The fur flies thick and often in '9', the visually stunning post-apoclyptic story by writer/director Shane Acker. In fact, there's scarcely a breath between the action. From the opening moments when 9, a miniscule humanoid creature who looks like he's made out of nuts, bolts, and Chex mix wakes up in a run down laboratory, he's on a mission of survival. One look outside the doors reveals a barren, desolate world devoid of any life. The human population? Non-existent. 9 quickly comes across another like himself, designated '2', but he soon realizes they are not alone, for they are being stalked by The Beast.
The Beast serves The BRAIN, a sentient machine created after a great world war. The BRAIN was never properly tested, and once it gained control began creating it's own army which it used to wiped out the human population. Out of desperation, a scientist created these 9 stitchpunk dolls to save what little of humanity they could.
The rest of these stitchpunks all have their own unique personality traits to set themselves apart. 1 is the oldest and supposedly wisest, but he's more like he's been given the soul of one of the Grumpy Old Men. He's gripped by a terrible fear of the Beast and does little but hide. 5 quickly becomes 9's closest ally. He's a devoted friend, dilligent worker, and kind soul. Then there's 7, the lone female. She's a fierce warrior and true loner of the bunch. She openly wages her version of a war against the BRAIN's machines. I really dug how Acker modeled 7 almost like an action figure. She's cooler and slicker than the rest, more lithe and streamlined. But 9 realizes almost immediately that he's different than the rest. He's younger, more rebellious, more defiant, more motivated to end the nightmare rule of the BRAIN than the rest. There's some interesting culture clash that goes on between the upstart 9 and 1, but it's mostly surface stuff.
Unfortunately that's the biggest problem I have with this film. 9 started out as a short story by Shane Acker, and while I never saw it I can see where maybe there wasn't enough material to quite fill the whole page. This story jumps basically from action sequence to action sequence, with little explanation of what is actually going on. I got the feeling that they were trying desperately to pad out time to make this even as long as it was, and considering the film is only about 75 minutes long that's pretty sad. The concluding battle is the most drawn out episode, and it's so full of plotholes and "what the hell??" moments that I basically just threw my arms up and marveled at the pretty pictures.
But boy are those pictures gorgeous. They match the amazing voicework by Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, and Jennifer Connelly. They give these creatures a depth of life that the script simply can't match. I'd love to see this film remade or maybe even a sequel, that is not totally based on Acker's short. Maybe then a brand new, more fleshed out story can be developed that can equal the breath taking visuals.
6/10
