Full of action and adventure in a post-apocalyptic age, Tim Burton’s “9” adds a bit of the short film version of “9” in the movie as well as his own creativity; however, this resulted in a very topsy-turvy film.

The story begins with the last “stitchpunk,” 9, waking up in his creator laboratory to find that the world has been destroyed by robots. Once he steps out of the lab and into the barren wasteland that was once Earth, the lives of the remaining stitchpunks—and whatever beasts happen to be lurking around— are impacted forever.

While surveying this parallel world, he meets another stitchpunk, who is called “2” and gets kidnapped by the cat beast soon after. Now it is up to 9 and the other stitchpunks—both those who are willing and unwilling—to go save 2 and destroy not only the cat beast, but the reactivated fabrication beast, who has the power to steal souls using the scientist’s talisman. Will they all make it out alive? Who knows?

However, everyone most definitely knows that while the original short film was nominated for an Academy Award, but this film failed to reach the bar of its predecessor. There were some major flaws in the plot and the character portrayals. John C. Reilly did a poor job in voicing 5 and ending up make 5 appear with the traits of a follower whereas 6 was not given enough time to enhance his character.

Moreover, the plot seemed like an unbalanced, detached group of stories instead of a flowing story. At the end, the original film transitioned well and ended with a more logical ending, which is a key factor in whether a film like “9” makes or breaks it. Burton placed a small implication at that the Earth would restore itself again so as to instill hope in the audience. However, it did not correlate with the rest of the film. If it looks like a gloomy film, sounds like a gloomy film, and acts like a gloomy film, then it is a gloomy film ergo it should be kept as such for the sake of balance.

Though the plot was a bit disappointing, the visual affects were exceptional; they aren’t ones that one comes across everyday; the antagonists were superbly frightening. Plus, there were some humorous parts which succeeded in perking up the grave situation the characters were in.

So far, most of its ratings have been C pluses or below, but since the film topped the charts on opening day, the sky is the limit for Tim Burton’s “9.”