9
I had my doubts about this one back when it was first announced Focus Features would be letting Shane Acker turn his short film 9 into a feature produced by Tim Burton and with the addition of voices, but this trailer relieves a lot of my concerns. It stays faithful to Acker’s original designs and the voices aren’t comprised of flavor-of-the-week actors who can’t blend into their characters.
The plot goes something like this:
When 9 first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.
I just hope Tim Burton’s name doesn’t somehow overshadow Shane Acker when it comes to the film’s reception. It still rubs me the wrong way how Tim Burton’s name is in front of The Nightmare Before Christmas or how he too frequently omits Henry Selick’s involvement when discussing that production. There’s something downright offensive about Burton’s name being more recognized for that one than its director, especially when he spent less than ten days on the set.
Anyway… 9 opens on September 9th, 2009. Oh, and go check out the Academy Award-nominated original short at YouTube.
