The Christmas Chronicles

The 2018 Netflix Christmas film, The Christmas Chronicles, probably could’ve fallen into a backlog of several other holiday-themed movies Netflix have at their disposal, yet it seemed like with enough decent advertising and public awareness about a film where beloved actor Kurt Russell would play Santa Clause, made it a well known enough film to do passably from a critical standpoint, and earn enough viewership to result in a sequel in 2020, with its unique form of type-casting continuing by having Goldie Hawn (an equally well-known older actress who is romantically involved with and often paired on screen with Russell) play Mrs Claus. With this in mind, it sets up what kind of movie you’re going to get when watching, and the end results are definitely not groundbreaking, but thankfully aren’t harmful either. After having recently lost their father to Good-Samaritan-itis, the Pierce family is no longer the happy family they used to be, which is made more apparent around the Christmas time. With the mother, Claire (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley) needing to work often in order to support her children, and with siblings, Teddy and Kate (played by Judah Lewis and Darby Camp) being at odds now due to Teddy’s more stand-offish and even criminal activity, it makes this Christmas Eve feel very un-merry. However, after seemingly capturing Santa Clause on tape, the two decide to stake out the night and see if they can actually get proper footage of the illusive St. Nick. Their plans go further than that when they actually find themselves in the sleigh of Santa Clause (played by Kurt Russell), with the resulting shock causing the sleigh to be broken, the reindeer to get lost, the sack of presents to be thrown overboard, and Santa’s magic seemingly disappearing. With only a limited amount of time before Christmas day and without any of his usual tricks and magic to help him out, Santa will need the help of these two stowaways to track down his lost gear the old fashion way (that being on foot) and save Christmas, all the while the siblings use this time to mend their lost bond. The Christmas Chronicles is a very straightforward Christmas flick without much new added to make it very special, but at its core, is still able to grab people in a way many other flawed yet watchable Christmas movies have been able to for so many years

Originally starting off life as a found-footage movie where twin brothers try to video tape Santa Clause and inadvertently cause his night to fall apart (which probably would’ve worn out its gimmick after a few minutes but would’ve been interesting nonetheless), the movie was later reworked and turned into a story that still contains the initial idea of using cameras to catch Santa Clause, but the core focus of the film was switched around to feature a more wholesome and fluffy attitude that is more expected for these kind of sappy Christmas stories (these heart-tugging films love killing off picture-perfect parents, don’t they). While this could be a recipe for disaster and fall into hallmark levels of cringe, it feels like the nature of these cheesy holiday specials actually helped this movie out in the long run, as despite this film being very safe, quite basic in its messaging, characters, and themes, and even pretty corny in many areas, it doesn’t feel like a slog or a pain to get through. While the content and the script by Matt Lieberman (who created the spec script for the original idea) and David Guggenheim is nothing that remarkable and does feel like its only run by this one idea of Russell as Santa Clause, (which even then isn’t fully taken advantage of), there aren’t many moments where the film is hard to watch or groan-worthy (although watching an elf floss is pretty vomit-inducing). Most movies like this would feel so painfully sappy in parts and very unrealistic and even detached through the way the world feels and the people talk and interact, but this film does to its credit, try to stabilize itself with a hint of an awareness of what’s its presenting and it makes it more tolerable. The directing for this film by relative newcomer Clay Kaytis (whose only other prominent directing job was with The Angry Birds Movie) is certainly safe and maybe a little too modern in places (arguably due to inexperience), but the touches of an edge that it features does breathe a more entertaining air into what could’ve been nothing but a dated triviality. Sadly, an 80s tone and vibe could’ve elevated this movie into something a lot more entertaining (they’ve already got Kurt Russell, so they have the first step), and what is provided is more so cutely edgy rather than actually hard-core, but the stuff that it features is still appreciated like Santa getting arrested for technically stealing a car, using his knowledge of everybody’s good and bad deeds to actively blackmail people is pretty funny, and even the elves getting semi-violent on a group of thugs near the end of the film is sadly a little too PG to really go all the way, but the idea is still present.

