Nine Lives

The CGI is blotchy, visual effects are terribly unconvincing, the humor is potty and the gimmickry is knotty- so there's really very little relief for adults and maybe just a smidgen of pet antics that might interest children.

Based on the myth that a cat has nine lives, this film makes a flawed attempt, to make you realise that you're not a cat who's blessed enough to have nine lives but a mere human with one life to reconcile all that you've done wrong and to live it happily with your loved ones. You might want to watch this film only and only if you're a die-hard cat person.

The movie is essentially about a crazy cat man who turns people he deems "bad" into cats to teach them a moral lesson of some sort. And if they don't learn their lesson in time, well, their human bodies die and they're stuck as cats forever. Dark.

Despite the collaboration between celebrated cinematographer (Raising Arizona)-turned-director Barry Sonnenfeld (the Men In Black trilogy) and two Academy Award-winning actors (Spacey and Walken,) Nine Lives fails to ignite even the smallest of comedic sparks.

The movie was made for some light-hearted fun and entertainment, and it gives you just that. Do not go expecting some mind-blowing performance or out-of-this-world action. Just play along with the kitty!

As a dog person, I feel life is too short to be wasted on a catastrophe such as Nine Lives (and one puzzles over why Spacey made this choice). You might as well watch the Youtube home videos of cat tricks instead.

Barry Sonnenfeld's Nine Lives is catnip for followers of such twenty-first century personages as Maru and Lil Bub, and perhaps only the most ardent feline fans will find Tom Brand's adventures, funny, insightful, or even halfway engaging.