Scrap-Heap Heroes for a Digital Age

Trash is the future in Shane Acker’s world.

9 takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. A group of sapient rag dolls, living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9 (Elijah Wood), who displays leadership qualities that may help them to survive.

The landscape of “9,” Mr. Acker’s first feature, is fashioned out of the debris he imagines will be left over after the end of human civilization. The creatures who inhabit it, meanwhile, are stitched together from a scrap heap assembled by an embattled scientist in the hope that they will survive to become a new life form. These characters, with numbers for names and handmade bodies, fight against malevolent technology in an attempt to keep some essence of humanity alive.

READ MORE By MEKADO MURPHY - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/movies/06murp.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Planning to make a whole day of nines, September ninth, 2009 brings us the movie 9. Featuring a whole slew of names like Tim Burton and Elijah Wood, this might be one of the best pedigreed animated films in a long time.

When humanity blasts itself into a slow choking oblivion, an inventor creates a set of nine sentient rag dolls to embark on a mission to save what's left of life on Earth. Check out the trailer.



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A version of this article appeared in print on September 6, 2009, on page AR10 of the New York edition.