Under a murky sky, in the ruins of a war-ravaged future, humanity carries on in the form of nine tiny, burlap-skinned doll-people. These little homunculi have camera-lens eyes & zippers running up their bellies where they’ve been implanted with human consciousness. They have numbers on their backs, & the last of the line is the title character of the computer-animated film 9. (This movie is not to be confused, by the way, with the live action film Nine, an adaptation of the Broadway musical due in theatres in a few months.).

The animated 9 is a wistful sci-fi tale in which our hero (voiced by Elijah Wood), initially finding himself alone in the wrecked world, falls into the company of one of his fellow “stitchpunks” (so dubbed by the filmmaker), the kindly 2 (Martin Landau). Minutes after they meet, however, 2 is carried off by The Beast, a hideous cybernetic grab-bag of skeleton & machine parts. 9 wants to go rescue him, but the leader of the stitchpunk community, the autocratic & cautious 1, (Christopher Plummer), forbids this.

Of course, 9 embarks on his rescue mission anyway, accompanied by the loyal 5 (John C. Reilly). Along the way, they have various weird adventures & meet other members of the stitchpunk line, including the intrepid stitchpunk-ette 6 (Jennifer Connelly). They also accidently reawaken a rampaging monster machine that wreaked much of the destruction back in the days of humans, & in the process learn the truth about themselves.

9 is rated PG-13, & it’s full of startling & haunting scenes. The style of the director, Shane Acker, is in the debt of such animators as the Quay Brothers & Polish stop-motion master Wladyslaw Starewicz, & like these greats, his work is often magical & enchanting, but it isn’t necessarily for kids.

There can be no doubt that Acker is a fine talent, which is why it’s frustrating that 9, so beautiful & arresting visually, is so conventional as drama. What is it about feature-length animation that makes it fall into that same dreary template almost every time: the sweet sensitive underdog hero who must overcome a lack of confidence, the adventurous heroine as his love interest, the loyal sidekick, the sinister &/or brutish villains?

You’d think a movie like 9, which isn’t solely focused on the kid audience, could excuse itself from at least some of these obligatory elements. But Pamela Pettler’s screenplay (based on Acker’s story) serves them up dutifully, & doesn’t even season them with much humor.

Animation & sci-fi aficionados will still savor the atmosphere of the film, & Acker’s vivid imagery. The battle between the stitchpunks & the robotic pterodactyl would have justified sitting through the movie’s brief running time if it was the only highlight, & it certainly isn’t.

But my pleasure at these diversions was undercut by the flat dialogue & the anticlimactic ending. 9 has its moments, to be sure, but it’s less than the sum of its parts.

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