How close is close enough? That was the question that kept coming to my mind after checking out Universal/Focus’ DVD release for their early fall film, 9. While the press kits offer plenty of connections to producer Tim Burton (less to co-producer Timur Bekmambetov) he isn’t specifically a material contributor to the movie, a fleshed-out feature based on director Shane Acker’s short film.

That said, Burton’s presence is all over the piece in spirit. The story involves a mish-mash world primarily evoking a steampunk version of Europe, 1939, but incorporating many other anachronistic elements, invariably creating a familiar and foreign world all at once. The invasion is over and no human life has survived. All that remained were the scavenger robot creatures, picking on the remnants of the dead, and a handful of ragdoll creatures, imbued with life and fighting to stay alive. Each ragdoll is a step forward in design and functionality. Now, ragdoll number 9 has arrived, the most sophisticated creature in terms of his design, and his destiny is to be the savior and redeemer of this new culture. The characters all mirror Burton’s nightmare-sketch design ethic, the world as presented finds affinity with his “decay as beauty” and goth inclinations, and even the non-specificity of the time period reminds the viewer of his cut-and-paste stylization on the first Batman flick, and yet it is not really Burton’s film. While Acker has incorporated all these elements, he’s shortchanged himself, never really giving the viewer something they could tag as a new director’s vision. (more…)