 A couple of Christmases ago, Netflix treated families to the first 'Christmas Chronicles'. I for one enjoyed it pretty thoroughly as a great new Christmas movie for the whole family. It even rekindled some Christmas spirit for me that year with a lot of the imagination that went into it, bringing back that childlike sense of wonder I once had as a kid. Very few Christmas movies have pulled this off in recent years, so there's definitely a special place in my heart for it. But, with a title that contains the word "Chronicles", it's only a matter of time before we see sequels (and I don't believe it means to end here, either)
For the story on the original, refer to my review. This one picks up a couple of years later, where the lead kids from the first one, Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy (Judah Lewis) are on a Cancún Christmas vacation with their Mother, Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) and her new partner, Bob (Tyrese Gibson). While Teddy is enjoying himself, making the most of it, Kate is distraught at the idea that Bob is trying to replace her father, who has passed on. She makes a wish to Santa (Kurt Russell) to basically help out with her situation, because she fears her Dad is just gonna get forgotten before long. It's the typical teenage angst set-up involving "Mom's new guy". Overhearing her solo conversation to Santa, however, is the elf-turned-human Belsnickel (Julian Dennison) Belsnickel is an elf who has broken all of the rules that come with being an elf. If all of those rules are broken, the elf becomes human, and his fate is all because Santa became too busy with the children of the world, and didn't have time for him. While an upset Kate attempts to run away back to Boston, she is picked up by Belsnickel who uses her "true believer" magic to transport through a worm hole to the North Pole. Here, he'd set out for revenge on Santa by trying to ruin Christmas for kids all over the world. So, Kate goes on another Christmas adventure alongside Santa in an effort to stop Christmas from falling apart. This time, however, her tag-along is Bob's young son, Jack (Jahzir Bruno) who, through Mrs. Claus (Goldie Hawn) has to learn to overcome his own anxieties and such. First, I'll just get to the personal criticisms of it all. For starters, Jack doesn't make for an altogether interesting character to me. It's got nothing to do with Bruno's performance; he's a child actor, and he's still very new on the scene. It's just that they don't do a hell of a lot with everything he apparently has. He does have to overcome is fears, and probably manages to cater to the young crowd all right, but there's almost too much of a leap to innocence with his character when Kate's counterbalance in the first one was her brother, who was a freaking car thief. That brings me to my next nitpick, in that while the first film was really good for the whole family, striking every emotion, this one seems clearly more directed at kids. You don't get a whole lot of depth with either Kate or Jack here, and the outcome of everything is super predictable from the get-go. Things are not all lost here though. I have to admit that there was a lot about it I thought was cleverly done. It was interesting to me that Santa's Village (or Mrs. Claus' Village, just to refer to a certain running gag in here) got its power from the Bethlehem Christmas Star, which is an interesting way to combine the Christian aspects of Christmas with the fun, Santa side of things. On top of that, the elves are always a lot of fun to watch, but they are especially fun when a magic dust turns them all basically into vicious little Gremlins. Imagine one of those cute elves from the first one wielding a chainsaw and running amok. Truth be told, thought he overall plot and some character are kind of weak, the Christmas fun is still there. And I really, really enjoy Kurt Russell's Santa Claus - he's got a certain charm to him, he's super friendly, he's convincingly warm, and just fits so well. So, all in all, this one really has nothing on the first one. I remember the first one really relighting that magical Christmas candle in my heart, leaving me with a warm, happy feeling, and empathy for the kids; especially Teddy, who wasn't even really a part of this one. This one didn't quite leave me feeling the same way. I had fun with it, and certain aspects were actually very interesting. But things seem to be aging backwards a little bit, aiming this one more at younger kids and keeping the first one aimed at whole families. It's worth checking out for a giggle or two, but I wouldn't say you're missing out on this particular sequel if you skip it this year either - the original CAN still stand on its own. 3/5
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