I’ll be up front right up front, this is your spoiler alert. I will talk about the whole of 9, so if you don’t want to know then don’t read on.
I love Tim Burton films and every time one is coming up I do my absolute best not to find out anything about them before I can sit down in a theater and enjoy them as the director intended; a complete mystery.
And this film does exactly that, you go in as does 9 the lead character, not knowing anything about where you are and what is happening. This is a beautiful created visual experience, crafted by a master of imagination. 9 finds himself awakened without really knowing where he is. What unfolds slowly (or quite quickly in this case as 74 mins is roughly all you get) is a post apocalyptic world in ruin at the wretched hands of the machines and 9 and his preceding numbers are all pieces of a great scientists soul who must restore humanity to what is left of Earth.
That may or may not do the plot justice but the way it unfolds and the ability for pure animation to portray emotion and allow you suspend disbelief is the glue of this film. From the silly gags about capes to the soul sucking beast that must be conquered this film is full of vivid imagination that leave you feeling inspired, lost, empty and full.
All the pieces, or I should say numbers, purpose fall neatly into the plot gradually revealing their purpose over the duration of a well paced film and it was only towards the end and the great reveal when the scientists purpose is shown to the audience that for a brief moment I lost my ability to suspend disbelief.
But is it good?
Well I am saddened to say that it just doesn’t ever quite hold it all together. Plot holes and lack of continuity in the sequences let the film down. The great triumph is the animation and in part the storytelling potential but it doesn’t quite hold it’s place as a masterpiece because it just doesn’t really work or get explained properly.
What happened to Earth? Who are the machines? What do they run on? Why should 9 care?
Nothing really gets explained very well even in the dreamy ‘categorised’ sequences where the twins, cute as buttons though they are, play bits and pieces of history through their shutter-like projector capable eyeballs and the show the creator which I am guessing was supposed to be a great chunk of the plot but it lacks glue, not really quite finding clarity to make this a classic film.
Still go and see it in the cinema because it is a spectacle of modern film making to behold on the big screen but have a few drinks and let things fuzz up a bit – it might help and let you forgive the looseness of the storyline and just enjoy the animation.