All-star cast powers inventive 9

By Maggie Sulc     9/17/09 7:00pm

A movie about nine human-like rag dolls banding together to save the post-apocalyptic world does not sound like a rousing adventure story. But when Tim Burton produces it, there is no sense in ruling out the possibility. Burton, one of the visionaries of 9, transforms the rag dolls - called "stitchpunks" - into endearing, individual characters uniting to fight a destructive robotic beast. The film begins when the last human on earth crumples to the floor and his final scientific creation, 9 (The Lord of the Ring's Elijah Wood), first opens its mechanical eyes.

This robotic, doll-like creature appears odd and mysterious at first, little more than fabric skin and wooden joints, but as 9 ventures out into the world, his reactions of fear and his cautious first interactions with fellow creature 2 (North by Northwest's Martin Landau) prove him to be not only cute, but human.

The other seven stitchpunks slowly reveal themselves, each with a different personality and view of how to survive. Wood is not the only familiar voice in the cast: John C. Reilly (Chicago) lends his voice to 9's ally, 5; Christopher Plummer (The Sound of Music) portrays the arrogant but cowardly group leader, 1; and Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) bursts onto the screen as the fearless female warrior, 7. The casting director should be commended for assembling such a varied and capable ensemble, a group whose voices contribute mightily to helping the audience relate to the awkwardly-constructed characters.

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Alas, the quality of the characters' constructs does not translate to the plot, which is basic and predictable in many ways. Slowly, the creatures band together and leave their cathedral sanctuary to destroy the only thing standing between them and peace: the mechanical beast that killed off the human race.

9 immediately becomes the hero, rebelling against the reactionary rules of 1 to go and face the beast directly. It is clear from the title that the key to the group's survival lies with Wood's character - the human scientist's final project - and that numerous obstacles and the loss of close friends will not prevent him from success.

Nor are the overall themes of the film original: Many of Ray Bradbury's short stories share similar themes that deal with technology expediting man's extinction, and other movies - The Matrix, Terminator 2: Judgment Day0, Artificial Intelligence: A.I. - have all weighed the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. Technology's power is still a relevant topic in today's society, but here, it is not likely to linger in the audience's minds after the credits roll.

Still, though the plot of 9 is not stellar, its animation and visual clarity are. From the first scene, each object is shown precisely and with great detail. The stitchpunks' wooden digits, metal eyes and burlap get-ups boast textures that contrast with the surrounding drab, melancholy setting. The use of only browns, blacks and other dull colors for the setting powerfully conveys the bleakness of the film's post-apocalyptic world.

This murky palette makes certain scenes all the starker. During the battle scenes, the red-eyed Fabrication Machine - mankind's doomsday device - pops startlingly from the screen. Because of the color difference, the audience quickly deciphers that the stitchpunks, who blend in with the environment, are "good" and that the machine, with its foreign coloring, is "bad." This distinction may be simple, but its effect on screen is powerful.

That is not to say that Burton has dumbed down the film or aimed for the lowest common denominator. Far from it, in fact. The plot may be trite and the theme transparently predictable, but don't let that deter you from seeing a movie about these heroic stitchpunks. With Burton, the possibilities for a film are endless - a formula that, in this case, works out in the audience's favor.

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