9 — ★★1/2 — Animated feature starring the voices of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly and others; rated PG-13 (violence, slurs, brief drugs); in general release
The computer-generated animated feature "9" sure looks cool. This post-apocalyptic tale, produced by both Tim Burton and "Wanted" filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, boasts characters that look like sack dolls that have come to life.
And it's clearly an effort of love for animator/creator Shane Acker, who expanded his original, 2005 short film — which was nominated for an Academy Award — to feature length. It's just a pity that the story (which he co-wrote with film and television veteran Pamela Pettler) didn't get the same amount of attention and creativity that the character and animation designs did.
If anything, the story elements are overly familiar and too predictable.
Also, elements and images in this film are much too scary for young children, which is a major problem — since this feature is obviously being marketed to families. (It received a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, though, so that should tell you something.)
Elijah Wood voices the title character, a tiny doll that's just awakened to find himself in a world that's unfamiliar and which is pretty threatening.
He's lucky to fend off an attack from a cat-like, robotic "Beast" — mostly due to the efforts of 2 (the voice of Martin Landau), another doll. Unfortunately, the creature makes off with 9's new friend.
Our would-be hero meets others of his kind — including the warm-hearted but meek 5 (John C. Reilly) and 1 (Christopher Plummer), who sees himself the leader of this "community."
Plummer's character also wants to stop 9 from venturing out into the wasteland — to explore this strange new world and possibly rescue 2.
One thing that might have helped the movie is hiring actors with more expression and emotion in their voices. Both Wood and Jennifer Connelly (the voice of yet another doll) both sound bored at times.
(Thankfully, Reilly, Plummer, Landau and Crispin Glover are more lively.)
Also, this material is surprisingly dour and dark. More humor would have helped greatly — Pettler also worked on the screenplay for "Monster House," for example, and that film was infinitely more fun.
"9" is rated PG-13 and features animated violent content (creature attacks, vehicular and explosive mayhem) and some disturbing imagery, derogatory language and slurs, and brief drug content (toxic chemicals, including gases). Running time: 79 minutes.
e-mail: jeff@desnews.com