10 Lives - Un gatto fortunato

Beckett is a cat who gets a second chance with 9 more lives and will try to get back to the woman who rescued him, his beloved Rose. The concept of coming back to life resembles A Dog's Purpose (2017), only this time Beckett comes back as a different animal each time. It's an interesting idea that can ignite ruminations about the meaning of life and death, like in Soul (2020) and, more recently, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). However, 10 Lives is more about reuniting with your loved one than an existential exploration.

The character development is good because, like Bailey in W. Bruce Cameron's bestseller, the different-colored-eyes cat will learn different things in each life. The animation is good, but the humor could've been better. There were wasted opportunities considering the transformations Becket went through; just think about how funny it was when Donkey and Puss switched bodies in Shrek the Third (2007). The villain is definitely not good, and the movie could've been better without this unnecessary character and focusing solely on Beckett and Rose. The same can be said about Rose's boyfriend, Larry, whose purpose as a comic relief is completely ineffective and doesn't add anything to the story.

The movie's greatest asset is when it gets emotive, since the bond between Beckett and Rose is beautiful to see, and the movie succeeds in evoking those emotions. It would have been nice to have more of that. 10 Lives is not a bad movie, It has good and beautiful moments, but the same ideas were better executed before.