Nine Lives

Back in the 80's and 90's, Hollywood produced a plethora of films that had animals and infants talking, such as "Babe", "Look Who's Talking", "Dogs & Cats" and the like. Although these films were funny for its day, I think audiences have changed since then and what was once funny and original, has now been tapped out and isn't as funny as back then. Case in point: "Nine Lives", whereas we have gone back to those years to try to rekindle that humor once again.

Tom Brand (Kevin Spacey) is a daredevil billionaire at the top of his game. His eponymous company FireBrand is nearing completion on its greatest achievement to date-- the tallest skyscraper in the northern hemisphere. But Tom's workaholic lifestyle has disconnected him from his family, particularly his beautiful wife, Lara (Jennifer Garner), his adoring daughter, Rebecca (Malina Weissman) and even his son, David (Robbie Amell) who works with his dad, Tom. Rebecca's 11th birthday is here, and she wants the thing she wants every year, a cat. Tom hates cats, but he is without a gift and time is running out. His GPS directs him to a mystical pet shop brimming with odd and exotic cats-- where the shop's eccentric owner-- Felix Perkins (Christopher Walken), presents him with a majestic tomcat named Mr. Fuzzypants. En route to present his daughter with her dream pet, a bizarre turn of events finds Tom trapped inside the body of Mr. Fuzzypants. Adopted by his own family, he begins to experience what life is truly like for the family pet, and as a cat, Tom slowly begins to see his family and his life through a new and unexpected perspective.

Others to round out the cast are Cheryl Hinds as Madison Camden, Tom's ex-wife, Mark Consuelos as Ian Cox, one of Tom's executives, Talitha Bateman as Nicole Camden, Madison's daughter, Teddy Sears as Josh Myers, Jay Patterson as Benson and Jewelle Blackman as Dr. Cole.

This was directed by Barry Sonnenfeld ("The Addams Family" '91, "Addams Family Values" '93, "Get Shorty" '95, "Men in Black" '97, "Wild, Wild West" '99, "Men in Black II" '02, "Men in Black 3" '12, "Beverly Hills Cop" (TV movie) '13) plus others and TV. This filmmaker's trademark has got to be comedies with a tongue and cheek approach, which I find refreshing in this day and age of 2-dimensional, lackluster characters and situations. His two best are probably "The Addams Family" and "Men in Black" whereas they were rich in character development with emotions that definitely fit the characters at hand. Although where the direction was effective, the writing by Matt Allen, Daniel Antoniazzi, Gwyn Lurie, Caleb Wilson and Ben Shiffrin was fairly unoriginal and was predictable as well. We've seen these stories many times over: someone is self-centered, egotistical, usually wealthy and clearly needs an attitude makeover. Something has to transform this person to be a better person or something horrid will happen. One can go as far back as "A Christmas Carol" with Ebenezer Scrooge being that difficult individual, and many others since. But even though this wasn't overly original, it still had promise in that it was a great family film presenting a good message for young people and adults as well. These writers have limited experience-- two have no other experience except this film, but with this, it could've been worse, especially with as many writers involved in this. Surely, given more experience for these writers, it would be interesting to see their scripts five years from now. I suspect practice makes perfect, but since this isn't pulling in its audience, these guys may have to work a little bit harder and longer to get this biz to trust them again.

If family films are your fare, you'll love this. The cast was adequate, but the one that shined was Walken. He always gives that eclectic, quirky performance that only Walken can pull off. Now, if you're looking for a less predictable script, you may want to pass on this one.

Out of 4 Stars: 2.5                                     Rated: PG                                       87mins.