The Christmas Chronicles 2 has Kurt Russell return to the red coat and flowing beard of Santa Claus with Goldie Hawn joining the fun as Mrs. Claus. Chris Columbus directed this film which he co-wrote with Matt Lieberman. Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, Tyrese Gibson, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Julian Dennison are also included in the cast.
Dennison plays the main antagonist, a disgruntled elf who was cursed with being human and wants to take revenge by stealing the Star of Bethlehem and ruining Christmas for everyone. Santa Claus has the help of his wife as well as young Kate Pierce and the son of her mother’s new boyfriend to save the holiday.
This film is incredibly ludicrous but reasonably fun. I can’t help but have some affection for Russell’s take on Santa Claus anyway. It was also amusing to have Hawn have a more active role than her cameo in the previous film. The children did fine in their roles as well.
The film has its amusing moments, but sometimes it felt a little overstuffed with various themes and sentiment. Russell’s enthusiasm as Santa Claus does give it enough charm to make it watchable. It probably won’t go down as some great Christmas comedy classic, but it manages to avoid being a complete disaster.
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