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9

Movie Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: B

Overall Grade: B

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that there are advantages to reviewing a movie theatrically and on home video. The obvious drawback is the feeling of redundancy in the writing, but there are often factors to be reconsidered in the time between the reviews. In the case of 9, this came in the form of a Sony Playstation 3. This has nothing to do with higher resolution, or even reaching the film in any way, it has more to do with the critically acclaim videogame Little Big Planet.

9 itself is about nine doll-like creatures called stichpunks who were created by a scientist with nine segments of his “life force.” The stitchpunks are the only living traces of humanity left, in the sense that they were created by, and in the image of a human. Now living a post-apocalyptic world with mechanical monsters, among other dangers, the stichpunks try and survive by whatever means they see fit, which separates them based on how they should live in this new world. It might sound a bit out there, and it certainly is, but that is one of its two most notable features, along with its unique visual design.

Now that the plot is broken down, I have to say that 9 and Little Big Planet are nothing alike in plot. While 9 is a dismal universe riddled with danger, Little Big Planet is a whimsical one with limited threats and loaded with child-like wonder. Where the two seem to be extremely similar is the appearance of the characters. LBP’s answer to the stichpunks is the “sack-people.” A sack-person’s only main difference form a stichpunk, aside from a more light-hearted design, is that they are smaller and customizable with fun outfits, but the looks aren’t the only thing that seems to be one in the same. The action in the film is somewhat like that of a platformer video game: involving mostly running and jumping across complex terrain. It would be harsh to go as far as to say that 9 is a knock-off, but it is suspiciously close in several cases.

Well now its feature time so here is the usual stuff: there is commentary that only die-hard fans are going to listen to, and there are deleted scenes that have nothing consequential about them aside from the fact that they are extremely raw. They are computer animated but without all of the final touch ups so it all looks extremely primitive. Seeing the film in the fashion of something computer animated in the mid 90′s was interesting to get an insight on the steps in production. What weren’t as insightful is 9 – The Long and the Short of It which for all intents purposes should have been. It discussed the transformation

of 9 from a short film to the feature length film, and it is all incredibly matter-of-fact about the most obvious things. Everything you hear, aside from the fact that 9 was a short film, you could have guessed on your own.

That short film is also a feature in itself which was actually more enjoyable then the film, being that it only runs about ten minutes. In that ten minutes you never really have the chance to get tired of it and feel like you could be watching something better. The Look of 9 dissects the time and setting the film takes place in. As odd as it might sound, it is actually more entertaining to watch the breakdown of the films than watching the film itself: I don’t know what that says about the film or me, but I digress. Acting Out is a chance for the animators to brag about the job they did giving the characters emotion relatable to human actors. This would be much more of a marvel had it been made fifteen years ago when this technology was new. We’ve had computer generated emotions for some time, and even though they did a good job on this film, it is nothing particularly special.

Even though the special features have squashed a bit of my 9 is Little Big Planet theory, there wasn’t’ much on this DVD that changed the way I thought about it before I put it in the player. A twisted and grim fairy tale is something that might appeal to some of the viewers out there, especially if you have kids and haven’t stopped shopping at Hot Topic, but it is quite obviously not a true Tim Burton piece even if he is a produce. It does say that he is only a producer on the box but he also produced Nightmare Before Christmas, but that was very much a creation of his own anyway. If you want a unique, yet simultaneously run-of-the-mill gothic fantasy – well you have very specific taste, and 9 is the movie for you.

Movie Grade: B

DVD Features Grade: B

Overall Grade: B