9

Reviewed by Drav3n

Format: Blu-ray

Release: December 29, 2009

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 80 Minutes

The Movie:

Produced by Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland, Nightmare Before Christmas) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted), director Shane Acker brings his Academy Award-nominated short film from college to the big screen in this original adventure. This movie has an excellent voice-acted cast with actors such as Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, John C. Reily, and more.

It's the final days of humanity and the world has become an unrecognizable place due to The Scientist-created B.R.A.I.N, which was taken under control by the "Leader of Mankind" and was used to wage war on humans. Because the B.R.A.I.N didn't have a human soul, it became corrupted and eventually wiped out mankind. Before The Scientist died he created nine burlap dolls and a talisman that could destroy the B.R.A.I.N. Once he died, the dolls became animated through parts of his soul. Each character's name corresponds to the number you see on their back ranging from one-nine. Each character has a very distinct personality matched wonderfully by their voice-acted counterparts. Together the nine dolls decide they must stick together if they want to be able to change history and destroy the B.R.A.I.N.

It's rare to come across a movie, especially with the movies that keep coming out today, with an original concept. Usually the flow of movies coming out are remakes of older movies or successful foreign movies, or sequels that nobody expected to see happen. The one thing that I really enjoyed about this is the fact that it makes you think. The main concept is really choosing between going about things on your own or as a team. And in a situation like that, choosing may not be the easiest of things. I believe the more times you watch this film, the more you are able to connect with it and even connect with some of the characters.

Watching this movie, you are left clueless as to what's going on, just like with the dolls and that's what makes this movie unique and standout from other movies. Everything is seen from the dolls point of view, which gives it a complete different approach in this post-apocalyptic story. Another thing to let readers know, this really isn't a movie that's suitable for children. And the director makes that known early into the movie. I was really impressed with how well the film was able to present the personality and emotion through the dolls, particularly numbers 3 and 4.

Overall, I thought it was one of the better animated movies to come out in 2009. It was a very wonderfully (and creatively) told animated story. And I look forward to see what else Shane Acker comes out with in the future.

Presentation:

This movie is presented in full 1080p with a 1.85:1 aspect raitio. And just as you would expect from an animated film like this, it looks gorgeous! There are no flaws or complaints to be found with the presentation. Everything looks sharp and smooth and the detail on the dolls looks great!

Audio:

The audio track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Just like the image, the audio sounds amazing as well. There are so many little sound effects throughout the movie and they all come through sounding great. Now as good as the dialogue sounds, there are some points throughout the movie where the volume tends to be lower making the dialogue a bit harder to hear. Except for those little bits, the rest of the dialogue sounds very clear and very crisp.

Bonus Material:

This blu-ray also utilizes the "Pocket Blu" for your iPhone or iPod Touch, D-Box Motion Enabled, and is BD-Live enabled.

• Audio Commentary - Featuring writer/director Shane Acker, animation director Joe Ksander, editor Nick Kenway, and head of story Ryan O'Laughlin. I wish all commentaries were as enlightening as this was. They cover everything from the visuals and sounds to the design and animations and so much more! Definitely worth checking out.
• 9 - The Long and The Short of it (1080i, Runtime 16:28) - A great behind the scenes featurette that focuses on how this went from an 11-minute short film for a Thesis paper to a full-length feature film.
• On Tour with Shane Acker (1080i, Runtime 5:36) - A short feature that explores the different production departments where the film goes through.
• The Look of 9 (1080i, Runtime 13:12 ) - Another great featurette that focuses on how the visuals were created through historical events and times.
• Acting Out (1080i, Runtime 4:55 ) - Another cool feature that shows how the animators use themselves as actors to create and perfect facial expressions and movements.
• 9 - The Original Short (480p, Runtime 11:oo) - This was the feature I was looking forward to seeing the most after watching the movie. This is where it all began. This the short film director Shane Acker used as his Thesis for college.
• Deleted Scenes (480p, Runtime 7:24) - I felt these were the weakest part of the bonus features because they were more of a storyboard than an actual scene that was created and deleted.
• U-Control PiP - Usually this feature is always a miss, and rarely a hit, but in this case it's definitely a hit. There's cast & crew interviews, directors commentary (not from the already included audio commentary track), more footage of the actors recording and much more!

Bottom Line:

This movie wont be for everyone, so I recommend renting it first and if you enjoy it, then make the purchase. But do also consider that you will be getting your money's worth. An excellent movie, with great replay value, followed by an excellent image and audio track and then all the special features.