If a super-scary, violent, nightmarish animated film about the end of the world sounds weird to you, you’re probably on to something.
Directed by Shane Acker and based on his 2005 Academy Award-nominated short film of the same name, “9” is a tale of corruption, fear and ultimate sacrifice for the greater good of humanity. Obviously, it’s not very uplifting.
“Our world is ending, but life must go on,” a voice booms ominously at the film’s commencement.
Years earlier — we never really find out how many — a man known as The Scientist created a powerful Machine and presented it as a gift to the government. Of course, humans abused the Machine’s great power and, in turn, the Machine waged war against humanity, killing everything.
From the rubble and destruction of this eerily decaying post-war landscape, nine mechanical voodoo dolls known as stitchpunks emerge. They were created to save humanity and named after the numbers one through nine, each with its own personality and purpose. These nine strange creatures are the only beings left on earth besides the monsters who hunt them. The stitchpunks stay in hiding and follow the rules of their leader, No. 1, until the na?ve and optimistic No. 9 (Elijah Wood, “Happy Feet”) comes along and awakens something terrible in their world. Evil forces abound as the nine stitchpunks try to prevent what’s left of humanity — which isn’t very much — from being destroyed before it’s too late.
Despite the fact that it’s an animated film, “9” is violent and creepy — the stitchpunks are constantly threatened by sinister creatures lurking in the shadows. Therefore, they are always fighting for their lives, and, as a result, “9” is intense and action-packed.
And the creatures that hunt them are not your average animated monsters. Instead, they are legitimately frightening combinations of everything that could possibly go bump in the night. For example, imagine a bat-spider-skeleton-snake masked with a broken doll head who sucks out your soul then stitches your mouth shut and wraps you up in thread. Even the stitchpunks, who are meant to save the world, often appear menacing and threatening — No. 8 stomps around with a rusty meat cleaver in his hand.
A few bright spots shine through this dark film, however. The fearless and rebellious No. 7 (Jennifer Connelly, “He’s Just Not That Into You”) is the film’s only female character and she always seem to swoop in at the last minute to save one of her fellow stitchpunks. The star-studded cast also includes Christopher Plummer (“Up”) as No. 1 and John C. Reilly (“Step Brothers”) as No. 5.
Unsurprisingly, the artistic attention to detail is brilliant, despite the fact that the color palette for the vast majority of the film includes only shades of gray and brown.
With its not-so-hidden message about the self-inflicted collapse of humanity, “9” is scary, depressing and not particularly thought-provoking. Clocking in at only 84 minutes, it barely has time for any kind of resolution. Audiences will be left wondering if this is Acker’s idea of what the future has in store for us — a world of desolation and emptiness — or if it’s just supposed to be an entertaining story. Either way, it comes across as over the top and indulgent on the part of its creators.
The film is co-produced by Tim Burton, but apparently not even the stop motion mastermind could save this sinking ship. Oddly enough, though, a few of the stitchpunks do evoke earlier Burton characters — No. 8 bears a striking resemblance to the Oogie Boogie Man from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and No. 6 looks like Beetlejuice.
Sadly, though, “9” will probably leave even Burton-loving audiences disappointed and scratching their heads. It’s just too far-fetched and weirdly frightening to be all that enjoyable.
1 1/2 stars out of 5.
