Review of 'The Christmas Chronicles'

the_christmas_chronicles.jpg This is Christmas story focusing on sister Kate (Darby Camp) and older brother Teddy (Judah Lewis) who have lost their father, a huge fan of Christmas, in the previous year. Teddy has started down the path of rebelling, looking for kicks by stealing cars. Their mother Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is hard hit by the loss of her husband and busies herself with work as a nurse largely leaving the children to themselves. Kate concocts an idea that they can catch Santa Claus as he visits their home and convinces her brother to help her out. They do eventually catch Santa (a almost against type Kurt Russell) as he magically hops from rooftop to rooftop but when Kate attempts to stowaway in Santa's sleigh, it crashes, the presents are scattered, and the reindeer have run away. It is up to the three of them to rescue Christmas for the children of the world.

A light Christmas story that manages to bring home some unpleasant truths about families but “The Christmas Chronicles” but it glosses over much of this in favour of some holiday silliness featuring copious amount of CGI throughout. “Miracle on 34th Street” this is not but it is, in it's own way, quite fun.

Russel as St. Nick is really jarring but, fair play, he really does throw himself into the role and we do end up with a few decidedly un-Santa sequences, particularly the stolen car chase through a sleeping Chicago. It was nice to have a small cameo by real-life wife Goldie Hawn playing Mrs. Claus at the north pole.

The story is straightforward and a good choice for the young or young at heart. I will say there is actually some fairly adult things here including a good amount of violence and slightly older humour (if you catch my drift). Personally, I just didn't really like it all that much - Yes, is it a bit different but it does make light of some pretty heavy things and seems too gratuitous (and, seriously, Kurt Russel as Santa???).

Rating: “It is OK but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2020-12-12


Directed by: Clay Kaytis

Studio: 1492 Pictures

Year: 2018

Length: 104 minutes

Genre: Fantasy

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2990140/


Other reviewed films by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly: