MOVIE REVIEW: 9 (12A)

Even though animation is only a small part of his filmography, many have been influenced by Tim Burton’s style and way of storytelling. Here he takes the role of producer (alongside 'Wanted' director Timur Bekmembetov) to bring to the screen the big screen adaptation of '9', a 2005 short film by Shane Acker.

The film opens as 9 (Elijah Wood), a being made of cloth and stitched together by his deceased creator, awakes. He finds the world as we know it in ruins, the casualty of a war mankind has waged against super machines of it's own creation. 9 quickly finds out that there are a small group of others like him, including narrow-minded leader 1 (Christopher Plummer), the kindly 5 (John C Reilly). Convinced that their hiding from the machines will do them no good, 9 leads them on a mission to save the kidnapped 2 (Martin Landau), which soon turns into a battle for humanity's very survival.

It's a Tolkien-like men (well, cloth dolls) on a mission film, with plenty of peril and camaraderie along the way. It is beautifully animated, if very bleak, visually fulfilling all the promise of its predecessor, but ironically that’s also where the problems stem from. Acker seems to have trouble stretching his original idea to a feature length prospect, and the viewer walks away feeling that they've seen a well-told short story, but not an epic animated adventure. There are obvious messages about organised religion and the obsession with technological advancement, but so little running time to get those messages across or explore them to any great length.

He may still sound like he's in his early teens, but Wood provides the perfect voice for the innocent and heroic 9. Delivering the right emount of emotion, he compliments John C Reilly's semi-comic performance. Christopher Plummer is great as 1, his booming voice meaning he works brilliantly as the misguided man of faith, and Jennifer Connelly does her job as the 'muscle' of the troupe. However, no character really breaks out as individual, rather serving their purpose to the progression of the plot.

Acker clearly has a future in animated film, as this is a solid and entertaining debut, but with so little offered up it's not quite the finished article.

'9' is out now.