Stitchpunk

I really like animation for two reasons: 1) the director has the ability to construct every frame, 2) it is really hard to tell a good children's story. Both of these things take an extraordinary imagination, which can make for really great film.

Shane Acker makes a good attempt in 9. He certainly has imagination. The post-apocalyptic world is stunning, and its few characters are compelling. The technology is interesting, the chases are thrilling, and the escapes are narrow enough to be satisfying. The film will inspire a host of young boys who have not yet given up make-believe games to new adventures in the backyard. But when I turn away from nostalgia, it is easy to see that the plot is not tight as it could be, and dialogue too often falls flat, primarily because the characters' motivations are a bit predictable. Still, none of this kept me from enjoying the movie.

You can find reviews at Metacritic, but the best one is at the Onion's A.V. Club, which has the wonderful word humunculus. The reviewer at Slate, who posted today, also thought so.

Even if you don't see the feature film, Acker's original short is pretty good.