9

Ugh.

Here's a good example of one of my least favorite types of film: the underachiever. This could have been so much more. The potential was definitely there, but it is so obviously an exercise of style over substance...to the point where the script needed a faux-trendy 'dark' animation to give it basic credibility. Oh, and how about we tack on a bunch of A-List actors to do the voices? Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer...and Crispin Glover? Youch guys.

It's pretty sappy, hollow and poorly written. Scenes jump around with barely an ounce of useful exposition or character development, and the most interesting part (the background of the little machine dudes and their creator) is glossed over and hardly touched upon.

But I guess it's nice to look at. The creativity is all squeezed out and stretched thin on the giant (and admittedly impressive) machine baddies, especially the frightening snake creature that captures the little cloth doll dudes and sews them into it's belly, only to regurgitate them later for the boss machine...and the cat-skull beast thing is also quite imaginative.

Otherwise, 9 seems like a film chopped to pieces in post-production. It's missing pivotal moments that may have taken away from the action, but would have served to connect the viewer most closely with the story and the movie as a whole.

Here's hoping for an uncut/director's cut version on the DVD...