An Interesting Take On Machines and The Essence Of Life: 9 Review

Recently, the animated movie 9 has been released on DVD. I saw the trailer for this movie last summer and I wanted to see it.

Unfortunately, it was released in what I like to call, the college grace period. I am referring to that time when we, as students, just move back into school and have a lot of other things to do besides take a trip to the movie theater.

This movie, released on 9.9.09 (ha) was right in the middle of that early September grace period.

Moving on, I really wish I would have seen this movie in the theater, as the visuals in this movie are absolutely stunning. The last animated movie that impressed me this much was Wall-E, and this movie deserves to be viewed on a huge screen to get the feel of things.

9, is the story of a scientist who creates an animatronic "brain" sometime in what looks to be the 1930's, in order to speed production of the age of machinery. Unfortunately, the military takes the brain and puts it to use making weapons. Eventually the brain decides to turn against humanity and exterminate all humans.

The scientist who created it, splits his soul into 9 different parts, and implants a piece into little dolls which now hold the key to life surviving. The dolls must now fight against what is left of these machines to preserve the soul and human life as it is known then.

Each of the 9 dolls has its own distinct personality that helps to make the movie that much more enjoyable. For example, Doll 1 is the oldest and presumed wisest of them, attempting to save the others by hiding, while Doll 7 is female, and a rouge assassin who takes down machines while wearing a bird skull as battle armor.

Doll 9 is the main character in the film, a curious doll, who finds out why they were created and what they were meant to do, all while getting into his own battles against the machines.

The cast, including actors like Elijah Wood and John C. Reilly performs great and makes the movie fun to watch.

Although the film is a little darker than most animated movies, it has to be in order to work. Some scenes show the damage of the machine apocalypse and people dead in the streets, something not found in 3D animation as we know it today.

The darker feel was executed well with help from Tim Burton, who is a producer of this film. The machine/creatures that the brain creates to attempt to destroy the 9 dolls have a very creepy feel to them. They encompass everything from a snake-like creature with a baby doll's head, to a large bird machine with a harpoon-gun tail.

This DVD gets a B+ from me, as it has a very good storyline, but does not translate well to DVD due to the need for the large effects that go with most of the action sequences.

I wish I could have caught this in theaters.