First Take: Nine Lives- it’s rant o’clock once again

SYPNOSIS: A stuffy businessman finds himself trapped inside the body of his family’s cat.

Well then, this is going to be a very short review. Nine Lives was already ringing alarm bells when the trailer played before pretty much every family release this summer- and with an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we all know where this one is going.

The plot is literally all over the shop, as it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and I really don’t want to blame the 5 screenwriters for this- but it is a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Performance wise, there’s nothing special, and it does sound like Kevin Spacey is phoning his performance in at points. The only saving grace is Christopher Walken’s passable role as a cat whisperer, and even that was a challenge to sit through. Barry Sonnenfeld’s direction is a far cry from his work on the Men In Black films, and as Luc Besson’s production company are behind this, I have to utter the words that anyone who works in the film industry dreads: everyone involved should be thoroughly ashamed.

THE VERDICT

Nine Lives is just absolutely awful. The premise is very good, but unfortunately it’s just a rehash of old ideas, and the way it’s been written and made really makes it one of those films that is better suited to a straight to DVD release. This abomination isn’t even worthy of a star rating.

RATING: 0/5