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Post by Jabberwocky on Sept 12, 2009 12:32:40 GMT -5
That was very interesting Zen!! Thanks!
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Post by number9000 on Sept 16, 2009 11:27:16 GMT -5
www.urbantulsa.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=28085"While it may not be the revelatory work of a genius that some were hoping for, 9 is a darkly beautiful, sometimes even visionary, introduction of a promising new animator named Shane Acker, and despite its flaws, serves as a worthy entry in the ever popular subgenre/niche of post-apocalyptic sci-fi. The material, expanded from Acker's Oscar-winning animated short of the same name, features breathtaking moments of sublimity, but the script by animation hack Pamela Pettler (Monster House) undermines Acker's vision by making the artistry subservient to a mash-up of familiar genre conventions and characters that are barely developed during the course of an all-too-brief 79 minute runtime. Like the work of Acker's mentor Tim Burton (who has a producing credit), 9 tows the line between kiddie and adult fare, with the child-appeal of rag dolls on a quest complemented by some genuinely disturbing images that earned the film its PG-13 rating. (Parents of young'uns should view the film before taking the kids, lest they be kept up for the next month by nightmare-induced midnight screams). The story is essentially another Man (or in this case, Rag Doll) vs. Machine tale where characters must discover the true nature of their origin in order to capably combat the tyranny of monolithic robots. There's not much original going on here, but, besides the visual beauty, 9 has the advantage of top-notch voice work from a slew of great actors. Elijah Wood plays the title character 9 (each doll has mysteriously been given a number, inscribed on its back, by an unknown creator) who, along with 5 (John C. Reilly), 6 (Crispin Glover), 7 (Jennifer Connelly) and 1 (Christopher Plummer), must go on a life-and-death scavenger hunt that's punctuated by frequent action sequences featuring some extremely menacing scrap heaps. The moniker "Stitchpunk" has already been coined to summate the film's general aesthetic, and it's a suitable description for the retro-futuristic design of both the zipper-endowed, wide eyed stitch puppet characters and the post-industrial nightmare they inhabit. Unlike the dystopian ideal of Wall-E (a misanthrope's wet dream of picturesque loneliness), there's nothing peaceful about the cluttered, war-torn terrain of a world just re-emerging from some terrible holocaust, but there's an anachronistic quality to the production design that lends a twisted beauty to an environment comprised by visions borrowed from the past, present and future. It's beautiful, stylized ugliness, and Acker is clearly more comfortable envisioning unique images of destruction and decay than he is fleshing out a coherent and compelling story. The plot isn't "bad" per se, it's just generic when coupled with the superior animation and design. Here's hoping that for his next project Acker recruits a more talented scribe, because flawed as it may be, 9 is an arresting film that could've easily been great. A missed opportunity, but still worth the price of admission." Pretty much sums up everything I said upon seeing it for the first time. I really do believe that Shane's next film will be mindblowingly awesome.
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