9 (2009)

Directed by Shane Acker. Starring (voices) Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover, Alan Oppenheimer, Fred Tatasciore. [PG-13]

Animated film set in a devastated post-apocalyptic world where humanity appears to have been wiped out, leaving behind only a handful of sentient “rag dolls” numbered 1-9 that endeavor to fight back against bizarre war machines that want to abduct or destroy them. Sharply-designed and well-directed allegorical adventure, but there’s too little story to grasp onto here, and the characters rarely exhibit enough depth to warrant interest in their plights—it’s eventually explained why they are that way, but it’s not like that revelation suddenly makes them interesting. With such unimaginative dialogue, the talented voice cast goes wasted; if only an ounce or two of the creativity used to build and paint this smoldering scrapyard world had been reserved for the script. Expanded from a same-named animated short that Acker directed as part of a UCLA student project a few years earlier. Aptly released to theaters on 9/9/09. Co-produced by Tim Burton.

56/100