9

Expanded from an Oscar-nominated 2005 short film, 9 is a computer-animated odyssey set on a post-apocalyptic Earth devoid of human beings.

Writer-director Shane Acker greatly embellishes his original 11-minute vision into a 79-minute quest to sow the seeds of a new man and womankind.

His protagonists are a race of tiny, man-made sack people, who look similar to the characters in the LittleBigPlanet video game.

These Hessian heroes have distinct personalities, enriched by vocal performances from Hollywood stars including Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly.

Disappointingly, Acker's feature is a triumph of dark, steampunk-styled visuals over substantial plot and character development.

The script, co-written by Pamela Pettler, is too linear and simplistic, and tension dissipates every time the film treads water before the next set-piece.

9 (voiced by Wood) wakes in a seemingly deserted room.

The scientist who created him is dead, slumped lifeless on the floor, one of millions wiped out by a carefully targeted attack spearheaded by the Great Machine.

Stumbling into the decimated outside world, 9 picks his way through streets littered with detritus and fallen masonry.

Corpses sit motionless behind the wheel of a car.

Eventually, 9 meets other figures, all with identifying numbers scrawled on their back.

War veteran 1 (Plummer) has anointed himself the leader of the survivors, setting up headquarters inside an abandoned church.

The fallen house of a long-forgotten God is also home to lovable yet frail inventor 2 (Martin Landau), the silent twins 3 and 4, benevolent engineer 5 (John C Reilly), tortured artist 6 (Crispin Glover), spunky fighter 7 (Connelly) and knucklehead bodyguard 8 (Fred Tatasciore), who enforces all of 1's dictates through intimidation.

No longer alone, 9 joins forces with his cloth kin in an epic battle against the remaining machines, including a vulture-like flying contraption and the monstrous Beast with its giant, red eye.

This sparks a power struggle between 9 and the incumbent 1, who believes he always knows best, bellowing: 'Your path takes us back to catastrophe!' The fingerprints of producer Tim Burton are all over 9, and there is a pleasing dearth of sentimentality in Acker's script.

There is also a distinct lack of dialogue and back-story, and when the film's grand design comes into focus during the climactic showdown, we're left to ponder if the valiant efforts of 9 and his brethren are worth it.

'Some things are better left where they lie,' sagely notes one of the characters.

Visuals are stunning throughout, opening with a breathtaking sequence of the scientist stitching together his little helpers.

However, aesthetics can only carry the film so far and in the absence of a deeper emotional connection to the characters, Acker's adventure falls short of the lofty praise befitting of its title.

• Release Date: Wednesday 28 October 2009

• Certificate: 12A

• Runtime: 79mins