9 2009

Scott Von Doviak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: 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. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: I admire Acker's craftsmanship to the same degree I'm frustrated by what's missing or overstressed here, amid all the rough-textured details and the grim machine-ruled aesthetic. Read more

Kathleen Murphy, MSN Movies: What's lost in Acker's showdown between diminutive ragdolls and a soul-eating, scarlet-eyed spider-machine is any hint of grandeur, the overarching sense of something of inestimable value at risk. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Every effort to expand the range of feature-length animation beyond the confines of cautious family fare is to be welcomed, and budding techno and fantasy geeks are likely to be intrigued and enthralled. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Save the voice work, which is celebrity-heavy and mostly undistinguished, 9 is a marvel to take in, especially the individual character designs. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: For all the Saturday-matinee heroics, the movie is dreary and monotonous, the vision junky in more ways than one. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: 9 reaches the tedium threshold quite quickly. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: It's a perfectly functional, fairly scary kids' film, with plenty of craft and creativity to keep adults occupied. But with a story as sophisticated as its visuals, it could have been much more. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's too scary for small kids and, frankly, too dreary for everyone else. The most intriguing question it asks is what Acker will do next. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: What I loved about 9 is how much evident care its makers have put into it. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [Its] splendid visuals are dragged down by a tedious story. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: 9 is a captivating film with much to say about the human spirit -- even if humans are nowhere to be found. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: The expanded cast of creatures looks great, dressed and animated in the homespun style Acker calls ''stitchpunk.'' Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: The worst thing you can say about 9 is that it's the look, not the script, that keeps your interest. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Acker's strange little critters turn out to be oddly endearing, even if you get the feeling this battle has been fought before. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Fans of sophisticated, adult-oriented animation may savor Acker's elaborate visuals. Younger children, however, might wonder why they sat through all the terror. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Here's the strangest thing of all: it works. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: As a late-summer treat for adults with a childlike sense of wonder -- or older children with a grown-up sense of adventure -- 9 is a definite 8 out of 10. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: It signals the arrival of Shane Acker as an audacious new talent to watch. Read more

Sara Vilkomerson, New York Observer: One wonders, in fact, if 9 should have stuck with its original short format. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: A perfect example of a thin idea stuffed and stuffed with filler until it loses much of its charm. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Acker, whose gifts for mood, design, and character design are impressive enough to have attracted Tim Burton as a producer, is more of an artist than a storyteller. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Comparing this to the summer's biggest, most bloated movie about malevolent robots, 9 is about twice as enjoyable with half the length. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It might have been an opportunity for the sort of challenging speculation sci-fi is best at, however, and the best reason to see it is simply because of the creativity of its visuals. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Acker has created a fitful combination of beautiful, dreamlike images that never knit together forcefully enough to seem individual or convincing. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: While children still watching Tigger videos should stay away, older kids will enjoy the bloodless action and awesomeness infused into nearly every frame. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: 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... Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Exquisite visuals aside, 9 plays like a sock monkey version of Doom. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Character development is virtually nonexistent, and the action is so repetitive that 9 comes across as unworthy of its visual splendor. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: It would be a shame if the most exciting and thoughtful CGI action movie of the year didn't find an audience because the film's heroes fail to pass the suspiciously high superhero-fitness test. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The post-apocalyptic adventure 9 adds up to everything except an obvious audience. Read more

Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine: 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. Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: This film will surely be remembered as an intriguing failure: a triumph of ambition over ability, of ideas over emotional resonance - just another grim fairy tale for these troubled times. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's too bad the thin story didn't match the stylishly haunting visuals. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: In the end, the picture's impact derives mostly from its design and assured execution. Read more

Scott Foundas, Village Voice: The result is never as gripping in narrative terms -- a well-worn litany of dystopian-future chestnuts -- as it is visually, but Acker keeps things moving briskly for the movie's 70-odd minutes. Read more