9 is founded on an intriguing idea and entertaining visuals, but the film fails to impress.
Greenhorn director Shane Acker originally used 9’s concept as a short film. This story’s original length of 11 minutes becomes painfully evident as the feature film barely fills out its already short runtime of 79 minutes.
The film’s concept is interesting enough. The human race develops artificial intelligence beyond its control, so the robots rebel and destroy humanity. A lone scientist foresees the imminent destruction and develops nine small mechanical creatures that hold the key to restoring humanity.
The film follows the mystery of the nine as they embark on a discovery of their purpose and a battle with the few robots that remain on Earth.
At the outset, the film attempts to combine the creative imagery of computer animation with the intellectual maturity of a post-apocalyptic world, but both fail to deliver.
As each piece of the puzzle comes together, the story falls prey to predictability. The back-story lacks depth, and the ambiguous ending fails to provide impact or meaning.
The film’s obvious draw is visual bravado, rather than intellectual stimulation. Even so, for a computer-animated film, the visual direction itself lacks is not spectacular.
Acker does provide an engaging team of protagonists, ensuring that each of the nine looks unique and has a personality that represents an extremity of human behavior.
The nine’s physical character design displays great attention to detail, but that level of specificity is overlooked in the barren landscapes and bombed-out buildings.
Everything is shrouded in a visually impenetrable darkness, and the few buildings that are visible are too cartoonish to suit the tone of the film.
The action scenes that rolled out in the trailers are also disappointing. The nine are so small in comparison to the other robots that it’s difficult to accept they can dominate them.
Most battles deliver no more than robots getting knocked around like rag dolls.
The most underwhelming element of 9 is the shallow world Shane Acker has created. He began with interesting creatures and a solid story base, but neglected to rise above these minimal expectations.
9 is more like a computer-animated action film for young boys, falling short of the greater vision Acker should have shared.
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