A CGI animated marvel of invention (that's ‘marvel’ with a small ‘m’), visual effects whiz Shane Acker expands on his 2005 short (also called 9) to fine effect, elaborating without losing the dense sense of threat, wonder and comradery in a dystopian world where humanity’s soul is on the line. Or someone’s soul as the battle is waged by small rag dolls with expressive spot-light units for eyes and bodies of burlap. (Our hero keeps his garment zipped up the front with a pull-tag functioning as stylish tie. Quite the inspired sartorial touch.) More action than narrative with only some general lines of conflict and little explanation till late in the pic). The gigantic rampaging enemy (think metallic dragon dinosaurs) met again & again with defensive & offensive contraptions Rube Goldberg might have designed. And once the backstory does begin to filter in, you’ll note similarities with contemporaneous titles WALL-E and DISTRICT9 as well as old friends like 1960's THE TIME MACHINE. The reveal turns out to be a basic A.I. cautionary, not the best idea in here. But no matter, this is simply a riveting watch. And what a great vocal cast Acker got. Thanks to producer Tim Burton? Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, many more stellar names, presumably, unaware of the participation of fellow producer Timur Bekmambetov who finally gets his name on a film you can watch all the way thru.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned, WALL-E/’08, DISTRICT 9/’09, THE TIME MACHINE/’60.
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