Armand Shafaii
The Signal Staff
“9,” the animated adventure film directed by Shane Ackers is not exactly the cartoon you take your kids to see. Ackers wastes no time reminding us of how close we are to our own destruction, depicting multiple scenes with dead humans.
Similar to the Terminator movies, “9” takes place in a post apocalyptic world where machines that man created have destroyed them. Now mankind’s only hope to have their lives avenged lies in the wool-like hands of nine dolls.
The movie starts off a little hard to follow and would benefit from more background into the characters’ origins. For instance, the audience has no idea why everything is in total destruction and why little rag dolls are running around until about 15 minutes into the movie.
Ackers started this film as an 11-minute thesis that he completed in 2004 at the University of California in Los Angeles. The film later got picked up by producer Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, who helped fund Ackers’ thesis into a full-length feature.
The movie does have amazing animation and pays particularly close attention to detail, which helps “9” gain a unique feel of realism. The movie’s release date, 9-9-09, was the perfect premier date, however the film leaves the viewer with unanswered questions and a lack of closure with a running time of only 74 minutes.
The film’s cast are mysterious characters that resemble rag doll looking creatures created by “the scientist” days before mankind’s biggest fears came true. The scientist gives each of the nine dolls a piece of his life. The scientist’s final creation, 9 (voiced by Elijah Woods), is a curious and courageous soul who encounters a twist of emotions throughout his adventures to save the lives of his friends.
It often felt as if the movie was an extended cut scene for a video game. Unless you are a huge animation fan, viewers might want to wait for this one to come out on DVD.
Below is a podcast of a portion of a round table interview reporter Armand Shafaii participated in that featured 9 director Shane Ackers and actor Elijah Woods.
[podcast]http://uhclthesignal.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Woods_voiceover_acting.mp3[/podcast]
[podcast]http://uhclthesignal.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Woods_Ackers_Lord_Rings.mp3[/podcast]
[podcast]http://uhclthesignal.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Woods_video_games.mp3[/podcast]