A Look at the Animated Movie 9 by Tim Burton

Something has happened in movies lately. For some reason, when the economy tanked, the number of movies about the end of the world seemed to rise. The world has been destroyed many times in the past year or so. Going to see a movie and sitting through the previews was to see the world destroyed by nature, by the sun, by man's own folly, and through supernatural means. Somewhere in there was the little animated movie known as "9" which seemed the strangest of them all, came and went quickly in theaters, but is now available OnDemand and via home video.

The movie takes place after the fall of man. Humans created machines that, in true movie fashion, turned on their makers. The machines and the humans are mostly gone. However, one scientist has created a series of what appears to be ragdolls. He has used various forms of technology and mysticism to bring them to life as some kind of key to eventually bringing humans back to the world, or something like that.

The one doll that truly holds the key is the titular 9, voiced by Elijah Wood. He is the one who comes to life, suddenly, at the beginning of the movie. He opens a window on a world blighted, where nothing grows, no sunlight shines, and where the ragged remains of the machines that destroyed man still linger and prowl. Here he meets others like him, ragdolls survivors trying to eke out a living amidst the ruins.

Of course, within 9 there lies the secret to humanity. With it he can either reactivate the machines and start the horror all over again, or he can use it to free what is left of humanity and, hopefully, rescue the world itself.

Animation is a wonderful thing. Anything can be done with animation. The folks at Pixar have shown us that anything can be made almost human and that we can find ourselves sympathizing and even rooting for things we would not normally in real life. They have turned cars into something we can relate to and then done the same thing with rats.

However, although Pixar gets accused of being schmaltzy and manipulative, they do manage to establish the characters and then give us reason to sympathize and empathize. That piece is what is missing with "9."

The movie is produced by Tim Burton. It is directed by Shane Acker from a short that he produced some years ago. He seems to have taken the Japanese approach to animation that an animated movie need not be for kids or families. This is very true in Japanese anime, which is not created for the kiddie market, but for adults as much as the children. Adult themes are rampant there, and this is a very dark movie, not made for the children in their pajamas just before bed time.

When it comes to the animation, this production is top notch. Burton has been exploring forms of animation for some time, even bringing back stop-motion animation with films like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "James and the Giant Peach." However, in both of those movies he was more successful in establishing the characters and giving us something to care about.

In "9" the movie jumps right into the action. It is maybe ten minutes from the time the character of 9 comes to life and he is running for his life from a skeletal, frightening, robotic dog. We barely have time to meet any of the other characters before they are launching on dangerous missions and then running for their lives from one machine more terrifying than the next. All of this is presented in dazzling, exciting, and eye-popping computer animation. You soon forget that this is an animated film.

However, as all of this mayhem was happening I kept thinking, Wow, a lot of stuff is going on right now. I should be caring about what is happening and, yet, I find myself not really caring which character lives or dies. I found myself, several times, losing track of the movie, looking around or, dread of dreads, checking the time to see how much time was left in the film.

"9" is not really a bad film, but with so many other animated movies done so much better and with so much more heart, it seems a shame to waste much time in this doom and gloom with hardly an anchor to hold on to and root for. I have this feeling this movie, like other Burton-produced animated films, might start a cult following. For those people, I wish them well, but they will have to count me out of their cult. I would rather take the schmaltz and manipulation of a Pixar than spend any more time in the world of "9."