Featured Audience Ratings

• John M

  
  Interesting take on the dark apocalyptic future world genre. The movie is excellent. Well done. Great voice talents and amazing attention to detail by Shane Acker.

• Anthony L

  
  Stylish and mysterious, it is probably best to remember that 9 is set in a fantasy world and that it's not necessarily necessary that everything should be explained to the nth degree as frustrating as that may first be. I was quite happy to just get lost in it, much like a… More
  Stylish and mysterious, it is probably best to remember that 9 is set in a fantasy world and that it's not necessarily necessary that everything should be explained to the nth degree as frustrating as that may first be. I was quite happy to just get lost in it, much like a computer game I suppose which it kind of reminded me of. The animation is great, as is the style. It's original, I can't think of anything out there like it but I think the schmaltzy ending could have been better. The voice cast was good but certain actors I felt were a little underused.

• Jens S

  
  Based on the similarly themed animated short film this dark and visually stunning adventure follows a number of puppet-like creatures that seem to be all that's left with a soul in a post-apocalyptic world, where the machines dominate. The lovable main characters, that show more… More
  Based on the similarly themed animated short film this dark and visually stunning adventure follows a number of puppet-like creatures that seem to be all that's left with a soul in a post-apocalyptic world, where the machines dominate. The lovable main characters, that show more expressions just through their eyes than some actors with their entire faces wander through gloomy landscapes and ruins fighting fantastic and terrifying opponents. That may not be much of a story, especially the final solution falls a bit short, but is very entertaining, enthralling and visually most impressive. Especially the original and fun action sequence have you sit on the edge of your seat. I certainly would not mind revisit this world, especially with the small ray of hope the ending has in store, for further adventures with the likable fellows. Younger kids should probably stay away from the film, considering the dark atmosphere and menacing attacks. Still, highly recommended for being different and very unusual.

• Emil K

  
  This film does have a concept that could have worked much better in a more assured and creative hands. Now it is mostly just a wasted potential of imaginaton and takes itself way too serious. Somewhere behind it's paper thin script and half baked ideas there lies a something… More
  This film does have a concept that could have worked much better in a more assured and creative hands. Now it is mostly just a wasted potential of imaginaton and takes itself way too serious. Somewhere behind it's paper thin script and half baked ideas there lies a something that propably was a coherent story, but now it is just animation without a good story or without that much sense. It also doesn't help that they made this film so as serious as it is. 9 is a film which is at times too dark for little kids and still a film that feels a bit silly with it's seriouness when it comes to adult audiences. It is clear that director/writer Shane Acker film supposed to be somekind of a hybrid between serious post-apocalyptic sci-fi and pure childrens adventure, but what Ackers forgets is that one of the most important things while making animation is to give it a heart and soul. That's what 9 is especially one major thing that his film is lacking, the emotions that would make us in the audience care about these characters. Now it is just a series of visual gimmicks and couple nice ideas, nothing much else. The biggest problem and question with Acker's film is that why should we care about any of these ragdolls and their fate? They are animated with careful and creative touch but under their surface Acker and his team cannot make them anything more than a lifeless puppets. 9 is a film which does has it's moments and a film that occasionally wakes up from it's frim sleep, but only occasionally. Overall this could have been so much better as a film.

• Universal D

  
  the forces of intolerance are at havoc yet again, and so a hero will rise. is it the guy who thinks if you hide then mr. bad man will go away? what about the guy who thinks more muscle is the answer? or the hottie who wants to face evil all by herself cause nobody's man enuff?… More
  the forces of intolerance are at havoc yet again, and so a hero will rise. is it the guy who thinks if you hide then mr. bad man will go away? what about the guy who thinks more muscle is the answer? or the hottie who wants to face evil all by herself cause nobody's man enuff? like so many films nowadays, here's another visual eyeful, creative and stunning, but the story could use a little pep, yah? a nice one nonetheless.

• Sam B

  
  Cold and lifeless (no pun intended), 9's worst offense isn't its mediocre visuals or underutilized cast - though it does have both - but rather, its flimsy plot that could easily have been crafted by a seven year old and its baffling lack of sophisticated dialogue or… More
  Cold and lifeless (no pun intended), 9's worst offense isn't its mediocre visuals or underutilized cast - though it does have both - but rather, its flimsy plot that could easily have been crafted by a seven year old and its baffling lack of sophisticated dialogue or character development.

