best movie i've ever seen.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

9 is a visually creative short animation by Shane Acker. It was nominated for a best animated short Oscar and later Acker got funding to release a feature length version.There is no dialogue so the story is hard to fathom. There are two ragdoll type creatures. One of them is designated the 9th one left alone when the other one perishes and loses its soul to a mechanical type monster. 9 has to find a way to defeat the monster and ends up releasing the souls devoured by this monster.The short animation has a post apocalyptic Gothic steampunk style, it is very well lit and clearly a labour of love.

I was planning on watching the movie 9 recently until someone pointed out it was an expanded version of a short film that I'd not seen, which made me want to watch the short film in the extras and then leave it a while before watching the more recent version. I probably made the right call on that since the original was made on a much more limited budget to say the least and is much simpler and smaller – so seeing it after a full version may have worked against it. Anyway, what I found was a short film that does what a short film is meant to do – engage and deliver quickly.The plot is not really explained – or at least the background to the world and characters anyways. Instead we are thrown into the middle of it as one ragdoll character has its soul captured by some sort of mechanical creature; this leaves doll #9 to either survive it, kill it or die trying. The short is as simple as that and, in the absence of detail and plot to engage, it is all about atmosphere and feeling. These are almost harder than the visual aspect to create but Acker gets it right, producing a very dark feeling film that engages because of its Gothic feel and dark air. Visually the film works very well even if the limited resources do show. The animation is smooth, the creatures have character and presences with only the slightest touch and the wider world is interesting.Overall this was an enjoyable and dark short film that worked off atmosphere and visual creativity. I will be interested to see if an expansion and additions of characters, voices etc make it a better experience or if it dilutes the simple short too much across a longer running time.

This is an excellent short animation. The story is well written and directed. The animation sequences remind me of the first oddworld video game. Not that they have similar stories really, or characters, but the overall look and feel somehow remind me of the world painted in that game. The use of silent characters brings a weight to the action and tension happening on screen. The creature is a mixture of junk found within this world, but seems to hunt with a definite purpose. The ending shows us that purpose, and a quick glimpse into what it might be like to live in this tiny world.Very cool short.

Great Visual Effects, stunning work!!! Shane is an inspiration to all short film makers.Brilliant Characters set in a visually fantastic backyard war zone. Dramatic lighting and gutting CGI environments create an astounding miniature world in trouble. Simple yet profound story telling without words, transcends past language barriers producing a universal story for all. With this film you can definitely see Shane's progress of his previous Good films to this breath taking achievement in short film making.A must see for any fan of animated shorts with stunning imagery.