9

If looks were all, 9 would have earned a better rating from me. This computer-animated fantasy — a feature-length expansion of the 11-minute short that brought former UCLA student Shane Acker an Oscar nod in 2006 — has looks that kill. What doesn’t kill or even stab beneath the surface is the story by Acker and Pamela Pettler about a dystopian universe where machines have effectively wiped out humanity (where have I heard that before?). What’s left with a semblance of soul takes the form of nine rag dolls with numbers stitched on their backs by their creator. 9 (voiced by Elijah Wood) is pleased to survive and find eight others like him. 1 (Christopher Plummer) is the wise leader. 5 (John C. Reilly) is the cowardly sidekick. 6 (evocatively voiced by  Crispin Glover) reps the artist. 7 (Jennifer Connolly) kicks ass like Angelina Jolie in Wanted. No accident there since Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov helped produce the movie along with Tim Burton, whose Edward Scissorhands echoes throughout this doll universe animated in a style Acker calls “stitchpunk.”  Will the cockeyed optimist in 9 be able to restore hope for the world and the triumph of the human spirit? What do you think? I only wish this richly imaginative  movie had stayed truer to the dark heart of its visuals.

Get more movie news and reviews from Peter Travers on the Travers Take