The Christmas Chronicles Movie Review

The Christmas Chronicles  (2018)

Watch The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix
Written by: David Guggenheim (story by), Matt Lieberman
Directed by: Clay Kaytis
Starring: Kurt Russell, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis
Rated: TV-PG
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Plot
Two children try to prove Santa is real with video footage, but they accidentally cause the sleigh to crash in Chicago. The children must help Santa get back on track before Christmas is ruined.

Verdict
Holiday movies are usually pretty formulaic. While this isn't a great movie, it's a lot of fun and manages to stand out from the usual Christmas movies with a different take on Santa. This Santa doesn't suffer any nonsense and breaks the law when necessary. It's a wild ride. With some of the content and language, this movie skews for teens and above. While it easily could have been made for younger kids too, it's definitely not. As a Christmas movie with low standards it's not bad. As a movie in general, it's not very good.
It depends.

Review
The first fifteen minutes prior to Santa's arrival sets up this tragic family without a father. The kids are upset and take out their grief on each other. The brother also steals cars, while the daughter watches old videos to maintain that connection with her father. She just happens to see what might be Santa in an old Christmas video.

It's the usual story of kids trying to obtain proof, but this gets wild fast. The kids sneak into the sleigh and this sets the plot into motion. One of the first things Santa tells the kids, after crash landing, is "I'm not a big fat slob." This Santa is not happy about his portrayal in pop culture. He's blunt.

This Santa has wormhole technology and is also responsible for the Dark Ages. I like the retro history and wish the movie did more of that. The kids have to help Santa get back on track. Santa and the kids steal an already stolen car when he gets no help at the bar despite knowing many personal details about people. This bar looks like a run down chain restaurant, but for some reason it has valet service. The trio are on the hunt for the reindeer, and I laughed out loud when Santa fist bumped an underage driver who just cut off multiple people in a stolen car. This movie is fun. It's silly and ridiculous, but fun.

Santa ends up in jail, and there's a impromptu concert. I don't know if this is a nod to Russell playing Elvis or what. There's an interesting take on elves. They're CGI, not far from furry little minions. They don't fit the tone of the movie.

This does a neat job of explaining how Santa works. He has wormhole technology to travel great distances, and his toy bag is a portal to the North Pole. It can house an infinitesimal amount of presents because of that.
Our countdown clock is Santa's Christmas spirit watch, but I don't know why spirit is dropping unless it's predictive. No one knows Santa may not finish his task. They won't figure that out until Christmas morning.

This drops the ball at the end. Santa seems completely uninterested in saving Christmas, and that's because the whole movie was a ruse to get Teddy to believe again. It just felt like nonsense and it undermines the movie. This isn't great, but enjoyable enough if you want something a little different in your Christmas movie rotation.

The Mrs. Claus cameo was a nice detail.