12 Reviews of Christmas - The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, here's another more recent entry on my list this year for the 12 Reviews of Christmas, but with the recent announcement that its sequel is in development, let's take a look at the Netflix Original Movie: The Christmas Chronicles starring Kurt Russell.
The movie starts in Lowell, Massachusetts with recently-widowed mother Claire Pierce, who is still getting over losing her husband Doug, who was a firefighter. Meanwhile, her son Teddy has been stealing cars, and her daughter Kate is trying to keep the family's Christmas spirit alive. On Christmas Eve, Claire has to fill in for a coworker, leaving Teddy to look after Kate. Kate, while watching some old Christmas videos, notices something odd: an arm appearing from the fireplace. Believing this to be Santa Claus, Kate and Teddy set up a camera to catch him in the act.
Kate is woken up as she spots Santa in the living room, and she and Teddy head outside, and Kate hops in the sleigh for a closer look, while Teddy follows. After making his rounds for the neighborhood, Santa returns to the sleigh, and takes off for the next stop on his route. Surprised by Kate when she asks for a blanket, Santa loses control of the sleigh, losing his hat, bag of presents, and reindeer, and finally crashing the sleigh, all after teleporting to Chicago. Teddy and Kate are surprised to see that Santa is actually in amazing shape, unlike his various depictions of being overweight, and they learn that the whole "ho-ho-ho" thing is just a myth. Santa takes off to find his reindeer, with Teddy and Kate in tow, so that they can save Christmas before bad things start to happen around the world as a result of the loss of Christmas Spirit, which is said to be a very powerful force. After a stop at a local bar, Santa and the kids nab a car that the bartender had already stolen, and head off to where the reindeer were spotted, after gathering the reindeer together, Santa is stopped by two police officers, Dave and Mikey, the former of whom takes Santa into custody, and Kate and Teddy head off with the reindeer to find Santa's bag of toys. They find the bag, and Kate enters it, making her way to the North Pole from within the bag, where she finds the elves, who agree to help get Santa out of jail.
Santa, meanwhile, is trying to convince Officer Dave of who he is by showing his gifts he wanted for Christmas as a child, and tells him of what he wants this Christmas: a second chance with his ex-wife Lisa, who has also been lonely as Santa points out. Thrown into a cell, Santa starts to talk with a few of the individuals in his cell, who were once musically inclined, having asked for guitars for Christmas as kids. With the alarming number of arrests a clear sign that Christmas Spirit is getting too low, Santa conjures up the exact guitars they once had, and everyone in Santa's cell starts performing the song "Santa Claus is Back in Town." All of the officers are enjoying the performance, with the exception of the still unmoved Officer Dave, who gets one last push into believing that Santa is who he says he is: a call from Lisa asking him out for coffee on Christmas morning. Santa's elves arrive with a spare hat, and Santa heads out from his cell after being released by Officer Dave.
In a hurry, Santa enlists Teddy and Kate to help deliver the gifts to cities like St. Louis, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc., despite having to cut it really close. After nearly missing one house in Mexico City, they quickly make their last delivery and head back to Lowell to drop Teddy and Kate off. After giving Teddy his hat, he reveals that he never really needed the hat, because he's Santa Claus. Santa takes off, and as a special one-time deal just for Kate, he let's out a very loud "ho-ho-ho." Claire arrives, and sees Teddy and Kate outside. The three head inside, and Claire is surprised to see the house decorated for Christmas. Teddy and Kate open their presents, with Kate getting a skateboard from Santa, and Teddy, had written to Santa for a chance to talk to his dad again, getting an enchanted Christmas bulb. In it's reflection, Teddy sees his dad, and the both say their proud of each other. Back at the North Pole, Santa writes Teddy's name into the Book of True Believers, a book that has the family trees of all of the true believers, including the entire Pierce family tree, after which he speaks with Mrs. Claus about the night's events.
The Christmas Chronicles is a true definition of a holiday classic for the digital age. Being produced for Netflix gives it a much better viewer base to build itself on, and allows it to be available to watch any time. Kurt Russell was an amazing Santa Claus, and it was certainly different seeing a Santa that was in terrific shape. Judah Lewis and Darby Camp were terrific as Teddy and Kate, and in my opinion, this is the way that kids in the age of the internet should be portrayed. They feel relatable, and therefore are easy to follow throughout the film. The idea that Christmas spirit is a powerful force of positivity in the world has been done before in other Christmas movies such as Elf, The Santa Clause, A Fairly Odd Christmas, Fred Claus, and the like, but to have it being portrayed in this manner, with things like the Dark Ages and all of the different wars that have happened being due to the loss of Christmas Spirit, which was due to Santa not being able to deliver all of the presents to the children of the world, was definitely inventive. The CGI elves were a bit odd, and almost felt more like Gremlins than Christmas Elves, but I quickly got over them. But the biggest surprise of all, the thing that was kept secret up until this movie was released, was Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus. That's right, Goldie Hawn, who is in a real-life relationship with Kurt Russell, was in this movie as Mrs. Claus. THAT is awesome. Overall, this is a Christmas movie that I definitely recommend. It's a great holiday treat that director Clay Kaytis made very entertaining, and I'm definitely excited to see what Chris Columbus, who was a producer on the film, does with the sequel, which he is set to direct. I'm going to go ahead and give The Christmas Chronicles a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as we continue the 12 Reviews of Christmas.
