In the realm of computer-animated films, there seem to be two choices: Pixar movies and a bunch of crap with talking animals.  Fortunately, 9 falls into neither of those categories and, if nothing else, offers a break from the monotony of the aforementioned options. Rather than targeting aging mothers and their snot-nosed brood, 9 seems to set its sights on the angsty teen crowd, an audience that wants something a bit "darker" and would roll their eyes at the thought of chatty penguins. To that degree, 9 delivers. It's certainly more mature than something like Ice Age and is free of the heavy-handed preachiness of Wall-E.

The world of 9 is a post-apocalyptic one populated by pint-sized sack people with numbers for names and predatory machines that hunt them in a gritty game of cat and mouse. For younger viewers who this concept might resonate with, it's a plus they've yet to sit through too many cookie-cutter Orwellian tales of a bleak future, but anyone who's familiar with more than one dystopian tale will find no big surprises in 9's plot. In typical end-of-the-world fashion, mankind's reliance on technology eventually yielded super-powered, independent-thinking machines that turned on their makers and left the earth a barren hellscape. Survival is now the only order of business, but this time, rather than humans it's enchanted voodoo dolls that are fighting for tomorrow.

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9, voiced by Elijah Wood, is the ninth in a set of dolls with mechanical innards and the last to awaken in what's left of the world. He meets up with his eight demented beanie baby brethren and partakes in a journey to destroy a robotic relic from the ashes of the war between man and machine. While the premise may be a bit goofy, the computer-animated cast pops off the screen in some satisfying chase sequences and suspenseful moments — several of which made the grown man in the seat next to me jump on more than one occasion.

9, based off the short film of the same name, is created by first-time full-length director Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, director of Night Watch and Wanted. The voice acting is unremarkable despite a decent lineup, but visually the movie shines with eye candy aplenty. The gang of dolls sport ultra-crisp textures, and war torn backgrounds look photo realistic.

The film's biggest fault is a colossal fumble near the end with some mystical mumbo jumbo of Matrix Revolutions-sized proportions that serves as a dumb conclusion to what could have been a thrilling PG-13 ride from start to finish. 9falls just short of a full recommendation because of this but is otherwise an entertaining experience that may help tide over fans of Burton-esque dark fantasy until 2010's Alice in Wonderland.

--Eric Pulsifer