9

***1/2 – “9” (not to be confused with “Nine”, “District 9”, “9 1/2 Weeks” or “8 1/2”) is the story of a bunch of little sock-puppet robots with human consciousness, and their struggle to survive in a Matrix-like machine-dominated world in which mankind has been obliterated. Dialogue is pretty sparse, especially in the first half of the film, but the stunning visuals and interesting plot keep it pretty engaging. The end sort of comes out of nowhere, though, and could have been more fleshed out.