The movie starts in Lowell, Massachusetts with recently-widowed mother Claire Pierce, who is still getting over losing her husband Doug, who was a firefighter. Meanwhile, her son Teddy has been stealing cars, and her daughter Kate is trying to keep the family's Christmas spirit alive. On Christmas Eve, Claire has to fill in for a coworker, leaving Teddy to look after Kate. Kate, while watching some old Christmas videos, notices something odd: an arm appearing from the fireplace. Believing this to be Santa Claus, Kate and Teddy set up a camera to catch him in the act.
Kate is woken up as she spots Santa in the living room, and she and Teddy head outside, and Kate hops in the sleigh for a closer look, while Teddy follows. After making his rounds for the neighborhood, Santa returns to the sleigh, and takes off for the next stop on his route. Surprised by Kate when she asks for a blanket, Santa loses control of the sleigh, losing his hat, bag of presents, and reindeer, and finally crashing the sleigh, all after teleporting to Chicago. Teddy and Kate are surprised to see that Santa is actually in amazing shape, unlike his various depictions of being overweight, and they learn that the whole "ho-ho-ho" thing is just a myth. Santa takes off to find his reindeer, with Teddy and Kate in tow, so that they can save Christmas before bad things start to happen around the world as a result of the loss of Christmas Spirit, which is said to be a very powerful force. After a stop at a local bar, Santa and the kids nab a car that the bartender had already stolen, and head off to where the reindeer were spotted, after gathering the reindeer together, Santa is stopped by two police officers, Dave and Mikey, the former of whom takes Santa into custody, and Kate and Teddy head off with the reindeer to find Santa's bag of toys. They find the bag, and Kate enters it, making her way to the North Pole from within the bag, where she finds the elves, who agree to help get Santa out of jail.
Santa, meanwhile, is trying to convince Officer Dave of who he is by showing his gifts he wanted for Christmas as a child, and tells him of what he wants this Christmas: a second chance with his ex-wife Lisa, who has also been lonely as Santa points out. Thrown into a cell, Santa starts to talk with a few of the individuals in his cell, who were once musically inclined, having asked for guitars for Christmas as kids. With the alarming number of arrests a clear sign that Christmas Spirit is getting too low, Santa conjures up the exact guitars they once had, and everyone in Santa's cell starts performing the song "Santa Claus is Back in Town." All of the officers are enjoying the performance, with the exception of the still unmoved Officer Dave, who gets one last push into believing that Santa is who he says he is: a call from Lisa asking him out for coffee on Christmas morning. Santa's elves arrive with a spare hat, and Santa heads out from his cell after being released by Officer Dave.
In a hurry, Santa enlists Teddy and Kate to help deliver the gifts to cities like St. Louis, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, etc., despite having to cut it really close. After nearly missing one house in Mexico City, they quickly make their last delivery and head back to Lowell to drop Teddy and Kate off. After giving Teddy his hat, he reveals that he never really needed the hat, because he's Santa Claus. Santa takes off, and as a special one-time deal just for Kate, he let's out a very loud "ho-ho-ho." Claire arrives, and sees Teddy and Kate outside. The three head inside, and Claire is surprised to see the house decorated for Christmas. Teddy and Kate open their presents, with Kate getting a skateboard from Santa, and Teddy, had written to Santa for a chance to talk to his dad again, getting an enchanted Christmas bulb. In it's reflection, Teddy sees his dad, and the both say their proud of each other. Back at the North Pole, Santa writes Teddy's name into the Book of True Believers, a book that has the family trees of all of the true believers, including the entire Pierce family tree, after which he speaks with Mrs. Claus about the night's events.
The Christmas Chronicles is a true definition of a holiday classic for the digital age. Being produced for Netflix gives it a much better viewer base to build itself on, and allows it to be available to watch any time. Kurt Russell was an amazing Santa Claus, and it was certainly different seeing a Santa that was in terrific shape. Judah Lewis and Darby Camp were terrific as Teddy and Kate, and in my opinion, this is the way that kids in the age of the internet should be portrayed. They feel relatable, and therefore are easy to follow throughout the film. The idea that Christmas spirit is a powerful force of positivity in the world has been done before in other Christmas movies such as Elf, The Santa Clause, A Fairly Odd Christmas, Fred Claus, and the like, but to have it being portrayed in this manner, with things like the Dark Ages and all of the different wars that have happened being due to the loss of Christmas Spirit, which was due to Santa not being able to deliver all of the presents to the children of the world, was definitely inventive. The CGI elves were a bit odd, and almost felt more like Gremlins than Christmas Elves, but I quickly got over them. But the biggest surprise of all, the thing that was kept secret up until this movie was released, was Goldie Hawn as Mrs. Claus. That's right, Goldie Hawn, who is in a real-life relationship with Kurt Russell, was in this movie as Mrs. Claus. THAT is awesome. Overall, this is a Christmas movie that I definitely recommend. It's a great holiday treat that director Clay Kaytis made very entertaining, and I'm definitely excited to see what Chris Columbus, who was a producer on the film, does with the sequel, which he is set to direct. I'm going to go ahead and give The Christmas Chronicles a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. See you guys next time as we continue the 12 Reviews of Christmas.
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