The Christmas Chronicles actually premiered last year on Netflix. This particular holiday fantasy is directed by Clay Kaytis with the screen play being credited to Matt Lieberman. Kurt Russell dons the red coat and steers the magical sleigh for this one. Darby Camp plays the 11 year-old girl who tries to catch Santa on film. Other cast members include Judah Lewis, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Lamorne Morris.
Christmas 2018 is a tough one for the Pierce family when the husband and father is killed while fighting a fire. Mrs. Pierce works as a nurse and covers all kinds of crazy hours. The two kids aren’t getting all that well. It’s a familiar family situation in these kinds of films. Kurt Russell as Santa is a fairly intriguing casting choice. I tend to like Russell, so I thought it would be a fun experience to see his version of St. Nick.
This thing falls pretty short in lots of ways. Darby Camp is a cute enough kid for her role. Russell’s version of Santa is not without charm. I thought he would give his Santa a little more of a cynical edge or something, however that was not quite the case. Santa was a little more hip than one would expect when dealing with the other citizens Massachusetts after he has to recover his belongings and presents after a rather inconvenient sleigh crash.
The visual effects were a little cheesy, but that sort of fits with the film. The plot was also lacking in some coherence, which still seems strangely appropriate genre. Apparently, there is some work on a sequel for next Christmas probably.
The film has a bit of charm to it but is still rather underwhelming for the most part. There still seems to have been some missed opportunities with such a unique casting choice for Santa. I am not sure what I wanted to see with this one, however I just wasn’t impressed with much of what it had to offer.
It’s not a terrible movie, but with the exception of Kurt Russell playing Santa Clause, there just isn’t much to make it all that memorable.
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