9 (2009)

 

Genre: Sci-fi/ Fantasy 

Time: 1h 19 mins

Director: Shane Acker

Quick Summary: A rag doll that awakens in a postapocalyptic future holds the key to humanity's salvation.

This gave me whiplash from how quick the pacing is.

Nostalgia is something. I remember this film being so much better when I was a kid and was so excited to finally rewatch it as an adult. Shame to say I was so disappointed. I think my poor kid brain liked the look of this more than anything and didn't really pay attention to the actual story.

It's a mess honestly. So much happened within the runtime that it made me tired halfway through. I struggled to keep up with everything that was going on as it would move on so quickly and really thinking about it they barely explained what they were doing most of the time. They would just suddenly start doing something and you had to guess what was going on. This plus there would be moments where the characters would just change their mind within seconds. Didn't want to do something? Suddenly they do. Usually, this was so the story (or lack of one) could move forward without too many bumps as I assume they didn't have the time to have full-on conflict scenes. 

I'm not actually sure who the target audience was. It felt too complex and dark for young kids, but for teens and adults, it was too simple and a mess. A lot of the time it felt empty and half-baked, almost like they had ideas but they weren't fully thought out or they ran out of time. 

This is usually remembered for the aesthetic and the look of everything. Post-apocalyptic, dark, and desolate except for a few humanoid ragdolls. Admittedly it felt too empty with the backgrounds and didn't look quite right, but for the most part, it really helped sell this destroyed world. The ragdolls all had their own looks, which were stereotyped to how they behaved, which isn't bad just very obvious. For sure, the brute is big and the smart one has big eyes that look like glasses. But also I did like the other little design quirks, like the one who paints crazy symbols has ink splotches and the main character has nothing special visually about them. 

This had so much potential and could have been so interesting. WW2 but machines had destroyed the world and now it the in the hands of these tiny ragdolls. Sadly this doesn't take any risks and chooses to be a story that we've seen millions of times (and not a good telling of it either). All the cliches are shown and is incredibly predictable. Strange thing is, there are so many well known voices used for the characters. Some of them being; Elijah Wood; Jennifer Connelly and John C. Reilly.

It's not often I watch a film where the main character is so useless too. I'm not kidding when I say he is responsible for all of the deaths shown in this too. He essentially stands there until he's needed and then sudden he knows what to do. 

I wanted to like this so bad for the nostalgia, but sadly I can't. Only watch this if you want the nostalgia goggles to come off, or to see how bad this kind of is. Hopefully someone picks this up and remakes it.

3/10

"We had such potential. Such promise. But we squandered our gifts, our intelligence"

"5: Actually, I don't mind having one eye. It's easier for me. 'Allows me to concentrate on just one thing at a time, you know?"