The Asylum
Starring: Ezra James Colbert, John P. Fowler, Nicola Lambo
Directed by: Glenn Miller

Cat Out of the Bag Alert!  This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: When three kittens accidentally set off Santa’s allergies, leading to his incapacitation, they must finish making his delivery rounds before sunrise or Christmas will be ruined.

Featured Felines: Let’s face it, the only thing this poorly conceived and executed holiday movie has going for it are some cute cats, but that’s only when they aren’t talking.  The CGI mouth work is done so poorly it only distracts from the animals.

The film starts in the past with Santa visiting the home of a girl.  Two Russian Blue cats live in the home, the older Baxter and the kitten Rigby.  Rigby tries to say hello to Santa, not knowing the jolly old elf is allergic to cats and this causes trouble which is the catalyst of much of the rest of the film.

The film then jumps to the modern day where three kittens, Patches (voiced by Jordan Bielsky), Mittens (voiced by Lauren Elizabeth Hood) and Hairball (voiced by Quinn Ljoka) are living in the home.

Their mother, Maisy (voiced by Marguerite Insolia) also plays a part in the film.

It’s hard to recommend this film, not because of the low production values or even the story (there are some cute moments and the underlying messages are positive) but because of some really questionable segments.  This film is clearly aimed at very small children, so was it really necessary to have a scene with Santa having a severe allergic reaction to peanuts and almost dying?  Sneezing at cats is one thing, but that is so over the top and unfunny and there was absolutely no reason for the scene even to be included!  The filmmakers really should have kept the focus on the cats as much as possible.

Final Mewsings: No amount of cute cats could have saved this Christmas film.

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