Character/Performance

The motions of these ragdolls as some people describe it are a bit 'wonky' or exaggerated, but this is only because the ragdolls physical looks limit the CG teams flexibility. Lacking eyebrows, having camera shutters as eyes and lacking other facial features, they could only rely on describing emotions using pantomime, for example 9 indicating his lack of speech to 2 or when 9 trips over when he first awakes in the room. With every subtle movement and its speed and approach it all comes together to describe the emotion flawlessly, and I think through that its absorbed by the audience better than simple eyebrow movements. This also forces the audience to watch much more closely then you would in other movies and animations, it truly has an effect on how we as the viewers appreciate the beauty in this broken world.

9 Indicates his lack of voicebox

Although this is early on in the film we already begin to learn about the character of 2. Even though 9 is a stranger to him he sacrifices himself heroically so 9 can survive. This isn't interpreted as being arrogant but gives the meaning that there aren't many of these dolls left, and the only way they can face this world and fight the Catbeast is together as a team, but as 1 says later on in the movie "Sometimes for the better good, one must make a sacrifice" which is an important quote that runs through the whole movie. A lot of "survivor" themed movies commonly discuss human nature, how we all truly reveal our true selves in times of danger or extreme fear, and with these 9 ragdolls in this environment each character is given his own personality which is unique from the others. 9 is courage, 2 is smarts and so on, which creates dramatic solutions and reactions to problems that arise through the film.

2 catches the catbeast's attention to save 9