Other than Wall E, 9 has to be the only other 3D animated movie that deals with post-apocalyptic Earth.  I first saw the trailer for 9 back in May while seeing Terminator Salvation and I was intrigued by it.  What’s odd about seeing the trailer of 9 before Terminator is that both roughly share the same premise of machines ruling the world.  The problem this movie will encounter is that it shares the same numerical title as Nine (a musical with Daniel Day-Lewis) and people will undoubtedly confuse both.  I just experienced some of that confusion last week while discussing 9 with someone.  9 was originally released as a short film in 2005 and it actually was nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Film. It will now be adapted into a full-length feature of the same name. Surprisingly, neither DreamWorks Animation nor Pixar have any involvement in this and instead will be helmed by Focus Features, a company mainly known for its independent films. This will be Focus’ second animated feature, after being Coraline.

This image might look familiar to those who've seen '2001' or 'Eagle Eye.'

A parallel Earth is ravaged and war-torn and the sake of humanity is barely holding on by a thread.  Machines rule the world and are seeking to destroy every last human.  These same machines were once built be a scientist to help Earth recover from a deadly war. The machines soon rebel against their original programming and assemble an army to annihilate the human civilization. The scientist, fearing the end, makes a group of organic rag dolls capable of independent thought to combat the machines. Nicknamed “stitch-punks,” by director and creator Shane Acker, this group of dolls are named after numbers to distinguish from one another. One such doll, named 9 (Elijah Wood), looks outside the doll box and tries to find the origin of his artificial species and also seeks knowledge about life. While one group of dolls, lead by their wise old leader 1 (Christopher Plummer) are struggling to stay alive, they cross paths with 9 and soon embrace his natural leadership and ideology to combat the machines.

9 will co-star Jennifer Connelly (7), John C. Reilly (5), Crispin Glover (6), Martin Landau (2) and Fred Tasasciore (8). Shane Acker, who wrote and directed the 9 short, will adapt his own work for the big screen. Acker has mostly done shorts before this, but he did work on some of the visual effects for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He developed the story, while Pamela Pettler (co-writer of Monster House and Corpse Bride) wrote the script.

If a human could project images like this, they'd instantly be my friend.

I have an interest in seeing 9 because it offers a different element to the 3D animated movie. Plus, it also has the track record of being adapted from an Academy Award nominated short film.  This may not be for everyone who enjoys animated films and it’s certainly not for kids due to its darker themes. Also, don’t go in expecting to see Daniel Day-Lewis and I’m sure you’ll turn out all right.

9 cleverly opens on September 9^th.

Also, for those interested, check out the Shane Acker short film which inspired the movie, below: