Number 9, Number 9...

In 2006 I actually made the effort to go to the theatres to watch all the nominated animated shorts for the Academy Awards (Sadly, I haven't since due to the fact I essentially lost my movie buddy that year). We would have seen the live-action shorts, but in the interest of time, we had to skip it. Either way, the selection of nominated shorts were really great that year.

Of course, the one I thought that won (I won't mention by name, but it's easy to look up) nabbed the prize probably mostly based on pure sentiment and not at all by artistic merit. There were two in particular that I fancied most, and "9" by Shane Acker was definitely one of the standouts.



Of course, having an affinity for post-apocalyptic and/or distopian worlds doesn't help my being partial to this short, but I do think the animation is great and the story is really interesting.

Shortly after watching it, I found out that Tim Burton was working on a full-length version of the movie. I was very skeptical. As much as I like Tim Burton, his laying hands on already-created projects didn't fare well in my eyes (Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory nee Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory). I thought the short was great at telling its tale; I did not see how a high production value and extended running time could do anything but water it down.

And then when I finally managed to watch Coraline in 3D this weekend, I was treated to see the trailer for this project (and in 3D, no less):



Most of my skepticism has subsided, but it remains to be seen if this full-length maintains the same spirit (pun not intended) as the original, and if possible, takes it to another level. Voices? We'll see.

Either way, September is a very long time to wait for this movie. I can't wait to watch it!