By now you've had a chance to see 9 for yourself, and appreciate its lush visuals and brilliant action. Our own review is here. But for those of you who haven't gotten to it yet, there are some minor spoilers in this interview.

So here are Shane Acker's 9 unbreakable rules for great post-apocalyptic movies, culled from the interview:

1) Keep it short but sweet. Acker's own movie, 9, is only about 79 minutes long, including credits. "You can tell an enormous amount of a story in a very short time. It's very dense, and it's fast-paced... I think nowadays movies tend to be a little too long, and a little bloated in some ways," says Acker.

2) Show characters banding together to survive. In 9's "dysfunctional family drama," we discover that the ragdolls each have separate strengths and weaknesses, "and separately they're not strong, and together is when they can really do the best work and try to overcome the dangers of this world."

3) Focus on worldbuilding. We don't just want to see how people cope with the aftermath of the devastation — we want to see how it happened, and why. Acker says he uses his original Academy Award-winning short film, also called 9, as a departure point for this film, and in the process he thought a lot more about the backstory: "How this world came to be, what was the history before these creatures came to be, what is this artifact that is the artifact of contention between the monsters and the little ragdoll-like creatures. And so it was great because we were able to explore the history of the world and introduce seven more of these (ragdoll) creatures."

4) Don't forget that post-apocalyptic movies are, in part, about hope for survival. Part of why we love post-apocalyptic films is their promise that someone, or something, worth saving will survive after our world ends. So the best post-apocalyptic stories are the ones which give us hope for the resilience of humanity — in the case of the ragdolls, they carry on the legacy of humanity. "It's post-human, but humanity lives on," says Acker. "They're a manifestation of humans that can survive in this landscape where we, as organic beings, could not." The ragdolls embody "hope and potential." Where there is darkness in the movie, it's there "so we can really see how important it is for these creatures to struggle."

5) Never forget the MacGyvering. The other thing that every good post-apocalyptic movie has is the spirit of MacGyver, the action hero who can create incredible technological marvels out of whatever random junk he finds laying around. And 9 fully embodies the MacGyver spirit, showing the ragdolls approaching the wreckage as building blocks. "For some of them, becuase they're very creative creatures, this is a world full of amazing raw materials with which they can create their own inventions."

6) Let the visuals tell the story. The original short film had no dialog whatsoever, and a lot of fans were apprehensive that adding dialog to the feature-length film would ruin it. Says Acker, "We actually set out trying to make the feature without dialogue, but we found that it just became so cumbersome to the storytelling, that that kind of conceit was a disadvantage... to making as rich an experience as we wanted for the film." So instead, he struck a compromise: out of 79 minutes, there's only about 19 minutes of dialog. "A lot of it is still told through visual storytelling, and pantomime, and through a lot of the design elements of the world."

7) Don't forget the cautionary message. The best post-apocalyptic films contain a serious warning about where we're heading if we don't slow down and pay attention, and 9 is no different. Acker says his film about killer robots trying to crush the benign ragdoll creatures asks the question, "At what point do we become so technologically advanced and so embraced in technology that we start to lose our own soul?" The ragdolls represent technology with a soul, and the monster machines represent soulless, hateful technology. "What is it to find the ghost in the machine, in some way?" He asks. "That really is in the end what separates [the ragdolls from the monsters]. They realize they have to live up to the standard of humanity, and the hope and the potential. That even though they're machine-like in some ways, that their true essence is that of the human spirit."

8) Don't forget the humor. You can't just be grim and knife-edge all of the time. Acker says that of his two producers, he was much more familiar with Tim Burton's work than Timur Bekmambetov's, and he loved Burton's work for its "rich amazing characters," but also its "comedy and charm." The actual screenplay for 9 was written by Pamela Pettler, who also worked on Monster House and Corpse Bride.

9) Don't be afraid to take risks. Acker says that 9 might not have found such acceptance without the support of both Burton and Bekmambetov, who both saw something of their own sensibilities. It's a tough time in Hollywood right now, because of the economic downturn. He's hopeful that if the movie does well, it'll open the doors for more edgy animation projects and films that blend science fiction and fantasy in creative ways. "Things like that don't seem like easy sells in Hollywood."

Oh, and there are definitely spoilers in this review, although I try to avoid giving away any major twists.

As you probably know, 9 is based on a short film by writer/director Shane Acker, which garnered an Oscar nomination a few years ago. The film impressed both Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) and Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands) so much, they both agreed to serve as producers and get it made into a full-length feature. The full-length version contains the same beautiful, unsettling animation as the short film, but fleshes out the characters and the backstory of the world — and the crucial question is whether you'll find the fleshed-out, longer version as intense and fascinating as the short film.

In 9, humans have built super-intelligent war machines, which have gone on to create other machines in their own image and then risen up to destroy us. There's never any doubt that — as Flight Of The Conchords would say — the humans are dead. So instead, our protagonists are also machines, but they're cute, cuddly machines, with skins of sackcloth and cartoony eyes that are constantly refracting their shutters in a lovable fashion. But the "ragdolls" have their own internal power struggle, between the hegemonic, conservative 1 (Christopher Plummer) and the rebellious, inquisitive 9 (Elijah Wood). 1 wants to keep the ragdolls safe, cowering in hiding, while 9 wants to go out and find the truth about their existence.

As I said, this is an unusual post-apocalyptic narrative in that we see two groups of machines fighting each other over the ashes of humanity. We slowly learn more about how the human race died, and why the bad machines are so furious. The film makes a stab at explaining the difference between good and bad technology — it has to do with how we use it, but also what parts of ourselves we put into creating it — and we see how the machines rose up and destroyed us. The scenes of rubble and devastation, with the last remnants of humanity dying off as the first ragdolls flee, are among the film's most affecting and disturbing.

The contrast between the two types of machine is really at the heart of 9 — the killer bots are all dark metal and sharp edges, glowing red eyes and bestial energy. The ragdolls, meanwhile, are meant to have a lot of engaging personality. They're definitely cute, and their concern for each other and their curiosity about the world contrasts sharply with the callousness of the slaughterbots. And the film makes sure we learn each ragdoll's unique personality early on. As Timur Bekmambetov said in our exclusive interview, each ragdoll represents an archetype, including the hero, the friend, the dictator, the crazy person, and... oh yeah, the girl. (Jennifer Connelly, representin' for the ladies.)

Sadly, the ragdolls and their "personalities" are really the main area where the movie falls the flattest, and it's almost a fatal flaw. The ragdolls — including our hero, 9 — feel so one-note that they become boring as characters. Take the central conflict between the rebellious 9 and the autocratic 1 — it feels like we see variations on the same scene a few times, but nothing interesting ever happens. We hear 1 say almost exactly the same line, "This folly will lead to no good," or words to that effect, over and over again. And then 1 narrows his little lenses in a grimace, and stalks around, while 9 spouts vague phrases about wanting to understand stuff. These two are the only ragdolls who are graced with anything even remotely approaching real personalities, and they come across like they're reading off the cliffs-notes versions of cue cards.

Where the ragdolls do shine is in their occasional moments of actual playfulness, but these are few and far between, and mostly fall towards the end of the film. There's a great bit where 8, the "big lug" who follows 1's orders unquestioningly, starts putting a magnet near his head and getting high off it. His eyes flicker and he gets this goofy grin on his face, and his enjoyment is infectious — everyone in the theater started laughing at that part. There's also a weird-but-great interlude with a record player where the ragdolls celebrate their victory (wrongly, it turns out).

Eventually we do find out the ragdolls' origins, and the movie even sort of makes a stab at explaining why each ragdoll only seems to have one aspect of a complete personality — I won't give it away, but this Washington Post review gives away the secret early on.

Honestly, I went into 9 expecting to fall in love with the film — the clips and art I'd seen had wowed me, and it seemed bracingly original. But even with a running time of 79 minutes, the film felt draggy and uninvolving. There are two different sequences where ragdolls run away from an explosion and somehow outrun it. There are two different bits where you think one of the ragdolls is dead, but then his lenses suddenly jerk to life. The film's central MacGuffin felt oddly random, and the plot depends on the characters being total idiots, until they're suddenly invincible. And the ending is both a big treacly and totally unsatisfying.

On the other hand, the film is always gorgeous — the lush animation is really its strong suit, and seeing the ragdolls on the big screen, you can really appreciate the detail that goes into them. Their stitchwork actually moves in fascinating ways as they move and talk. And there's a fascination and joy to watching them lope around the ruined landscape and dodge blades and flames — given how fragile and flammable they always seem to be. 9 is really worth seeing just for the visuals and its gothic, grotesque aesthetic of machines made in the image of animals, fighting machines made in our image.

Shane Acker has an amazing imagination and a great eye — and if he can just come up with a compelling story next time, he'll be our hero.

There were only 999 copies of the art book made, and this is the last chance you will get from io9 to win one. In order to receive your copy, email us your name and address at cp@io9.com. Winners will be chosen at random and alerted via email. You have 24 hours to get your email in, or you'll have to wait for the next drawing.

Each book is encased in a uniquely numbered burlap bag, featuring a special forward by Ray Kurzweil, behind-the-scenes art, an extensive collection of stills from the film, commentary from director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, and a DVD of the original short film by Shane Acker which inspired the full-length feature.

9 hits theaters on 9/9/09.

Bloody stuff no? Corpses, violence and confused ragdolls are a formula for greatness.

This is the second chance to win the special-edition collector's 9 movie books — only 999 were created.

Each book is encased in a uniquely numbered burlap bag, featuring a special forward by Ray Kurzweil, behind-the-scenes art, an extensive collection of stills from the film, commentary from director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, and a DVD of the original short film by Shane Acker which inspired the full-length feature.

We're giving away three copies so email us your name and address at cp@io9.com. Winners will be chosen at random and alerted via email, next week. You have 24 hours to get your email in, or you'll have to wait for the next and final drawing.

And if you live in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Chicago or Denver text to win a pass (good for two) to see a preview screening of 9 on 9-8-09 at 9:09 PM.

To enter to win a pass, text keyword IO9, and your zip code, to 43549!

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9 hits theaters on 9/9/09.

Leaving aside characters with alphanumeric names (like Star Wars' R2-D2 and C-3PO), characters who also have serials number imparted to them by their governments but are not generally addressed as such (as in Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Giver), and characters whose first names happen to mean a number in a different language (as with many of the characters in Stardust and Mobile Suit Gundam), there are several characters who are either designated with or often called by a number:

Number One (Star Trek "The Cage"/"The Menagerie"): More than two decades before Captain Picard started referring to William Riker as "Number One," Majel Barrett filmed the original Star Trek pilot, where her character was known only as Number One. Like Riker, Number One was the Enterprise's first officer, but the novel Vulcan's Glory suggests Number One was her actual name, given to her because she possessed the top intellect of her planet's generation.

Number 5 (Short Circuit): Although roboticists Newton Crosby and Ben Jabituya were out to create artificial intelligence, they probably didn't expect any of their prototypes to suddenly gain sentience, and so assigned them numbers in lieu of names. But after prototype Number 5 becomes self-aware (and escapes the clutched of the US military), he decides that, as a living being, he should have a name, and calls himself Johnny Five.

Fifth (Stargate SG-1): One of the few characters with an ordinal number for a name, Fifth gets his name in a fairly straightforward manner: he's the fifth human-form Replicator to be created on the planet Halla.

V (V for Vendetta): Most people who live through encounters with the mysterious anarchist V think they're addressing him by a letter, and his propensity for using V-based alliterations when introducing himself seems to confirm this. But it's much more likely that V derives his name from the source of his vendetta; when he was subjected to medical experimentation at the Larkhill Resettlement Camp, he was the man in room five — marked with the Roman numeral "V."

Number Six (The Prisoner): Residents of the mysterious Village are known by a number rather than their actual names — including at least 16 individuals known only as "Number Two" — probably to protect the secrets they all inevitably carry. Number Six, the titular prisoner, protests in the opening that he's a free man, not a number, but it's implied that Number Six may be known by yet another number: Number One.

The Cylons (Battlestar Galactica): The creators of Battlestar Galactica have said that cylon Number Six is a tribute to The Prisoner, and it follows that each humanoid cylon model would have its own number, with the notable exception of the Final Five. Most cylon models are known collectively by a human name as well (the Sharons, the Leobens, the D'Annas), but individual Sixes tend to have individual human names, like Natalie, Caprica, Shelly, and Gina, perhaps because of they are so often used as infiltration agents.

Seven of Nine (Voyager): Names designate individuality, a concept the Borg have no use for, but sometimes it is convenient for the Collective to identify individual Borg drones. So when the formerly human Annika Hansen was assimilated into the Collective, she was given the designation Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One. Even once she was unhooked from the hive mind, she preferred the shortened "Seven of Nine" to her human name, the latter of which she does not take up again until her Borg implants are completely destroyed.

Eight (The Specials): It's fairly obvious how Eight earned its superhero name. A hive mind, Eight consists of eight individual bodies who can physically act independent of one another, but share a single consciousness.

Thirteen (House): As long as we're labeling House as science fiction, we may as well mention Dr. Remy Hadley, better known as Thirteen. In one of his trademark moves to dehumanize his fellowship applicants, Dr. House assigned each applicant a number (and occasionally a humiliating nickname). Thirteen really took to the numerical naming system, refusing to divulge her actual name to her fellow applicants, and continuing to answer to Thirteen long after she'd earned a place on House's team.

Henchmen 21 and 24 (The Venture Bros): With the exception of the ill-fated Speedy, each of the Monarch's henchman is known only to their boss as a number. Henchmen 21 and 24 (the former is known to his mom as Gary) are genre-savvy enough to be content with their numerical positions in the Fluttering Horde. When they learn their new teammate is Henchman 1, they rightly assess that he's marked for death.

84 (P.S. 238): In a school filled with superheroes, Julie Finster has a pretty routine set of superpowers: flight, invulnerability, speed. In fact, her power set is so ordinary that instead of getting a cool superhero name, she's just called "84," since she's the 84th person to possess that particular grouping of powers. Needless to say, it's a tad demoralizing.

Agent 99 (Get Smart): James Bond may have been called 007 from time to time, but Agent 99 takes use of her code number to the next level, never answering to any other moniker (okay, in one episode, her fiance calls her Susan Hilton, but that isn't actually her name). In fact, she married Maxwell Smart and bears him twins without him ever learning her real name, proving once and for all that she's the better spy.

Agent 355 (Y the Last Man): In the historical spy network known as the Culper Ring, there was a female agent code named 355, whose identity has never been definitively determined. Similarly, in the fictional Culper Ring of Y the Last Man, Agent 355 is a highly competent spy whose name is never revealed (at least not to the reader). Her odd relationship with her name parallels that of Alter Tse'elon, the Israel commando whose real first name is not spoken (until the end) for fear of attracting the Angel of Death.

Experiment 626 (Lilo and Stitch): The alien mad scientist Dr. Jumba Jookiba created 626 strange and dangerous lifeforms. The wanton destruction caused by the final experiment, 626, condemns them both to life in exile, but the experiment escapes to Earth, where a young Hawaiian girl names him "Stitch." Of course, once Stitch's destructive nature has been reigned in, there are still 625 other experiments to contend with.

1812 (Farscape): In terms of numbered names, the DRD robot 1812 gets his from a fairly unusual source. Instead of 1812 being a serial number or a numbered designation, it's a reference to the 1812 Overture, which Crichton teaches the little service bot to play.

Subject 781227 (Kyle XY): Zzyzx, the company funding Adam Baylin's research, saw the child-shaped being Adam Baylin developed in his lab as a biological computer rather than a person, reflected in him getting a serial number in lieu of a name. It's only after 16 years, an escape, and a bout of amnesia that Subject 781227 finally gets a name: Kyle Trager.

Only 999 of these special-edition collector's "9" movie books were produced - so here's your chance to win one of the nine copies that Focus Features has provided to us!

Each book is encased in a uniquely numbered burlap bag, featuring a special forward by Ray Kurzweil, behind-the-scenes art, an extensive collection of stills from the film, commentary from director Shane Acker and producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, and a DVD of the original short film by Shane Acker which inspired the full-length feature.

We're giving away three copies with each exclusive gallery that we're posting. So here's your first chance: email us your name and address at cp@io9.com. Winners will be chosen at random and alerted via email. You have 24 hours to get your email in, or you'll have to wait for the next drawing.

9 hits theaters on 9/9/09.

The scientist's experiment is even online and you can plunder through his things on the site with Elijah Wood.
A better look at the man in question.

Above is the first look at the creation of 5, drawn by Shane Acker and voiced John C. Reilly. The official description of paints this rag doll as

a caring, nurturing engineer – the loyal, big-hearted "common man" who always tries to play the peacemaker. He is also an apprentice of 2, with whom he shares a special bond.

Plus two new clips have been released. As we mentioned, the first one is pretty spoilery:

9 Exclusive Clip

The second clip is over at Animation World.

9 will be released on 9/9/9.

Here's our conversation:

So what's next after 9? Are you sticking to animation?

I'm actually developing two things right now. One's live action, and one is animation... They're both world-making. They create different worlds, fantastic worlds. They have their own mythology, that runs in their own way. Which is what I love to do. So even if I do live-action films, I don't think it's going to be too far from my own inspiration, just like Tim Burton's live-action films are very pushed and stylized, and create unique worlds. I think that's my direction as well.

