9
9 is the latest easy to take full length animated creep out produced by Tim Burton. This is a new take on a post apocalyptic world which started as a film school project for Shane Acker that not only got him an “A” but also an Oscar nomination for “best animated short” in 2006. In one of the few animated features to be release with a PG 13 rating, 9 (Elijah Wood) is the number on the back of a confused doll that comes to life in a world of desolate destruction. He finds out from other rag dolls numbered like him that there was a conflict between man and machines where mankind came up short. When one of their number (so to speak) is captured by a raptor-like machine he sets out to rescue him and in the process meets #7 (Jennifer Connelly) a renegade from the core group headed by (of course) #1 (Christopher Plummer). #1 wants to continue laying low but #9 and #7 gradually convince the others they have to fight back to elude annihilation and disarm the now self propagating machine which #9 innocently reanimated. Speaking of animation, it is stunning but that is not enough to totally engross. Clocking in at a seemingly longer than 79 minutes, even with contributing voices from Martin Landau, John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover, 9 really only rates a 6.