• Michael E

  
  Machines. The soul beings that were created to improve our lives, betrayed us. But life is remaining in the form of 9 ragdolls, that are left to stop the remaining robots, and keep the flame of life going. 9 Takes place in an apocalyptic world where all human life is dead except… More
  Machines. The soul beings that were created to improve our lives, betrayed us. But life is remaining in the form of 9 ragdolls, that are left to stop the remaining robots, and keep the flame of life going. 9 Takes place in an apocalyptic world where all human life is dead except for the soul of one scientist in the form of 9 ragdolls of his creation. While the 9 ragdolls are searching the land one is taken by "The Beast" who takes it to a factory on the outskirts of a city. 2 of the 8 remaining ragdolls go out to look for him only to find him and kill the beast, only to awaken a robot creation long dormant, resurrected by absorbing the life force out of the taken ragdoll. The robot is now trying to kill the ragdolls by building other robots to find and kill them. 9 is a strange case in terms of voice acting, not just because the first 10 minutes are mute, but the fact that the original short the film was based on was done in a pantomime style, but the voice acting in the film is very well done and I'd say its some of the most well done voice acting I've seen in an animated film. Unlike other animated films where you know the voice actor is a celebrity just by the sound of their voice or the sound of their singing voice, here you don't get that in the least. Each of the voice actors just sound like real people and you feel compassion towards all of them, so you feel generally bad when one of them dies. Which is funny seeing how many of these actors are vetran actors such as Martin Landau, Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connoley, Crispin Glover and Christopher Plummer, but they all just sound like real people coping with the insanity and death going on around them. Christopher Plummer does one of his best performances in this film to me, and don't get me wrong I love Christopher Plummers acting, but here he does such a remarkable job as the leader of the group #1. The power and devotion he gives to this performance makes it one of my favorite performances in an animated film, and the other actors do very good as well. Martin Landau, though having little screen time or dialogue, does a good job and you feel very sad and shocked when they kill him off so early on in the film. But one of the best performances in my mind in the film is John C. Reilly as #5, he is so fun and so well developed as a character that you feel the most compassion towards him seeing how he is the only one to show real compassion to #9 aside from #2 and #7. The CG in the film is very well done and makes this post-apocalyptic world look very terrifying and the robot designs used in the film are very creative and awesome to see move and interact with the environments, the way they move and the way they interact with there surroundings are very interesting to watch and very animal like. The designs of the main characters are also interesting, the hands being made out of metal or wood is interesting and the way the eyes and bodies of the ragdolls look very interesting. Rather than other animated films, this film looks like a breath of fresh air in terms of the animation, it doesn't look all bright and colorful like a Pixar film or Dreamworks, it looks grainy and very brown much like Terminator Salvation which suits the nature of the environment the characters live in. Overall 9 is one of my favorite animated films and definitely one of Tim Burtons best film collaborations. The animation looks incredible, the characters are well fleshed out and acted, the plot is interesting, and the film leaves with one of those endings that will make you tear up. If I could suggest one of Tim Burtons films or even animated films, I'd suggest this film.

• Christopher H

  
  The animation is fantastic, however, the film did not give me a whole lot to care for. The story suffers from being a little too dark for kids but at the same time being too simple and straight-foward to adequately engage adults. The character's also lack development, which… More
  The animation is fantastic, however, the film did not give me a whole lot to care for. The story suffers from being a little too dark for kids but at the same time being too simple and straight-foward to adequately engage adults. The character's also lack development, which takes tension away from the film's action sequences. Combine that with an anti-climatic ending, and the film "9" offers an interesting surreal world to explore but lacks the emotional punch in the story department.

• Tyler K

  
  I don't see why people hate on this film. I thought the film was a dark, surreal thriller more than anything else. Keep in mind, it's so dark that it's not PG. You must have a strong heart to endure the thematic elements such as loneliness, long stretches without… More
  I don't see why people hate on this film. I thought the film was a dark, surreal thriller more than anything else. Keep in mind, it's so dark that it's not PG. You must have a strong heart to endure the thematic elements such as loneliness, long stretches without talking, and very scary jump scenes involving leftover machines. By the way, I saw this on blu-ray... *Cough* anyway, the story follows as an animated rag doll wakes up in a post-apocalyptic world, meaning everything is run down. He and a few other rag dolls are the only "humans" alive. I say humans in quotations as in, they are only rag dolls, but have human life. Machines suck the life out of these rag dolls, either that, or there slice and diced to death. Continuing, 9 (the main character) finds 2, and half of the other 9 rag dolls (as I said, the others are dead), and... well, just wach the movie yourself. I don't know about the 58% of the people who didn't like it, but I really liked it. I might give it 4 and a half stars if I watched it again... but nah, I've already seen it at least 4 times.

