Tim Burton and Shane Acker's new movie: "9"

[terry78]

This is not your little brother's animated movie.

Ha.

 

[Catman]

why isnt anyone talking about this movie?

Johnny Depp isn't in it, so they have nothing to complain about. That's how SHH works. If there's nothing to complain about then there's nothing worth talking about.

 

[howl]

very keen to see this

 

[DOG LIPS]

Keep seeing previews for this, can't wait to check it out.

 

[Heretic]

Finally someone used Coheed's Welcome Home as a theme song in a commercial...I'll see it based on that alone and if the movie is half as epic then I'll love it.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

Im so excited for this and Coheed makes it all the better. They are my most favorite band

 

[carrrnuttt]

I don't think the 2nd trailer has been posted in this thread yet:

[YT]mDH0e73_j8M[/YT]

I can't wait.

 

[howl]

yeh, was already keen to see this purely because of burton's involvement, but the fact they used welcome home in the trailer made it that much more interesting. and yes, the story looks good too. hehe.

 

[CelticPredator]

I listen to Welcome Home daily after I saw the trailer.

 

[Dr. Evil]

It looks pretty good. Also a pretty good cast.

 

[Heretic]

I must admit...aside from the first two Batman movies...which I despised...I have not seen a Tim Burton film.

 

[SuperAl]

I must admit...aside from the first two Batman movies...which I despised...I have not seen a Tim Burton film.

This is not a Tim Burton film, this is a Shane Acker's film. Tim Burton is a producer, but as far as i kno he had very little to do with the story since it was a short film that was created awhile back by Ackers

 

[hammerhedd11]

This is by far the best promo for the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPAKLufeil4&feature=response_watch

 

[Kane52630]

This is by far the best promo for the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPAKLufeil4&feature=response_watch

thats 9ice

 

[Ion Kenshin]

Man I can't wait for this. Im going opening night for sure

 

[CelticPredator]

This is not a Tim Burton film, this is a Shane Acker's film. Tim Burton is a producer, but as far as i kno he had very little to do with the story since it was a short film that was created awhile back by Ackers

How many times does it need to be said?

I feel bad for Shane. People dont get that a Producer is different then a director.

 

[Ion Kenshin]

How many times does it need to be said?

I feel bad for Shane. People dont get that a Producer is different then a director.

I hear ya. Like how people say District 9 is a Peter Jackson movie

 

[Kane52630]

yah i know but its actually a good thing if you want the movie to succeed

 

[Kane52630]

hey i wonder if the 7 8 9 joke is in the movie

 

[CelticPredator]

The movie is a joke.


I really didnt like this at all. It was dull and soulless. Which is ironic, because that is what the whole flick was about.

Just watch the short. Its shorter, no crappy cliche dialouge...it has the same beginning, and ending. The exact same ending.

Honestly, why was this PG-13 anyway? There was no violence in it, it was hardly scary...for a 5 year old maybe...but anyone older then that....eh.

The music was good, and I loved the designs. But everything felt so blurry, and kinda video gameish.

The look was better in the short film. 5/10

 

[Episode29]

The best scene in director Shane Acker’s post-apocalyptic animated adventure 9 occurs in the film’s opening minutes, with the quiet awakening of its titular gear-powered hero. Hanging from one arm by a lean, weak piece of string, the fragile little creature abruptly breaks loose, falling clumsily to the worn wood surface of a workshop table. As he inelegantly pulls himself to his feet, tiny camera-lens eyes softly clicking and whirring, taking in this strange new world around him, there is a real sense of discovery taking place. This isn’t simply a collection of pixels we’re seeing stretch its tiny puppet-like fingers and cautiously zipping up its exposed abdomen, but a living thing who instantaneously stirs within us deep-rooted feelings of wondrous enchantment. Over the course of but a minute or so, we come to understand this curious diminutive being and become wholly invested in both his future and the mysterious universe around him.

If only the film’s screenplay shared our inquisitiveness and astonishment, we may have really had something special on our hands. Alas, despite the odd-ball beauty glimpsed in this delightfully involving introduction, new-fangled ideas are at a base minimum in 9, a visually rich, yet underwhelming spectacle that favours derivative action movie tropes and one-note characterizations over creative invention and depth. Perhaps we’ve been spoiled by Pixar’s apparently bottomless wellspring of artistic marvels, observed at its most potent mere months ago with the triumphant Up, but a film bearing the names of cinema’s premier fantasy goth-father Tim Burton and current hyperkinetic hot-shot Timur Bekmambetov, mastermind behind last summer’s Wanted and the Russian cult hits Night Watch and Day Watch, attached as producers shouldn’t feel so sluggish and, well, ordinary.

