9 Movie Review

The movie 9 was released in 2009, at first it comes off as just another animated children’s movie, however, has a dark twist that appeals to a more mature audience. Nine was directed by Shane Acker, a young director who has been largely impacted by Tim Burton who worked alongside Acker in this film and also helped produce it. Burton is known for creating movies with dark twists and eccentric fantasy films such as Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, and Sweeney Todd. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that 9 also has a dark and gothic theme. This particular movie doesn’t by any means move or inspire you but it’s a fun ride that most can enjoy without having to do much thinking. The plot is pretty shallow in the fact that it can be summed up as a group of nine dolls that were brought to life by a scientist who gave them each a part of his soul, and they struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that has been destroyed by war, all while being hunted by the same machines that destroyed the rest of the world.

What this film lacks in plot it makes up for with hidden occult symbolism, or more specifically a period of great adversity. Occult groups believe the human race needed to go through this period to purge our impurities. They believe that modern government and religion are impurities and they will lead us to our own damnation. They also believe the things we’ve built, and the advances we’ve made will eventually be the downfall of mankind destroying everything we built since the bronze age. Symbolism for the occult is everywhere in this film, new technology made our lives easier for a time but then turned on us because they had no soul. They rebelled and caused the fall of modern civilization. This film also has symbolism connecting it to WWll, this is obvious by the banners and the propaganda you see and hear throughout the movie. The dolls themselves are apart of occult/alchemical theory, they represent the “homunculi” or little men. Occult leaders believe that when man plays at being god and gives life it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back where the world is the camel. In this movie, the same scientist that creates the dolls first made a conscious machine. The creation of this machine was the start of the end. The machine was used to create other conscious machines for war to bring a “peace” but when the war was over the same machines rebelled. When this happened the scientist realized that the machines would be inherently evil because they had no soul, so he made the nine dolls, weren’t his first creations. These dolls also represent an idea from a hebrew lore that believed clay figures could be imbued with a sort of magic to create a golem. Golems were protectors, they were bodyguards for rabbis. There are even references to the illuminati in this film. When the dolls are investigating their creation, you get a visual of a book cover that has an eye inside a triangle. I don’t know if this film is trying to connect to as many cults/secret societies as possible or what because it’s kind of a mess with all the references. Remember that this is a comic meant for children and I think the symbolism is lost on kids and if they would have put more effort into the story line instead of the occult symbolism they could’ve made a much more popular movie. Even though a lot of this symbolism was lost on most people I think that the effort made sets it apart from other movies. This movie really stands by itself where its an animated film geared towards the younger generation but also has occult and gothic themes that make it stand out from anything that i’ve ever seen. I believe because of this it is a work of art.

Another factor that makes it a work of art is the attention to detail that the animators put into this movie. The landscape is breathtaking, even though it’s been destroyed by bombs and the city has been brought to ruin it somehow still seems peaceful and quiet. What was once bursting with life and energy is now just empty. They did such a great job designing and animating the city it just makes you want to explore the ruins with the dolls just to see what you’d find.. The creativity and realness of it all makes watching the film an exhilarating experience. Our sewn burlap heroes are as much of a work of art as the landscape. Each one of them unique and made up of slightly different materials and look extremely lifelike. Each of them received a certain trait from the scientist when he imbued them with a part of his soul. In a way they are him just split up into several beings. They each have a defining trait from the scientist, 9 obviously got curiosity, 8 got strength, 7 honor, 2 ingenuity, and 1 got leadership.

One thing that takes away from this movie is that it has a very limited audience. It is too dark and violent for younger children and most adults won’t take the film seriously because it’s animated and doesn’t have a very deep plot. This movie is lost on the majority of people because of this, the only audience I can think of would be people who already followed the comic or kids at just the right age to like the violence but don’t need a very deep or meaningful message.

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