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Post-Apocalyptic Nightmare and Elijah Wood Just Doesnt' Jibe

9 Trailer / Dustin Rowles

Trailers | May 22, 2009 | Comments (24)

I’ve been sitting on the second trailer for 9 (not to be confused with Rob Marshall’s Nine) for a couple of days, mostly because I can’t seem to work up any enthusiasm for it. I know a lot of you sci-fi geeks are drooling all over your fannypacks. It does look cool, and I dig the idea of a post-apocalyptic animation movie. It’s also being produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, so there’s some talent involved.

My problem, unfortunately, is that as cool as 9 looks, I find the voice talent behind it distracting as hell. It’s difficult to get into a dark, doomsday animated film when you keep hearing the lovable voice of Elijah Wood, the goofy voice of John C. Reilly, and the toneless voice of Jennifer Connelly. The juxtaposition is too much — it takes me right out of it.

That said, it does look like a visually arresting film. Maybe I’ll just watch it on mute:


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Comments

i disagree.
the soothing dulcet tone of connelly's voice is the only thing about her i really like anymore.
and elijah voicing a burlap sack somehow resonates with me.
and tim and timur together? it ain't the morning giving me this wood.

maybe it's thinking of dr. perry cox mid-workout.

Posted by: gp at May 22, 2009 10:39 AM

I agree with you Dustin. After watching the silent short-film, the speach really seems to detract from the story. Crispin Glover is perfect casting though.

Posted by: admin at May 22, 2009 10:45 AM

I'll side with Dustin & admin on this one. While it does look pretty good (I blame that entirely on Burton's involvement), the silent, short-film version works better. That, and the September release date has me slightly worried that it's just going to be another forgettable flick shoved into the post-summer, pre-Oscar season dumping ground.

Posted by: Jeremy Feist at May 22, 2009 10:52 AM

I could just post mindless text on how awesome this'll be, but I don't want to post the obvious. I can't wait for this.

Posted by: George at May 22, 2009 10:53 AM

I've also seen the silent short version of "9" and thought it worked better. I find the voices very distracting. I keep thinking "Lord of the 9: The Fellowship of the Ragdoll."

One of the things I loved about "The Triplets of Belleville" was that for the most part, it was a SILENT MOVIE. At least there was little or no actual dialog. This made it work on a universal level.

I also love the silent movies of F.W.Murnau for the same reason. Almost NO title cards. His entire story is told without words and it works. And it makes the movies more universal.

I really wish they had gone that route with the feature length "9."

Posted by: BWeaves at May 22, 2009 11:16 AM

Imagine my confusion: ages ago, I heard about this musical coming out called Nine, and I wanted to look it up. So I go to Trailer Addict, and before I can search, I see one on the front page with a big, creepy 9. So I think, "Way to Go, Mags" and I move forward.

I spent the whole trailer leaning back in my seat (I'm easily creeped) and muttering, "Which one is Fergie?"

All of that aside, it looks interesting, but I am a true wuss, and so Burton films are on the fence for me. True story: I cannot watch The Nightmare Before Christmas alone.

Posted by: Mags at May 22, 2009 11:16 AM

YAY to Christopher Plummer getting mass-appeal work. There are two many people who don't know who he is.

Posted by: Ling at May 22, 2009 11:24 AM

...obviously I meant "too many people." Because there are far more than two people who don't know who he is. If it were just two I'd be fine.

Posted by: Ling at May 22, 2009 11:26 AM

Are any other geeks offended about the fanny pack statement? My overweight Mom wears those, neon green if you were wondering! I strickly wear Star Wars over the shoulder back packs I spent an entire weekly salary on, bought from ebay! Gosh get it right!

Posted by: Angelmonster at May 22, 2009 11:35 AM

Hi, my name is Dustin, and I'm afflicted with ES syndrome.

ES stands for "Everything Sucks", and it renders me incapable of joy or pleasure. I'm a web critic of films and other pop culture entertainment, but because of my ES, I'm unable to enjoy anything, ever. I worry over and bemoan the lack of originality in Hollywood, but when something original and creative actually shows up, I still can't enjoy it because of my ES.

