"9" Analysis

The new Tim Burton movie "9" premiered this week in theaters, and I thought I'd take a gander at what Tim had to offer with this new project. As with many Tim Burton films like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "The Corpses Bride" this film is animated. Instead of utilizing claymation as with the previously stated films, this movie was done by computer generated means. This film follows the lives of nine puppets that are brought to life by technological means in a post-human extinction world. After watching the film from beginning to end, I have concluded that although this movie is visually stimulating and breathtaking, the storyline, character development, and dialogue is seriously lacking.
I will begin by addressing the visual nature of the film. The film heavily uses brown and gray colors; about eighty percent of the color in the film is derived from one of these two colors. This creates a very dreary effect that is appropriate for a film about post-apocalyptic Earth. Another visually dynamic effect explored by the filmmakers is the use of lighting. The movie heavily uses side lighting that creates many shadows. The use of shadows is important in portraying the darkness within the current situation faced by the puppets.
Although the film does a great job being visually breathtaking, the storyline, characterization, and dialogue has some major issues. I felt like this was a twenty minute story stretched into an hour and a half movie. One of the big problems is that there was many shots of destruction and landscape and not enough development of plot. Basically, not enough things happened in the hour and a half to keep the audience mesmerized. Secondly, the characters of the puppets were never developed. Without serious characterization to set apart the puppets, the audience did not care when one puppet dies because they have no emotional tie to it. Thirdly, the dialogue was horribly elementary. I felt at times as if I were listening to a children book because the lines used by the puppets were terribly underdeveloped. Lack of complicated dialogue further decreased the ability to bring character to the puppets.
The film "9" would be better watched with the mute feature on. Characterization, dialogue, and plot line were seriously lacking from the feature. The filmmakers, however, have created a beautiful artwork in regards to the visual nature of the film.