We can't wait to see whatever you come up with.

Let's hope they give me some money to do it.

So these films are science fiction?

They're both kind of fantasy with a little science fiction in them as well.

So will these two new projects have human characters in them?

The live-action one will have people. It's sort of an ancient. It's mythology. It's sort of an ancient tale. It's slightly pre-history, although it's early civilization type of pre-history, but rooted in an existing comic book franchise — and an actual literature franchise. But I can't really say yet [what it is]. And then the other animated film is also based on a comic book franchise.

So people are coming to you now and asking if you can take on their franchises?

Yeah, or it's properties that I find, that I'm really drawn to, attracted to. And I'll approach them and say, "Hey, I'm interested in developing this into a feature." The animated one is sort of like a blending of Dark Crystal meets Lord Of The Rings meets Secret Of Nimh, with a little touch of ancient Viking mythology and Old Testament. It's an Eden tale in some ways. It's the creatures of the forest, but in some way they represent humanity. If that makes any sense. It's fun, I have a lot of fun with it.

Wow, both of those sound great.

We'll see what happens. The climate in Hollywood is strange because of the economic downturn. Hopefully 9 does well, and it will open up the opportunities to make other films. Because if it does well, hopefully it'll let me do other, riskier properties, things that don't seem like easy sells in Hollywood. They might have a little more trust and faith that these things can find an audience, and that would be great — both for me and for other film-makers who are trying to do something different.

So I'm scratching my head, and I can't figure out what franchises he's referring to. The animated one could be Mouse Guard, actually. What do you think? We'll have the rest of our interview with Acker later this week. 9 hits theaters, not surprisingly, on 9/9/09.

The official title of Focus Film's new alternate reality game is the "9 Movie Talisman Challenge Clue." The image appears to be a ripped bit from something more. We are just one among 9 other sites hosting images from the site. One you find all nine pieces, it should decode a message over at www.9experiment.com. Good luck.

I've already started a personal savings fund to acquire Marty McFly's 2015 Trainers, and totally botched the limited edition Coraline ebaying back and forth, (turns out you need MONEY to purchase them) — but these Pony sneaks will not get past me. Check out the green bottoms. Who's going to bet they have glow-in-the-dark soles, just like the green little life goo the ragdolls pass around in the flick...

Nice. No idea when these hit the stores, but we'll keep you all updated. Shane Acker's animated end of the world film, however, will be released on 9/09/09.

As you can see our rag-doll hero is holding some sort of odd green glowing ball that seems to be the source of something — let's just go ahead and assume life, because isn't that what green always represents?

Honestly, this whole film 9, about the end of humankind and the birth of nine new rag-doll people, has me totally thrown for a loop. And I love it. I'd rather not have the ending spoiled just yet, I have a feeling it's going to be a fun Burton-esque twist. Below are new stills from MTV, The Anime Blog and Buzznet. Click on the image to see the additional exclusive images.

And the first picture is of the crazed rag doll, was he busted during his creation period or was he just made nuts? Which can be viewed in higher quality at Entertainment Weekly.

So all this time I thought 9 would be only young-adult-novel scary, but damn if that isn't a body strewn across the first still. Methinks 9 is going to be a lot more brutal than the rest of the upcoming CG animated films, which makes sense, since Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov are both producing. So which ragdoll is going to get his (or her) stuffing ripped out?

UPDATE: OK so they only have two legs I still think they look a bit more WOTW that AT-AT but...I see what you're all saying.

9 opens on 9/9/09

The CG movie takes place after humanity is all but a memory on Earth and nine little creations are given the important task of restoring life to the planet, in the face of the machines that rose up against their makers. I'm still not sure which one is my favorite — maybe 7 for her skull hat. 9 will be released in theaters on 9/9/09.

The new clip also gives us more of a sense of the chaos that rag doll #9 (Elijah Wood) unleashes on the post-apocalyptic machine-ravaged world, by asking so many darn questions. And it shows just how hard this movie's killer robots are to dispose of. Acker's 9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, comes out September 9, in any movie theater that hasn't been overrun by dark cyborg monsters. [Sci Fi Scoop]

9, produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, comes out on Sept. 9. (And that other movie called Nine comes out in November. They blinked!) [QuietEarth]

Watch it in high-definition here.

