Christopher Jenkins, who has had significant experience in Disney, is co directing “10 Lives” with the help of several industry professionals, including former animators behind “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin.” It is certainly no bad show to be the film being showcased at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Employing effective voice alterations for cats in eyeliner showcasing a great horrible experience even embarking on quite a rendition of the film throughout, “10 Lives” is nowhere near the first film targeting kids that saw a debut at Park City. As a matter of fact, The Amazing Maurice which was released last year is one of the films that managed to earn quite a huge Push in the Box office. Nonetheless, when speaking the phrase “Sundance movie,” that is not the one most likely people envisage.
In this case, the first life of the main character Beckett is portrayed by Mo Gilligan. This character features as a cute kitten, but has nonetheless been taken into the arms of a woman called Rose. Rose works on a graduate program that aims at attempts to create solutions that will ensure the survival of bees the world over. Far too often, the antagonist in this film’s sub plot manages to be Carson, the scientist’s lecturer. Coupled with anger and extreme rage when his partner becomes close to Rose, Beckett finds himself let loose and misfiring dangerously to lose the span of five lives once he had run into trouble before. Fortunately, a benevolent angel (Sophie Okonedo), for some reason, gives the cat 10 more chances to be less self centered, win Rose back and be more of the man he could be.
For unfamiliar reasons, such a high concept premise may appear schematic (and rather gruesome) to grown ups but younger viewers should probably enjoy the countdown for the 10 lives. Each time Beckett is reincarnated he is a different animal in a different time and place. Kids can watch him become a horse, a cockroach, and a parrot, and so on. But that’s when Beckett the dog is transformed that’s when the real action begins. Jenkins and his collaborators, Karen Wengrod and Ken Cinnamon, find many interesting and funny things to do with conflict between cats and dogs. All pet lovers, regardless of their favorite pet species, puzzlement will be amusing to them.
At the same time, “10 Lives” is different in that the comedic moments are not the only focus; the plot comes around along with many other themes such as one concerning climate change. For instance, conservation of bee lives in Rose’s narrative draws on the imagery of all forms of life uniting into one, to take responsibility for maintaining the fundamental resources of the earth. Younger audiences in particular may not understand these ideas as they are incorporated in the film, but they do add to the texture of the film. “10 Lives” has such elements of story within itself, that any execrable, run of the mill Bond film will have them; secret of the Dapper Craven. His mission in life is to displace Rose and conquer the entire planet’s bee population by means of phony bees. It doesn’t quite fit together and some of the ideas seem completely unreasonable, but it helps underscore the genius that this movie, its true star, is.
Nighy convincingly lives up to the billing as he showcases his usual over the top antics, with great comedic turns that leave the audience in stitches. The actor’s voice is smooth and strong as a lizard, he means every accent but also ridicules the hero, quite witty and believable. It will be very hard to outdo hearing the iconic word; “Dickie numb bum” in that perfectly accented and trimmed voice. Other voice performances are on notice.
It is quite possible that Nighy steals all the show as much can be argued about the other aspects that are relatively weaker. The animation is rather homogeneously faceless yet nostalgia inducing in terms of looking like a primitive version of cell animation. No, especially the original Beckett until his many transformations, the animals’ faces inclined with the most emotion are more appealing than human faces. Having borrowed so many tropes, it seems that the script cannot follow the plot anymore. Zayn Malik, who also penned songs for “10 Lives,”, appears as the other half of the fluffy goons who uneasily assist Craven. But they are not very amusing either and are such an afterthought regarding the story that they could easily be removed without changing anything. At least Malik’s songs are good, most are just saved for the end credits.
Gilligan’s and Ashley’s personalities seem very similar and it works to their advantage as they give relaxed and natural performances. Gilligan enriched his portrayal by adding an interesting rasp that made him more believable as a cat, while Ashley’s voice was warm and soothing. “10 Lives” could come across misogynistic as a pithy compliment but at Sundance it’s stylistically fun enough (especially Nighy) to satisfy a broader audience.
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