Reviews

Great film, I don't know what all the negative reviews are about. The Lord of the rings and the hobbit hits home for its symbolism of real internal human struggles.

In this one, the dwarf king swaying from his core principles and 'losing himself' in greed and mental illness after finding crazy amounts of gold and wealth. Him eventually realizing that he's become lost, and breaking out of his illness was an inspiring moment in the film.

Also bilbo the hobbit whose humility is a light to others who are caught up in the insanity and power struggles of the world.

They base the film's world on the ever-so original "robot apocalypse" cliché'. And as my friend mentioned to me, merges it with this Lord of the Rings-like 'quest' to save the world bullshit. It is all done in a PG-13 way, and never venture as dark or as intellectual as the many film's it originally re-uses.

The Small puppet's trying to make a difference in a apocalyptic world much bigger than them. Reminds me of small hobbits trying to make a difference in a apocalyptic 'middle-earth' much bigger than them. Is it a coincidence that Ellijah Wood is voice acting 9? Probably not.

The all seeing eye/spotlight was a lot like the one in lotr. A lot of the monsters seem like sentinel's from the matrix with the red camera eyes. The standing, tripod machine really looked like a cartoonified version of the machines in War of the Worlds.

There was no intellectual discussion in the film, it's just 'gripping' *cough* action sequences designed to entertain a 12 year old. Everything is high implied and obvious, which attributes itself to a children's film.

I was expecting something more, but then it abruptly ended at probably an 1 1/2 hour film. I treated it like a talented animation student's technical exercise. A student which doesn't have any particular intention to show anything new or original in terms of story, but simply showcase his animation art.

Is this film scary? yes. But not in the traditional Hollywood excessive, gore fest. There is no twisted monster or psychotic, masked killer. Instead the film appeals to our imaginations, those paranoid thought we had when we were a kid and we would hear footsteps, or creaks inside the house. Or times you may have woken up in a sweat of fear, sensing someone was in the room.

What this film achieves is expanding on those fears, and capturing the eerie silences and noises of the night. What's more, it comes off as the real deal, like some horror footage found after the incident. I agree with many and say that it will be hard to get to sleep after viewing this film, those midnight noises will become so much more to those with strong imaginations. The eerie silence of the night will become unbearable.

However the film is nothing ground breaking in the horror genre. Its a simple horror film which narrowly escapes the horror cliché's attached to the setting of a suburban house at night. It does what it does well, providing a scare. But nothing more.