ( DVD )
Release : 2009/12/29
Price : $13.99

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Nine small rag dolls, stitched together from burlap and clock workings and lenses, are all that stands in the way of the world being overtaken by the Machines. Actually, as 9 begins, it looks like the Machines have already had their way with Earth: this is one of those post-apocalyptic landscapes without life, hope, or sunlight. Clearly 9 director Shane Acker is willing to make an animated film that doesn't soar with Disney colors or Pixar cheer--in fact, main characters are killed off before the movie's halfway through. Our hero is 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), so dubbed for the number on his back; after awakening to very confused consciousness, he bumps into other puppet survivors, such as the imperious 1 (Christopher Plummer), the warrior-like 7 (Jennifer Connelly), and the one-eyed comic sidekick 5 (John C. Reilly). They do battle with the Machines in a relentless (and eventually monotonous) series of battles, and the exploding hardware and endless warfare has a tendency to crowd out whatever character development might have been set up in the opening minutes. No question the movie's design is impressive, and the characters have a wonderfully expressive quality at first. But at some point it seems the Machines have taken over the moviemaking here, with tedious results. --Robert Horton

I adore this film. I purchased it in Blu-Ray and they weren't kidding on the package when they said "Perfect Picture and Purest Sound Available." This is what Blu Ray is all about,i had to turn down my surround sound due the sound quality being so crisp and clear and consistent throughout the whole movie. The blu ray really shows the detail on the characters and scenery beautifully. This is one of the better Blu Rays I've seen.

Now onto the material in the movie. Some say its not a movie for kids due to the scene in the beginning. I don't see a huge issue with it, most kids will understand the premise of the movie if you explain it. The characters were all fantastic and each one brought importance to the storyline which contained such a deep message(which has been conveyed in many reviews and does show on the special features). Ultimately the inventor creates the rag dolls, and with each doll he uses a piece of his soul to bring them to life. Ultimately to make up for creating the machines, that are souless beings(it goes much further into it, but I don't want to give away spoilers etc.) This film was very fast paced and not a moment was wasted, I was watching and didn't even check the time once. I do that often when watching movies as usually about halfway through i loose interest. I realize that being an animated movie, generally speaking the time is alot shorter than most films. But the length was perfect,very rarely can I appreciate everything in a 2-3 hour film. They worked so well with the 80 minutes they used, you see character developement, back story(cause and effect), as well as diving deeper into the origins of the rag dolls. I saw bits and pieces of other movies in this picture such as Terminator(the obvious reference to human builds machine, machine gets smart and kills human), as well as the design of the machines which very very closely resembles that of War of the Worlds(2005). That did not bother me, as those are two of my favorite movies anyway. In fact, I actually appreciated it. However, as i stated above there is a much deeper meaning to this film so keep your eyes and ears open :)

I had read some so-so reviews on here and I did take them into consideration before watching, but for me, my expectations were surpassed. Everyone has a different taste in film, but I highly recommend this. You could do alot worse for 80 minutes out of your life ;)

--Also don't forget to watch the 10 minute short that the film is based on. well worth it!

This movie was ok, the animation was great and the voice talent was fun, but the story and a few of the "bad" characters were too reminiscent of the Matrix. In a post-apocalyptic world one late arrival (a sock puppet named 9) decides to "buck the status quo" and fight "the machines." He is joined by a rag tag group who each possess a different skill set including a female character who is a great fighter.

The main evil machine is a giant mechanized spider with a single red eye interface that looks like it crawled right out of the minds of Andy and Larry Wachowski. Originally, because it was a Burton produced film, I was planning to buy it, but now now...

This movie is quite telling and insightful. That is all I can say... Good movie.

The world has been destroyed by a war between men and machines, because a totalitarian regime imposed to a mad scientist to build the ultimate machine that could build more machines. The machines won of course. But on that last machine the mad scientist who was not completely mad built a plug-in that had to be brought and that plug-in is working two ways. It activates the machine if it is plugged into the machine or it is the destroying element if it is activated when off the machine. Then he creates some nice little mechanical humanoids whose mission it is to destroy the mechanical folly that destroyed the world. The last of these little technical androids is number Nine and he will succeed in his mission. The details are in the film itself. It is naïve, slightly frightening, definitely sickening about the silliness and gullibility of human beings. It is also full of hope that these little nice mechanical androids who are given the planet after this catastrophe will be better than human beings. Human beings had been created by God and these by a not so mad after all scientist. You can imagine the madness of God who created such an unmanageable species. Maybe not the best of Tim Burton's films but quite a good one, though obsessed as usual with death, which means with life.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID

I really enjoyed the movie WALL-E. Apparently so did director Shane Acker, who remakes the best of that movie in this, his debut film. But he also cribs bits from every recent sci-fi or fantasy film that was any good at all. You could make a drinking game out of spotting them: the eye of Sauron on the body of a Matrix creature; landscapes from of Mad Max or the Terminator; soundscapes from any film by Spielberg. Acker steals anything that isn't nailed down.

In the near future, a tiny canvas doll named 9 awakens in a bleak, war-ravaged world. In mere minutes he finds eight others of his kind, but alienates their leader and revives a forgotten evil that takes up where it left off. 9 quickly slays every monster the evil throws at him, but only at great cost. Soon, as the last battle between Man and machine falls to the last one standing, only 9 has the secret that can restore life to our world.

This feature caroms from idea to idea with the haste of a small kid telling a campfire story. As much happens in this movie as happened in Avatar, but with far less control and balance, dragging us along in its breathless, cliché-ridden wake. And though Acker posits a detailed world rich with sci-fi potential, by the end I'm no wiser than I was at the beginning, and way more confused. So many interesting ideas, but so little actually going on. What a shame.

Among the bonus features, you'll find Acker's original ten-minute short on which this feature is based. The short is so good that it ironically only serves to point up how good the feature isn't. The short presents a wordless, image-driven world of smart psychological horror and hard-won triumph that I actually enjoyed watching. Paradoxically, by explaining nothing, the concise mythic short gives us everything. By explaining everything, the feature leaves us with nothing.

My girlfriend and I laughed as we pointed out every stolen image in this movie, hooting and catcalling the whole way. It's never a good sign if the DVD's paying audience heckles the film. 9 is laden with the potential for so many good, smart, exciting films, but instead of making one of those, Acker makes this unintentionally hilarious mess. I actually feel a little bad for the guy. But not bad enough not to warn you away from this film.