That weird cyborg bug with the decoy/lure creeps me the hell out, and I don't rate 7's chances very highly in its grasp. In case you missed our earlier coverage of this film, 9 takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are gone, but we've left behind nine mechanical ragdolls, named 1 through 9. And they're struggling to survive against a host of killer robots. The newest ragdoll is named 9 (Elijah Wood), and he asks a bunch of questions the other dolls have long since stopped asking, about their world and the way it's organized.

9 opens on Sept. 9 (or 9/9/09). And by the way, we reported a while back that another movie, called Nine, was also slated to come out on that date. The other film seems to have blinked (nine times, even) and now will come out

[MTV Movies]

Writer/director Shane Acker made the post-apocalyptic ragdoll odyssey 9 as a short film while he was a student at UCLA, adn he won a student academy award for it, says Ksander. That plaudit brought the film to the attention of Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, who agreed to help produce it as a full-length feature film. Unlike the voiceless short film, the 90-minute feature stars voice actors - including the main character 9, voiced by Wood.

(I apologize that I'm getting this up so late - I saw the 9 panel at Wondercon, but forgot to write up my notes until just now.)

Ksander and Wood showed the trailer, plus a really cool scene from the film where 9 has met the other mechanical rag dolls, numbered 1 through 8. He's getting them to question their beliefs about the post-apocalyptic world, but he's also made some mistakes, including attracting cyborg winged beast, which comes and attacks them.

The winged beast has four bright lights for eyes, and #1 (who wears a bishop's hat) cowers. Everyone runs from the winged beast and swings down ropes, winding up in a bucket. The winged beast cuts the rope holding the bucket, and they all fall through some stained glass. Only 9 is left facing the winged beast on the roof of the cathedral. He tells the others to keep going, and he'll find his own way down. But the other dolls help 9 to stop the winged beast, one of them throwing his knife at just the right moment to stop the winged beast's propeller. 9 shines the sun in the winged beast's eyes, and then they try to cut the tether holding the winged beast. Someone else attacks the winged beast with a spear, to no avail. Finally, they manage to knock the winged beast into a giant fan, and it explodes.

They explained a bit more of the backstory: 1, the rag doll in the bishop's hat, has put himself in charge of the other rag dolls, and their means of defending themselves against the machines. And 9 comes along without any knowledge of their world, or the machines, and so he asks lots of questions. The other rag dolls have long since stopped asking questions.

Wood said he got involved with the project after he saw the stills and "loved the look" of the short film and the fact that it was Acker's senior thesis at UCLA. And he said the film is "a very difficult thing to describe. [It's] these mechanized ragdolls living in a post-apocalyptic world, but that doesn't quite tell it."

Ksander said the "dark" look of the film really attracted people. "People were coming from other big studios to work on our film, and people were getting excited." And Danny "Oingo Boingo" Elfman is scoring the film with Acker right now. He added, "he feature film feels like the same world as the short."

In the end, said Ksander, the film is about "these little rag dolls with nothing going for them, each sort of first find their own identity, and then build a little community that lasts in this terrible dark world."

9 apparently started life as an 11-minute short film by writer-director Shane Acker, and the whole thing is online:

Like March's Monsters Vs. Aliens, the full-length 9 features a really terrific voice cast: Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly and Crispin Glover.

And here's the official storyline:

When 9 (Elijah Wood) first comes to life, he finds himself in a post-apocalyptic world. All humans are gone, and it is only by chance that he discovers a small community of others like him taking refuge from fearsome machines that roam the earth intent on their extinction. Despite being the neophyte of the group, 9 convinces the others that hiding will do them no good. They must take the offensive if they are to survive, and they must discover why the machines want to destroy them in the first place. As they’ll soon come to learn, the very future of civilization may depend on them.

I love the off-kilter look of the trailer, and the look of the legions of mechanical attackers. And the high-energy action sequences. It really does remind me of the best bits of Burton and Bekmambetov, a combination I could never have imagined before. [Teaser-Trailer]

The film will follow a team of the rag-doll creatures, which contain within them the last remnants of humanity, as they try to avoid the soul-stealing monster that destroyed the rest of their people. Wood will voice the titular “9,” and Landau, Connelly, Christopher Plummer, John C. Reilly, and Crispin Glover his fellow survivors. Acker plans to expand the universe of the original short, explaining how the rag dolls came to be, why the creatures hunt them, and what became of mankind. And like the short, the feature film will be computer animated, but styled to resemble stop motion animation.

[via MTV Movies Blog]