TheRetroCritic

By far the weirdest animation of 2009, 9 is really more for hyperactive younger teens than little kids who probably will feel much less stressed out watching Up : 9 is literally one big sci-fi action sequence after another. The film should be applauded for its slightly more subtle environmental message, a rarity these days. Borrowing from 50's sci-fi ( War of the Worlds ) and old horror films ( Frankenstein ) mostly, 9 creates something pretty original and entertaining regardless if not particularly compelling. Dialog and story-wise this is simple, predictable fare with no great surprises and no particularly memorable moments on offer: 9 is bland when it should be bursting with creativity. To be honest, when making a film about hand-made little creatures with stitches, fabrics etc. stop-motion really is the way to go. A lot of texture is lost in the CGI, as detailed as it is, to make room for the scary robots and their big battles. Mixing CGI and stop-motion on this one, muc

Some directors are great at one thing in particular. Some are very versatile. Scott thinks he belongs to the latter category when really he's part of the former. Ever since his sci-fi/fantasy days ( Alien , Blade Runner , Legend ) he has avoided those genres like the plague focusing instead on Russell Crowe-led bore-fests like A Good Year or, indeed, Robin Hood. Which is not to say some of his ventures into the unknown haven't been successful: Gladiator , Thelma and Louise and Matchstick Men were all fine but Scott's original style got lost somewhere along the way and his films these days could have been done by pretty much anyone else comfortable with generic fare. Robin Hood is by no means a terrible film it's just unnecessary. Do we care how Robin Hood became Robin Hood? Do we care about his inner turmoils? Do we need to see a boring, gritty, "realistic" Robin Hood prequel? Or do we want to see a good Robin Hood film with Robin happill