REVIEW: ’9′

The lament of most science fiction fans is, “Why can’t mainstream Hollywood give us original movies that aren’t hackneyed drivel?” Those fans have been rewarded this year, first with “District 9″ and now with Shane Acker’s CG tour de force “9.”

9 faces one of the Machine's minions

The story is a familiar one for moviegoers: man creates an artificial intelligence; machine turns against man; man is wiped out. That all happens in the background, however. The audience is immediately thrust into a ravaged dystopia devoid of any life, as 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) wakes up in a lab with no idea how he got there, or came to exist. He’s a rag doll construct, a small bit of burlap, copper hands and gears.

In short order, 9 finds others of his kind fighting The Beast, a nightmarish concoction holdover from the conflict. It’s difficult to talk about computer animation in film terms, but the fight sequences between the Machine’s minions and our stitched-up heroes are as gripping and suspenseful as any live-action I’ve seen in a while. Also, the quality of the animation is such that the suspension of disbelief – crucial in any film like “9″ – is so effortless that the viewer is emotionally invested in the struggle.

6 and 5 recover from a close call with The Machine

Acker expanded his original 11-minute CG short into a full-length feature, and even with a 90-minute runtime, it’s not enough. The world Acker creates is so rich and fascinating that I wanted so much more. While the voice casting is top notch (Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover), it’s not obtrusive: you don’t “see” the actors in the guise of their characters, which is a massive problem with CG movies (reference: “Madagascar,” “Over The Hedge,” et al).

If you’re a parent thinking about taking your kids to see “9,” pay attention: this movie is rated PG-13 for a reason. While it’s not bloody, it is pretty intense. The Machine and its constructs are fairly nightmarish, and there’ll be quite a few therapy sessions in store for you if your kids aren’t mature enough to take it.

“9″ is a fantastic movie, worthy of the big screen treatment. In a Hollywood landscape where “playing it safe” is the order of the day, “9″ proves that with the right producers backstopping your vision (as Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov did with Acker) quality can get an audience.