#9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), #7 (voiced by Jennifer Connelly), and #5 (voiced by John C. Reilly) in 9.

9 is a feature length version of the 2005 Best Animated Short Oscar winner. Visually it's very well done, especially the look and feel of the main characters. The story doesn't match the animation though and has a kind of been there done that feel to it and mainly seems to be comprised of one chase scene after another.

The setting of the film is a post-apocalyptic one. Machines have rebelled against mankind (think Terminator-lite) and all life is dead; the city where the story is set is in ruins. The only signs of life that appear are small mechanized steampunk robots with various cloth skins, from burlap to garden gloves. Each of the robots bear a number on their back from 1 to 9 and each possess a personality as distinct as their designation.

Nearly the first ten minutes of the film are without dialogue. Number 9 wakes up and is unable to speak. Neither he nor the audience know who or what he is and what this strange world is all about as he sets out to explore it. It's the best ten minutes of the movie. The rest of the story, with its one last machine trying to finish the job of exterminating all life, never lives up to the set-up.

Not that I want to be too harsh. There are some really cool scenes and animation and the voice talent is top notch. At an hour and fifteen minutes there's not really enough time to get bored even though a good part of the story feels like filler. If anything the bits that do work, work so well that it sets up an expectation that the rest of the movie ought to be excellent. Particularly the dark mood that is created during the opening sequence certainly lead me to believe that a more complex plot was coming.

In many ways the visual elements of the story reminded me of a next-generation video game. The various running around action scenes would certainly lend themselves to gameplay. Of course, the problem is that we're not controlling the Numbers, we're only watching them. And anyone who's ever watched someone else play a video game for over an hour knows how entertaining that can be.

Debut director Shane Acker certainly has a visual flair and I'm sure he has a career ahead of him. Next time though he just needs a script that matches his vision.

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