You can’t blame them for rolling the dice on Acker though, who attempts to expand his clever 10-minute Oscar-nominated short to full-length, giving “9” a voice through Elijah Wood, and plugging him into an adventure which requires the brave miniature “stitchpunk” – a term used extensively in pre-release press-notes, but unmentioned in the film – to battle a relentless horde of manufactured doom-machines for possession of a powerful life-giving talisman. Journeying over the war-scarred remnants of a decimated Earth, which was annihilated by biological warfare and towering War of the Worlds­-style walking weapons unleashed by a fascist dictator, “9” comes into contact with a handful of fellow “stitchpunks”, including domineering wannabe ruler “1” (Christopher Plummer), one-eyed survivor “5” (John C. Reilly), mentally scattered idiot savant “6” (Crispin Glover), and valiant feminine warrior “7” (Jennifer Connelly). Forced together, the rag-tag group of clothe-and-clockwork crusaders must place their differences aside and band together to trounce the massive marauding robo-octopus (which bears an unmistakable resemblance to Aliens’ towering queen Xenomorph) hot on their collective trail.

Acker fills his dusty movie wasteland with jagged shapes and ugly, crumbling structures, where only the faintest of light filters through the rusted scrap-metal ceilings. Indeed, there is an impeccable craftsmanship to the rich visual world of 9 which recalls the desolate ominous environments of the Mad Max films. Similarly, each of the “stitchpunks” has a unique look and feel to their design and motion, an achievement which helps surmount the flat and distractingly clean-sounding voice-work (a little distortion and grittiness would have felt more organic), and helps us differentiate them from one another when the chaos begins to reign. The clomping, stomping villains are also highly detailed constructions, bearing recognizable animal body-structures akin to spiders, cobras, pterodactyls and fireflies, and made up of revolting fragments of bone, metal, wire and junkyard refuse.

Make no mistake; as a pure exercise in animated design 9 works, and director Acker’s attention seems solely focussed on the most minuscule details – there’s a particularly chilling second-long shot into the front seat of a car, where the petrified corpses of a mother and child remain eternally locked in a frightened embrace – but he seems more or less ambivalent about the trajectory of his film. The plot meanders when it should soar, and never settles into an engaging rhythm (it’s never good when movie-goers are checking their watches in a 79-minute movie). By the time the admittedly well-crafted heartfelt ending rolls around, it was hard, even for this historically easy mark, to raise much more than an iota of warmth for these sewn-up ciphers.

Arguably 9’sworst problem, however, is that its near impossible to discern who the potential audience for the filmis, as it is far too grim and intense for children, yet features a dull, shallow script and protagonists too juvenile for adults. So it remains stuck in a weird limbo, revealing dazzling bits and pieces only during momentary breaks in its formless storyline and impressive-but-wearisome action sequences. Despite good intentions, 9, like its cute central character, feels shabby and confused, a work-in-progress that’s escaped into the world before it was truly ready. Too bad.

2.5 out of 5

 

[CelticPredator]

I agree wholeheartedly.

The problem was, I expected a deep, engaging film.....but what I got was no different then some avarage kids flick, with a few more intense scenes thrown in.

 

[Ipodman]

This movie seems to be doing pretty well on RT....

 

[cabel]

Honestly, why was this PG-13 anyway? There was no violence in it, it was hardly scary...for a 5 year old maybe...but anyone older then that....eh.

Spoiler

I'm guessing it had to do with the dead bodies

Some will like it. Some won't.

The story is simple enough and touches on familiar territory, but Shane Acker's visual style and attention to detail is enough to make this film feel unique enough without alienating audiences.

The characters themselves aren't very engaging due to very little backstory. However, seeing as how the origins of these characters is part of the mystery of the movie I can overlook that to a degree. Thing is we're barely given a chance to know these characters before they start getting picked of by the villian. It's kind of like watching a F13th flick except the teenagers aren't stupid annoying d****bags.

The dialouge is very basic and kind of disappointing, which causes me to question the point of hiring an ensemble of name actors. Ironically, my favorite characters were the mute twins, 3 and 4, which makes me more curious to see how the film would turn out had Acker decided to go without dialouge like his original short film.

My other let down is that I felt the ending went a little long. I can see what Acker was going for, and had he condensed the last couple scenes a little, it might have felt more powerful and less anticlimatic.

Otherwise, as an animation fan, it's a pleasure to see an American release that's a little different.

I look forward to seeing what else Shane Acker brings us in the future.

7.5/10

 

[CelticPredator]

If he can get someone who can write a better script, then sure. I'd see another flick of his. The movie looked good.

But it was as interesting, and fun as watching an episode of Guiding Light.