Machines. The soul beings that were created to improve our lives, betrayed us. But life is remaining in the form of 9 ragdolls, that are left to stop the remaining robots, and keep the flame of life going.
9 Takes place in an apocalyptic world where all human life is dead except for the soul of one scientist in the
form of 9 ragdolls of his creation. While the 9 ragdolls are searching the land one is taken by "The Beast" who takes it to a factory on the outskirts of a city. 2 of the 8 remaining ragdolls go out to look for him only to find him and kill the beast, only to awaken a robot creation long dormant, resurrected by absorbing the life force out of the taken ragdoll. The robot is now trying to kill the ragdolls by building other robots to find and kill them.
9 is a strange case in terms of voice acting, not just because the first 10 minutes are mute, but the fact that the original short the film was based on was done in a pantomime style, but the voice acting in the film is very well done and I'd say its some of the most well done voice acting I've seen in an animated film. Unlike other animated films where you know the voice actor is a celebrity just by the sound of their voice or the sound of their singing voice, here you don't get that in the least. Each of the voice actors just sound like real people and you feel compassion towards all of them, so you feel generally bad when one of them dies. Which is funny seeing how many of these actors are vetran actors such as Martin Landau, Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connoley, Crispin Glover and Christopher Plummer, but they all just sound like real people coping with the insanity and death going on around them. Christopher Plummer does one of his best performances in this film to me, and don't get me wrong I love Christopher Plummers acting, but here he does such a remarkable job as the leader of the group #1. The power and devotion he gives to this performance makes it one of my favorite performances in an animated film, and the other actors do very good as well. Martin Landau, though having little screen time or dialogue, does a good job and you feel very sad and shocked when they kill him off so early on in the film. But one of the best performances in my mind in the film is John C. Reilly as #5, he is so fun and so well developed as a character that you feel the most compassion towards him seeing how he is the only one to show real compassion to #9 aside from #2 and #7.
The CG in the film is very well done and makes this post-apocalyptic world look very terrifying and the robot designs used in the film are very creative and awesome to see move and interact with the environments, the way they move and the way they interact with there surroundings are very interesting to watch and very animal like. The designs of the main characters are also interesting, the hands being made out of metal or wood is interesting and the way the eyes and bodies of the ragdolls look very interesting. Rather than other animated films, this film looks like a breath of fresh air in terms of the animation, it doesn't look all bright and colorful like a Pixar film or Dreamworks, it looks grainy and very brown much like Terminator Salvation which suits the nature of the environment the characters live in.
Overall 9 is one of my favorite animated films and definitely one of Tim Burtons best film collaborations. The animation looks incredible, the characters are well fleshed out and acted, the plot is interesting, and the film leaves with one of those endings that will make you tear up. If I could suggest one of Tim Burtons films or even animated films, I'd suggest this film.
January 1, 2011
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