IMDb plot summary: A rag doll that awakens in a post-apocalyptic future holds the key to humanity's salvation.
Directed by Shane Acker. Starring Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, and Martin Landau.
(Some spoilers about the ending.)
I love dark and twisted dystopian future movies, and this delivers oodles and oodles of the right atmosphere. Its gorgeous steampunk-ish design is great to watch, from the mildly creepy rag doll designs of the heroes to the enormous red-eyed machine monster.
The plot, unfortunately, doesn't quite match the great visuals. A lot of it just devolves into generic adventurous chase scenes, when really I wanted to explore the world a little more. When the movie DOES give us a little bit of an explanation as to where these creatures come from and what they need to do, it's hardly a satisfying one, and I'm not really convinced that the last 10-15 minutes or so of the movie make any sense. I wish the movie had either not given us a straightforward answer at all and kept it ambiguous, only hinting at our protagonists' origins, or come up with a more plausible explanation that didn't just feel vague and mystical. I do want to check out the short film this was based on at some point, since it looks like it stays quiet on back story and just focuses on atmosphere, which would be totally fine with me.
That being said, though, I did like it. It's short enough that the bits of plot I found uninteresting didn't last long, and there were quite enough awesome visuals to make it work most of the way.
4 stars.
Flickchart: #492 out of 2126, below Double Indemnity and above Inherit the Wind.
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