An odd number for an odd movie

A scorched, post-apocalyptic Earth has been the setting for many an epic blockbuster, but rarely an animated feature. Director, Shane Acker , carves a lonely rumbled path in his computer-generated debut film, 9 — a hauntingly magical yarn, spun more for adults and those with darker dispositions than innocent ankle-biters. The grunge patina and creepy cloth creatures (known as Stitchpunks) should be your first clue that 9 isn’t a happy tale to curl up with at night. While Acker’s plot is manifestly stitched together from other well-worn stories, his visual treatment is as pure and creative as they come.

At just under an hour-and-a-half, 9 is an exceedingly swift tale, which opens in a desolate Earth populated by debris and gloom. One of the Stitchpunks (created how and for what you eventually come to understand) happens to life one day, who we come to know as simply 9 (voice by Elijah Wood) — more of a label than a name. As 9 begins to explore his lonesome environs, occasionally arriving at a dead human or charred evidence of a long-gone war, he encounters another of his kind, 2. Older and holding the promise of answers, 2, doesn’t hang around long before he’s captured by one of the bone-and-metal, cat-like beasts that keep him and his kind in hiding. Soon, we come to understand that 9 and 2 are part of a small collective of unusual creatures left on the planet.

The group, numbering 9 in total, are lead by 1, the eldest and crotchety-est of the lot. 1 believes in prudent cowardice and aggressively holding to convention, and therefore refuses to raise a rescue mission to find 2. When 9 arrives at at the intersection of the mantra “A group must have a leader” and the question “What if he’s wrong?”, he and 5 take off to find 2. If the film was rendered in a more upbeat light, you would think it rife for an elementary school adventure in math. Although if that were the case, the primary teaching would be in subtraction, if you get my drift..

Acker, with the help of producer Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted), does an excellent job at moving the story along and keeping the tension at an elevation unseen in animated films. As the sewn band scurries through the wasteland to find their friend and stay alive (a debatable state of existence considering their makeup), the film definitely keeps your focus. And as the puzzle is eventually revealed, there is a clear appreciation for the clever involved.

Much of the suspense is also attributable to to simply the look of the characters. Not surprising, since Tim Burton is also a producer of the film. Broadly, the Stitchpunks seem like they must have been sewn together within the confines of rubber walls, both in sensibility and materials. 5 is missing an eye (or socket, rather), 6 dons voodoo-doll pinstripes and 9 can unzip his torso. The metal beasts are an entirely creepier story. The snake-like one with a broken doll head for a face who attacks with a needle and thread, sewing victims up into its body, will haunt your dreams.

Where 9 comes apart is in the completeness of the narrative and the overarching frame. The pace and run-time doesn’t allow for much in the way of reflection and processing of the very unique world Acker has created. And before you’re ready, the film concludes. Ahead of the end, however, any fan of film will readily notice a few familiar landscapes in the story. So while 9 embroiders an artful quilt, bedazzled with the occasional gem, it’s a film most will find difficult in which to wrap themselves.