copyright © Jedo Dre 2011

9 is difficult to complain about or to praise. There are people out there I am sure who will see the cover art of this animation and will think "ah, this thing is probably too weird and artsy for me", but if 9 is guilty of anything it is of being too normal and balanced.


The story is quite simple and the line up of characters is actually full of clichés. There is the naive but good hero, the feisty girl, the cynical old wise man afraid of change, etc. The lack of initial relationship development, when the newly born protagonist character meets the others and everyone acts as if they met each other before, feels like a shortcut made by the creators, even if the storyline hints at the reason for this strange behavior.


For the people who see the cover art and the trailer and subsequently go in with their brains tuned to be challenged might receive far less brain-candy than they expected.


But that is not to say that 9 is bad. The pacing is just right, with the change between mystery and action scenes fluent enough to keep you interested the whole time. The art pretty. The soundtrack is good, both in terms of standalone quality and in-film use. The dialogue is smart, a refreshing change from some of the recent low-brow action flicks, and the actors carry it well (not surprising when you check out the cast). All in all this is a worth animation film, but you will be unlikely to remember it a few years from now.

9