9: A Stitchpunk Fantasy

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endurancemom

New member
I just watched the movie "9" (only my third time since it came out on DVD) and I have to say it is probably one of my favorite animated films, if only for the concept and visuals. It's a bit dark for younger kids, but it's a shame more people don't recognize this film for the work of art that it is.

I think a lot of people passed the movie by because the title "9" doesn't quite grab you, plus it probably got mistaken for another film that came out around the same time called "Nine."
A better title might have been "Stitchpunk," which is what the film got labelled under as its own sci-fi sub-genre based on the robotic ragdoll characters that inhabit its world.

But I really think the movie, despite its bleak tone, has a genuinly endearing quality to it, incredible animation and a beautiful story. If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend checking it out.

poster_nine.jpg
 
This is a movie (obviously), but it is also animated and fits better over on The rabroad rather that The Entertainment Board. Moved.
 
I think a saw a trailer for this once. I'll check it out sometime this week. Didn't know the director of Wanted did this. I didn't care too much for that movie just because they deviated so far from the original mini-series to the point where it wasn't recognizable, and also got rid of everything special about it without at least contributing something new, but I have to admit the visuals were pretty good in that movie.

Edit: I read the poster wrong, and the director of Wanted is a producer not the director.
 
I thought it was a good movie.

I think the concept was fantastic, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Mainly the writing and characters weren't as good as I'd hope. It was a short movie so that may be why.

Regardless, I'm pretty interested now in Acker's work and I would love to see what else he puts out. Does anyone even know what he's doing now?
 
I was disappointed.

I really wanted the movie to be good. I was hoping it would help open the door for more darker, mature animated films to be made. I had two main problems:

1. The beginning. I hate the idea that so much trouble could have been avoided, had 9 just look around the room a little more throughly and found the source when he woke up. It just comes off as lazy writing.

2. The dialogue. I love the original short film. One of the things I loved about it was that there was no dialogue. I don't mind making them talk in the feature, but if you manage to assemble a voice cast that includes Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, and Jennifer Connelly, don't waste their talent with predictable cliche lines. My favorite characters ended up being the twins, the silent ones.
 
Ironically, I just bought this film on Blu-Ray this past week. :ack:

The visuals of the film are stunning, but the rudimentary dialogue and pedestrian voice acting detract from the film's overall effect. It's still an intriguing effort, and the various creature designs are inventive and frequently disturbing (particularly the intestine-line "Seamstress" :eek:). Here's hoping Shane Acker will get another directing gig in the future.
 
The short is so much better it's not funny.

I also hate how russian dub practiccally re-wrote the whole thing adding more stupidity to already plot-hole ridden story.
 
I thought it was a decent little animated film. The only real issue I had is it coild have been so much better if it was actually stop motion. The plot was a little weird, and some things probably got lost in the holes of the script.
 
Coincidentally, not ironically. :D Sorry, a bit nitpicky on that subject.

Anyway, I've seen the short and loved it, but I haven't spent the time to see the movie. If it truly is beautifully animated I'll watch it next time I'm looking to rent a movie, but it's a shame that the voice acting is apparently low-quality.
 
I don't know, maybe it's me, but I always seem to find myself in the minority when it comes to these Stop-motion/CG animated family films. I'll admit, my taste is limited when it comes to these kinds of movies; I'm more into action oriented animated features (mostly superhero-related) and I'm not really a huge fan of most of the Dreamworks or the Pixar stuff, but once in a while I'll like something from those studios or from another that's in that vein, and it usually seems to get negative reviews for some reason.

For example: I liked "9"

I also liked Astroboy, Bolt, and Megamind -- all of which seemed to get lukewarm response from many posters here. Sure, they're not on the same high level as The Incredibles or Coraline, but I still think they were entertaining and have concepts I could at least get into, unlike some of these other films of the sort that are just a bit too "fluffy" for my taste.
 
I can't say I loved 9 all that much. I won't deny the animation and the art direction of the movie was great and certainly refreshing considering other CG films out there. The acting was pretty decent - nobody was amazing nor terrible. However, I thought the writing had a lot to be desired - I could never get attached to any of the characters and couldn't root for them, especially 9 himself, he was so white bread bland. To be fair, that may have been the point to his character, but still...

Speaking of 9, considering its PG-13 rating, it made pretty good money in its theater run. I can't begin to imagine how many young kids were scarred by this movie ^_^;
 
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