9 (2009)

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.

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.

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.

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

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...

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

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.

A potent reminder that not all shorts, even ones as brilliant as Acker's, will necessarily work well as a feature.

9 has a very Coraline-esque tone to it, so if that's a film you enjoyed, then this movie is definitely something worth checking out on the big screen.

Darkly beautiful to watch.

Feels unnaturally fleshed out and overthought, dampening the excitement through extensive padding...captivating eye candy, but something of a dramatic spinout.