• Matthew S

  
  The original short film should have been left alone. A simple concept was stretched thin and added nothing that was worth the effort or your time.

• Directors C

  
  I wasn't touched, neither really learnt anything I haven't been told before from this far too familiar tale of ragdolls. The trouble is it lacks the complexity that I think it was trying to convey and it falls over to rapturess levels. However it was pulled back up by great… More
  I wasn't touched, neither really learnt anything I haven't been told before from this far too familiar tale of ragdolls. The trouble is it lacks the complexity that I think it was trying to convey and it falls over to rapturess levels. However it was pulled back up by great attention to detail animation and good voice acting. Nevertheless, the story still let's it down.

• Alexander D

  
  9 may be an animated film, but the whole hour and fifteen minutes has a certain feeling of darkness and dread hanging right above you. Call it good or bad, but this film just has Tim Burton written all over it. If you want a basic idea of what 9 is, think of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE… More
  9 may be an animated film, but the whole hour and fifteen minutes has a certain feeling of darkness and dread hanging right above you. Call it good or bad, but this film just has Tim Burton written all over it. If you want a basic idea of what 9 is, think of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Then take away the music. Then make it ten times darker. Then add dolls that are used more in a science-y way than a "voodoo magic" way. There you have it. Okay, Tim Burton is one good director/producer/screenwriter. But 9, unfortunately, is one of his worst films. We expected so much of it, and the visual we got was fantastic: it was well-animated and all. But as for the plot, we didn't get much. Burton usually has a very interesting plot in his films. Even in BIG FISH, which seemed like a big jump for him, he did a surreal take on a life story. 9 just has little to no storyline, and once it has ended, we have question marks over our heads.

• Sophie B

  
  An interesting tale of several 'puppets' but I had no sympathy for them. The world was destroyed and these tiny things were supposed to fight back against the massive machines that were constantly destroying it. A good cast and an imaginative world exploring what would… More
  An interesting tale of several 'puppets' but I had no sympathy for them. The world was destroyed and these tiny things were supposed to fight back against the massive machines that were constantly destroying it. A good cast and an imaginative world exploring what would happen if machines took over but I wasn't very entertained.

• Tim S

  
  I really don't understand why people are so hard on this fantastic gem of an animated flick. I really dig the post-apocalyptic landscape, I love all of the characters, I love the score (one of Elfman's finest, in my opinion) and I love the voice performances. I fell in love… More
  I really don't understand why people are so hard on this fantastic gem of an animated flick. I really dig the post-apocalyptic landscape, I love all of the characters, I love the score (one of Elfman's finest, in my opinion) and I love the voice performances. I fell in love with this one within the first twenty minutes and I was with it all the way to the end. I missed it on the first go round when it was theatrically released, but I'm thrilled that I finally got a chance to see it. Everything about it is just wonderful. It has something for everyone, young and old. It also has an important message that we as humans should heed.

• Jim C

  
  Me and my bro watched this and we thought itt was good, chilling and really interesting, very short though, could've been a lot longer, and its one of a few animated PG-13 movies and im happy it is, that made it more cool in my opinion.

• Bannan i

  
  Words cannot describe how much I adored this wee flick, the story itself is intriguing what with strange wee ragdolls standing up for themselves and fighting against evil in a post-apocalyptic word. Beautiful, mesmerizing and downright eerie sometimes - most enjoyable; defo not for… More
  Words cannot describe how much I adored this wee flick, the story itself is intriguing what with strange wee ragdolls standing up for themselves and fighting against evil in a post-apocalyptic word. Beautiful, mesmerizing and downright eerie sometimes - most enjoyable; defo not for the younglings though. Review TBC. (You need to go back to the source!) Crispin Glover was grand here, as were everyone else...but one can tell how biased my opinion is. :]

