[6]

Shane Acker’s computer-animated post-apocalyptic fantasy is visually interesting, but the characters are bland and the story is wobbly. The movie is a tonal quagmire, trying to balance its dark and dreary subject matter with a kid-friendly PG-13 rating. The plot starts off unimpressively, presenting the aftermath of a future conflict between humans and machines, and surprise, surprise — we lost. The more interesting concept at play is the backstory of the movie’s burlap doll characters, how and why they exist. But by the time the script focuses on this, it’s almost too late. There are a still a lot of good scenes and ideas at play here, even if it doesn’t quite come together. My favorite scene was a surprisingly disturbing one where “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” plays over an eerie surprise attack.