Movie Review: 9

I think it’s safe to say that we all got excited for this film upon watching the trailer because of the amazing job the animation team did on the film, the intensity of struggle we felt and of course because Tim Burton’s name is in the credits. Well, I have to say that this was all just fluff. We were hypnotized by the pretty colors, cute, little, sewn up characters and nicely timed music and many are in store for a big disappointment.

The setting had such great potential, the characters were memorable and easy to fall in love with, and the creativity that was put into this film would seemingly lead to a very good looking and sounding classic. But where these aspects excelled, the story itself (the most integral part of a film) was lacking and didn’t incite much emotion out of me at all. The film was entirely too predictable with a Disney-esque story arch (the pg-13 rating is most likely to blame for this). It left me, at certain points, bored. The story is filled with gaping holes and leaves no clues for viewers to fill in these blanks with our imagination.

The great struggle for humanity I felt from the trailers prior to release was absent while watching the film. The initial concept seemed to have a darker under-tone to it but the end product teases viewers with a stark, drab landscape only to throw a very light and unfulfilling story at us instead. With a fantastic setting like a post-apocalyptic WWII ravaged world, I expected there to be a greater sense of how these '9' used the world around them. Other than with their equipment and bodies, this too was missing.

There were only minor references to their past and how they’ve survived in this world being hunted by machines. Which leads me to my next big question, WHY ARE THEY BEING HUNTED BY MACHINES? Even upon their awakening and the machines acknowledgment of their existence, what threat could they possibly pose to the them? What is the reason for this great war between the two factions? Having watched the entirety of this film, these questions remain unanswered.

Simply put, this film looks to woo you with very well done animation and the Tim Burton name on the poster. But in the end, what you get is an ungratifying experience that leaves you in the hall outside the theater staring at the neatly placed 9 poster on the wall wondering what went wrong.

Still, the day a major toy company releases plush or vinyl versions of the 9, I will be there in line to collect them all.

Score: 2 out of 5

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