• Mark W

  
  These days kids are spoiled with an endless supply of high quality animated films. As a nipper I was content with an episode of "Thundercats" but the beauty of modern film animation is that some are aimed at adults also. This happens to be one that falls into that category.… More
  These days kids are spoiled with an endless supply of high quality animated films. As a nipper I was content with an episode of "Thundercats" but the beauty of modern film animation is that some are aimed at adults also. This happens to be one that falls into that category. In a post-apocalyptic future, sackcloth doll numbered "9" (Elijah Wood) wakes up to find that human beings have been eradicated from existence. As he explores the desolate land, he finds a small society of his handrafted kind struggling for survival against terrifying machines. Self-proclaimed leader "1" (Christopher Plummer) keeps his troops in hiding, but when "2" (Martin Landau) is abducted, "9" convinces them that they must attack to survive. Along the way they discover evidence from their deceased creator that they personally hold the last of what's left of the human soul and preserving themselves is to preserve humanity. This animated feature has had it's fair share of criticism but at a running time of 1hour 19mins it's hardly a massive commitment. In fact, I found it to be quite a pleasure. Where the criticism has been directed is in the story. Too shallow for adults and too dark for kids apparently. Granted, the old tried and tested post-apocalyptic earth, where silly humans have gone and eradicated themselves again, is nothing new and a bit tired, but this is just a vehicle for director Shane Acker's imaginative little creations to come to life. And come to life they do. The animation is absolutely striking and each little hand crafted 'stitchpunk' is given individuality with painstaking attention. The emotional depth and expression of such similiar designed little characters is stunning. I found them very appealing indeed, and a pure joy to watch them on their adventure. This originally began as an 11minute short film (also called "9") that director Shane Acker won an Academy Award for in 2005. This Oscar success obviously drew the attention of producers Timur Bekmambetov and Tim Burton who have indulged Acker's vision with money, allowing him to elaborate on his story, and thankfully for us they did. This is animation at it's finest and on a par with the best that Pixar have produced. I'm very surprised at the criticism this little gem has come in for as this is a deep, beautifully realised science fiction yarn and a post-apocalyptic world that I hope to visit again soon. A pure visually arresting delight.

• Dean M

  
  <i>9</i> is essentially a feature-length mix of director Shane Acker's Oscar-nominated 2005 short film. It's easy to see what caught producer Tim Burton's attention. The characters, with their gangly limbs, expressive bug eyes and inquisitive gaits, echo… More
  <i>9</i> is essentially a feature-length mix of director Shane Acker's Oscar-nominated 2005 short film. It's easy to see what caught producer Tim Burton's attention. The characters, with their gangly limbs, expressive bug eyes and inquisitive gaits, echo Burton's sketches, while their burlap-sack exteriors recall Oogie Boogie from <i> The Nightmare Before Christmas</i>. But the film has its own personality: "stitchpunk", as its creators have dubbed it, and the creatures, while seemingly stop-motion, move with a distinctive fluidity. <i>9</i>'s universe is a playground for the director's fertile imagination, where the characters' eyes function like camera irises, cyclops spiders devour souls, and a mechanical pterodactyl swoops through the black sky powered by a fan. Meanwhile, the machines that stomp the charred earth resemble a cross between <i>Star Wars</i>' AT-AT walkers and <i>War of the Worlds</i>' tripods. It's fantastic stuff.

• Kylie B

  
  A cute little gem I found by accident. The plot isn't that inspired, but it's entertaining and different.

• Jim H

  
  "Brilliant, imaginative filmmaking." That's what the filmmakers want me to say. "Visually stunning." But these are glorified sock puppets, and just as I wasn't impressed with the masturbatory visuals of <i>Avatar</i> and that owls movie,… More
  "Brilliant, imaginative filmmaking." That's what the filmmakers want me to say. "Visually stunning." But these are glorified sock puppets, and just as I wasn't impressed with the masturbatory visuals of <i>Avatar</i> and that owls movie, I'm not impressed with <i>9</i>'s sprawling, desolate landscapes and complex action sequences. Other post-apocalyptic films have some kind of message about the present. Even bad ones like <i>Waterworld</i> warn against the ravages of global warming, and good ones like <i>A Boy and His Dog</i> show in stark, scary detail the limited culinary options available after we run rampant with nuclear weapons. There is no such thing in <i>9</i>. The closest thing that I can figure is that it is trying to piggy-back the message of <i>The Terminator</i> about the degree to which machines are in control of our lives, but even this doesn't make sense because our hero is - you guessed it - a machine. Overall, this is a poor effort from Burton and company because it lacks anything new or unique but tries so hard.

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