Mark's Blog A developers point of view

Movie-Review: 9

"9"... A title which does not describe much at all. So I looked it up on IMDB to get a bit of an idea of what this movie is about. An animation/SciFi movie, rated 7.1, and staring the voice of Elijah Wood. It triggered something in me, so I placed it on my "To Watch" list.

I really had no idea what I was getting in to watching 9. A SciFi movie alright. And a rather short one, as it only lasted 90 minutes or so. From the start the setting was clear. A rather grim setting which is accompanied with great animation. To me it gave the same feeling as I felt when watching Wall-E, when he is working on earth. Silent and alone...

But that soon changed, only a few minutes into the movie the pace picks up and you have the feeling you are left behind in terms of the story. Things are happening, but you don't really know what or why. At that moment I was curious. And after a shock moment, I thought to myself: "Yes. This will probably be a great movie!". But I was kind of wrong, at least, in my opinion.

The drive of the characters is not really clear. You can guess but can never know for sure. The movie keeps you in the dark. Normally this is not a problem at all. But because I was unable to connect with the movie on any level, it was kind of annoying.

Only somewhere at the very end I had  a feeling  of a connection (although very small) with the characters. And when the movie actually ended, it left me with mixed feelings. Sure the movie was entertaining. And sure it was intriguing. But it never really caught my attention. Therefor I was kind of relieved when the movie ended.

I was glad I watched the movie! It sure has things which justify the 7.1 on IMDB. But for me, the overall feeling of the movie was just a tad off.

Sound wise everything is great. Lot's of use of the LFE in a correct way (I never had the feeling it was overdone). And the music was done rather nicely. Speech was a bit different. Sometimes I had the feeling the dubbing was a bit off. It just didn't feel like the voices where appropriate for the (animated) characters.

I wouldn't want to mis this movie, but as a final score I give it a solid 6.