EDIT: This post originated as a response to DaveF's, before our posts were separated into the Official Review and Discussion threads. Dave's full review can now be found in the Official Review thread.
I just saw the film, Dave, and I have no idea what you're referring to. Could you be more specific, maybe in a spoiler box?
Edited by Michael Reuben - 9/12/09 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaveF 
If, in the opening minutes, our freshly awakened hero, 9, had done the obvious thing -- the thing he's just about to do until distracted by something shiny -- the story would be resolved immediately and there would be no movie.
If, in the opening minutes, our freshly awakened hero, 9, had done the obvious thing -- the thing he's just about to do until distracted by something shiny -- the story would be resolved immediately and there would be no movie.
I just saw the film, Dave, and I have no idea what you're referring to. Could you be more specific, maybe in a spoiler box?
Quote:
What other examples did you see in the film? Considering that there is a schism within the survivor society over how to live in the aftermath of the great disaster, I'm not sure how one can say that characters are avoiding doing the "sensible thing". What appears "sensible" to an outsider may be unthinkable (or taboo) to someone in a different culture, and part of the point of 9 is that these creatures arrive in the world with no bearings and no pre-existing society that can orient them.
Originally Posted by DaveF
Instead, the movie writers willfully force the characters to avoid doing the obviously sensible things to drag out the story.
Instead, the movie writers willfully force the characters to avoid doing the obviously sensible things to drag out the story.
What other examples did you see in the film? Considering that there is a schism within the survivor society over how to live in the aftermath of the great disaster, I'm not sure how one can say that characters are avoiding doing the "sensible thing". What appears "sensible" to an outsider may be unthinkable (or taboo) to someone in a different culture, and part of the point of 9 is that these creatures arrive in the world with no bearings and no pre-existing society that can orient them.
Quote:
Yes, it takes the entire film for 9 to do what 2 told him, because, from about the moment that 2 tells him, circumstances render it impossible for 9 to do it. And what about the ending "makes no sense"?
Originally Posted by DaveF
If, in the opening minutes, our freshly awakened hero, 9, had done the obvious thing -- the thing he's just about to do until distracted by something shiny -- the story would be resolved immediately and there would be no movie. Instead, the movie writers willfully force the characters to avoid doing the obviously sensible things to drag out the story. And despite the artificial stretching of the story, the movie still only ekes out 80 minutes. And at the end, 9 finally gets around to doing what he should have done at first, the thing that he was told multiple times to do by another ragdoll, and the movie ends. And with that ending, it still makes no sense.
If, in the opening minutes, our freshly awakened hero, 9, had done the obvious thing -- the thing he's just about to do until distracted by something shiny -- the story would be resolved immediately and there would be no movie. Instead, the movie writers willfully force the characters to avoid doing the obviously sensible things to drag out the story. And despite the artificial stretching of the story, the movie still only ekes out 80 minutes. And at the end, 9 finally gets around to doing what he should have done at first, the thing that he was told multiple times to do by another ragdoll, and the movie ends. And with that ending, it still makes no sense.
Yes, it takes the entire film for 9 to do what 2 told him, because, from about the moment that 2 tells him, circumstances render it impossible for 9 to do it. And what about the ending "makes no sense"?
Edited by Michael Reuben - 9/12/09 at 8:54pm
