9 is a challenge to remember our roots... to not get caught in our beliefs or our politics or - most especially - become chained to the powers of our intellect alone.

| Dec 22, 2020

The new version stays so true to the original you could describe it as a feature-length short-which is not the most staggering accomplishment.

| Oct 20, 2014

Gorgeously animated, beautifully executed and incredibly imaginative, Shane Acker's 9 manages to nonetheless feel a little bit like something you've seen before.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 9, 2009

Looking like a rag-doll version of Terminator Salvation, the film boasts an arresting visual style.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 9, 2009

The apocalyptic 9 offers innovative images of a broken Earth inhabited by woven warriors battling machines. But it's more style than substance - this mechanical tale needs a human touch.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 30, 2009

It looks great, but sadly the screenplay - in particular the stultifying dialogue - simply can't match the visual inventiveness.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2009

It allegedly lasts 79 minutes. I think it lasted 79 hours, or 79 years, or perhaps 79 times the space of time between the extinction of allosaurus and the rise of Cro-Magnon.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 30, 2009

Where it needs emotive magic, it lays on a vague and maudlin religiosity -- we're never quite sure what Acker thinks he's preaching. 9? I'd give it a 6.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 30, 2009

The story drifts towards the mawkish without answering any of the big questions it tentatively raises.

Full Review | Oct 30, 2009

A Disneyfied cliché, disfigured by incoherent mysticism and trite warnings about the dangers of technology.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2009

Too dark for littl'uns, too hectic and cutesy for adults, it's pretty much guaranteed to please no one.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 30, 2009

Acker does himself no favors with rote anti-dogmatism and vapid characterizations. Despite that, though, his little creations remain oddly compelling.

| Original Score: C | Sep 12, 2009

Tim Burton protege Shane Acker has proven a better student of the letter of his mentor's work than the spirit.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 11, 2009

Be all that as it may, the lack of character development and cohesive storytelling does hurt Acker's debut quite a bit. This is a movie I find myself wanting to love and embrace, but thanks to these regrettable slipups I just can't do it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 11, 2009

There's no denying that Acker has a knack for bleak landscapes and an inventive salvage-yard approach to character design, but his narrative skills are less developed.

Full Review | Sep 11, 2009

In movies, our technology is so often the ruin of us. We got that message from Stanley Kubrick way back when, and we get it now. But couldn't filmmakers let something else ruin us for a change? Even the apocalypse needs variety.

| Sep 11, 2009

The worst thing you can say about 9 is that it's the look, not the script, that keeps your interest.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 11, 2009

It's easy to see why Acker's gifts caught the attention of these directors; he's a visual craftsman of no little promise. Now if he can just stitch together a story with the same loving care that went into creating those digital burlap dolls...

| Sep 10, 2009

It's hard to tell what the moral message is, other than "it's good to work together to achieve your goals" or "don't press random buttons unless you know what they might do."

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 10, 2009

[Its] splendid visuals are dragged down by a tedious story.

| Sep 10, 2009