In 2014, the Hallmark Channel showed The Nine Lives of Christmas. Here it is 2021 and we’re getting a sequel - The Nine Kittens of Christmas. Do you think we’ll get another movie in 2028?

Zachary (Brandon Routh) is a captain at the fire station in Bend, Oregon. A box containing nine kittens was left on the doorstep of the fire station. Thankfully, his veterinarian ex-girlfriend, Marilee (Kimberley Sustad), is back from Miami for the holidays. Together, they need to find appropriate homes for all nine kittens.

No, I didn’t watch the original 2014 movie. I’m sure that means there are inside jokes and references that I missed. Ah well. That is what they get for waiting seven years for a sequel.

While most of the movie was fine, the cat thing was a little annoying. Both Zachary and Marilee let their cats, Ambrose and Duchess, respectively, make decisions in their lives. That is weird. It would have been fine if they just held their cats a lot (which they do) or talk to their cats (which they do) but the movie seriously wants us to believe the cats were tossing cell phones around or answering phone calls. It’s a bit much. Not to mention that they had homes for almost all of the kittens pretty quickly. A side character had to back out of adopting three kittens in order to make the movie last longer. I get that the movie is about cats but the writers didn’t have to shove it down our throats.

I guess if you really, really like cats, you’ll enjoy The Nine Kittens of Christmas. For the rest of us, it’s fairly skippable. There isn’t a lot that goes on that doesn’t involve cats. Put it on in the background and peek in every few minutes to aww over the cute kittens. That is about what the movie is worth.