Review: Spookley and the Christmas Kittens

For whatever reason, Christmas movies in near 2020 seem to be a sore spot. Unless if it’s an established intellectual property like The Simpsons or Bob’s Burgers, the classic films like Charlie Brown, the Grinch, and of course all of the stop-motion properties are  really the way to go and it shows in the TV ratings as all of these movies, despite their age, do stellar in the overnight numbers.

As much as it tries, Spookley and the Christmas Kittens is a far cry from any of those holiday offerings. For those that don’t know, Spookleyis a pumpkin that lives on a farm with a bunch of other pumpkins and in this go ’round he has to go find his pal who gets lost in the woods, a red and green cat named “Mistletoe”. When Spookley finally finds Mistletoe, the stubborn cat has befriended three additional kittens, and all four need a place to go. It’s Christmas, so the cats make for perfect holiday gifts for some unsuspecting kids.

The prequel to this holiday event, Spookley and the Square Pumpkin, was released 15 years ago and the animation production for the sequel looks just as dated as ever. The mouth animations are poor, the character designs look like a nightmare, and not one of the original songs are anything that’s going to make you forget about any of the aforementioned classics. Not to mention, we ended up turning Santa into an owl of some kind, and that’s just uncalled for.