So please, the next time you're trying to enjoy a new offering that actually dares to step outside the regular Hollywood offerings, remember those of us with ES. Join our clarion call, and make a conscious decision to show your support of ES sufferers by declaring loudly and proudly..."EVERYTHING SUCKS!"

Posted by: JustBill at May 22, 2009 11:49 AM

The problem with Dustin is that he has no interior life into which he retreats for solice. That completely explains his aversion to everything fantastic -- if it's not starkly but maudlinly "real", he can't get it.

Iron Man, of course, being the baffling exception.

Posted by: hater from siloam springs at May 22, 2009 12:03 PM

This does not look interesting to me. All I can think is Frodo when I hear that voice. Blech...explosion, explosion, explosion, grim dialogue, awakening something terrible, explosion, some old british guy, more explosions.

Didn't it look like that main doll-guy had a big wobbly peener at around 0:35?

Posted by: AW at May 22, 2009 12:59 PM

This looks beautiful and I will definitely watch it. I have to agree with Dustin though. They could have chosen deeper, more serious, creepy and scary voices for this. I've only heard about this now so I know nothing about the silent 9 movie. I find it intriguing though because I felt the parts in the trailer with just music in them looked very powerful and when the voices came on it distracted me. I'm sure it could have worked very well with better cast voices. Still looks very good though and let's applaud the whole idea.

Posted by: barf at May 22, 2009 1:00 PM

Will be awesome.

Posted by: Mick J at May 22, 2009 1:27 PM

It looks pretty cool, but I agree about the voices. One of the reasons I never liked "happy feet" (and there are many) is that I couldn't get past how wrong Elijah Wood's voice was for that one penguin. Just awful, didn't fit at all, and I kept imagining Frodo in the south pole. Not cool.

Posted by: figgy at May 22, 2009 1:32 PM

is this the 5th installment of the terminator franchise because it looks suspiciously like T5 Rise of the Poorly Voiced Moppets to me.

Posted by: JenVegas at May 22, 2009 3:03 PM

I'm still pretty skeptical about this one, much as I want Timur Bekmambetov's action movie babies. The short film is sort of perfect as-is - adding voice acting and a more completely fleshed-out plot kind of takes away what made the short so interesting.

Posted by: Joe the Plumber at May 22, 2009 3:30 PM

Though I'm sure the joke has been made hundreds of times, I'd love to see a film about a robot doll reflecting on his life and all of the women in his life as well as his career of saving people's lives with a music soundtrack. Or a Fellini movie with robots. Either one would be serviceable.

Posted by: Kamikaze Feminist at May 22, 2009 6:40 PM

some of those enemies call back memories(and nightmares) of Babyface from Toy Story 1... maybe theres a relation

Posted by: Mr. Patches at May 22, 2009 10:44 PM

That looked amazing! Very dark, very risky. And very different.
While I'm always first in line to have my whinge about voices being far off, Elijah Woods can do no wrong for me. So I'll shut my trap this time.

Posted by: Lydia at May 23, 2009 4:11 AM

The voice-casting doesn't bother me, probably because I don't type-cast actors/actresses that way. Maybe it's that whole 'I have problems getting lyrics in songs' thing. Have problems distinguishing actual words at times, so it's the tone and emotional content I'll get first, and sometimes only.

For those of you thinking of watching it on mute, throw a random metal CD in the system. That should provide a fine soundtrack.

Posted by: bjs1109 at May 23, 2009 10:23 PM

That's why I try not to even know who is voicing characters in a film like this. Once I know, it bugs me, but if I can keep them sort of anonymous, I can get more into the character.

Also, sometimes I hate a particular actor so much I can't get past that at all and enjoy the movie. In this case, I'm pretty meh about all of them, but if they ever do a flick with the voices of Tom Cruise, Renee Zellwegger, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, and the like, I'll not only not see it, I'll want to destroy every copy that exists.

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Posted by: hotgirl at May 24, 2009 11:11 PM

Which is more indictative of brain damage: (a) the inability to distinguish between actor and character or (b) while clearly distinguishing one project from another, still having the uncontrollable tendency to carry-over a character?

Posted by: Fez at May 25, 2009 12:59 PM