A lot of the film seems to exist just for the idea of Kurt Russell as Santa Clause, as the notion of the jolly old Father Christmas being played by the notoriously cool and suave Russell does feel like its own magic spice that would’ve given this movie a unique pull. In some ways, it does take advantage of this as Russell does feel like a very different kind of Santa, and he’s using his own persona in order to enhance what feels like a very standard portrayal on paper. At first, it does just kind of feel like Kurt Russell playing a part rather than feeling like an actual character (which is especially noticeably when specific Russell qualities shine through prominently) but as the movie continues and he gets to do things like mention the greatest wishes of grown-ups when they were children or do the traditional Santa things, it does start to feel fairly genuine and he surprisingly works in the role. While its nice that Russell is able to bring something memorable, the rest of the cast is unfortunately nothing special from a character or even an acting standpoint.  Both Darby Camp and Judah Lewis are pretty flat especially when they share screen time together (with other actors, they’re passable at best, but together, they are weirdly poor), but thankfully, they aren’t annoyingly flat, just enough that you can feel their inexperience. Kimberly Williams-Paisley is also not very good as their mother, but she’s barely in the movie so its not too much of an issue. Weirdly, the strongest piece of acting comes from most of the background roles, with a lot of miscellaneous roles actually providing more genuine reactions and funny takes than most of the leads. The true highlights of the film are Lamorne Morris and Martin Roach as a duo of cops who arrest Santa, and Vella Lovell as a waitress at a bar Santa and the kids stop at. For whatever reasons, these three absolutely nail their minimal screentime and make you genuinely relate with their reactions of the situation whether its blind acceptance, pure denial or even just confused befuddlement. Probably helped out due to each being attached to comedic shows in the past, these three can stand strong as the unsung heroes of this film.

Considering this is a Netflix film, its obviously going to be pretty cheap. While getting people like Russell and Hawn wouldn’t have been chump change, neither have really been in anything big for years so it wouldn’t have been on the same calibre as getting someone who is currently popular. With that said, while the movie definitely doesn’t look expensive as some of the effects do look like typical Netflix quality (at least for a Christmas Netflix film), its not distractingly cheap either as there’s an occasional nice shot by cinematographer Don Burgess of the cityscape that makes it look nice enough (at least when it’s not showered in a green screen) and every once and a while, there’s even a nice creative visual like seeing the inside of Santa’s present sack and even the design of the elves (which look different but still recognizable). It does definitely feel like a Netflix Christmas movie with the production design by Paul D. Austerberry, the costume design by Luis Sequeria, and even the musical score by Christophe Beck all having a glossy, fabricated feel to it that isn’t poor in any manner but can definitely feel a little artificial and not the most authentic. The benefit of this style is that it does thankfully have a feel of the season, with elements from the lighting, the decorations, to even the colors adopting a very festive sense that really makes it scream Christmas. The movie is never really funny, despite having decent starts to punchlines that never really get followed up on. As previously stated, considering the more modern touches to this film, it could’ve been far more painful and dated if it had ‘’modern’’ dialogue of that kind, and thankfully nothing about most of these scenes is actually painful to listen as its more just harmlessly breezy, and even every once and a while, there is a fun line especially whenever they highlight how Santa’s actions could be taken in a different way without the innocent haze of the season (he does break into everyone’s houses every year).

The Christmas Chronicles is not a classic by any means, and you can feel it trying to replicate similar films to be within their same ballpark despite being unable to join in. To its credit, this isn’t so much from extreme lack of quality in comparison as many of these movies have similarly flawed elements that hold them back from standing strong outside of the festive season, yet through their own unique elements and personality, they are able to stand strong whereas this film is moreso like a leftover stale Christmas cookie; not awful and has the right elements, but is past its prime and not special enough to be left on the shelf. If it had a harder, more defined edge to its writing, story, characters, and world, maybe this could’ve become a staple of the holidays along the lines of something Chris Columbus helped make like Home Alone or Gremlins (which is fitting considering Columbus produced this film and later went on to direct the sequel), but sadly, that isn’t the case. Nothing amazing but could provide a simple fun time if in the right mood, this movie may have nothing to do with its title (its hard to see why it’s called The Christmas Chronicle), but does have a lot to do with Christmas, and for the time of year, that’s all you could really ask for.