The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

December 1, 2018 1:43 PM

The story of sister and brother, Kate and Teddy Pierce, whose Christmas Eve plan to catch Santa Claus on camera turns into an unexpected journey that most kids could only dream about. (Trailer)

Rotten Tomatoes Description: THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES, a holiday adventure from producer Chris Columbus ("Home Alone", "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") and director Clay Kaytis ("The Angry Birds Movie"), tells the story of sister and brother, Kate (Darby Camp) and Teddy Pierce (Judah Lewis), whose Christmas Eve plan to catch Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) on camera turns into an unexpected journey that most kids could only dream about. After staking out Santa's arrival, they sneak into his sleigh, cause it to crash and nearly derail Christmas. As their wild night unfolds, Kate and Teddy work together with Santa - as you've never seen him before - and his loyal Elves to save Christmas before it's too late.

posted by Nanukthedog (7 comments total)

We watched this as a family last night. This movie goes to a lot of places you would expect it to, but it is the first Christmas movie ever that my kids have been standing up in their chairs going nuts with enjoyment. Kurt Russell channels Kurt Russell, the plot is predictable, but man - it is pure fun. There's a bunch of stuff straight out of Home Alone (including the church), Adventures in Babysitting, ET, and Escape from New York. Yes, this is *as close* as we'll ever get to Snake Plisken Saves Christmas!
posted by Nanukthedog at 1:51 PM on December 1, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yes, this is *as close* as we'll ever get to Snake Plisken Saves Christmas!

Kurt Russell is so so so good as Santa.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:12 PM on December 1, 2018

While I generally don't like Holiday-themed movies (except "A Christmas Story" and "Love, Actually"), my son and I watched this as a tiebreaker last week. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love me some Kurt Russell and that Santa coat he wore was rockin'. The Steven Van Zandt cameo was awesome, although I had to look it up to make sure that was really him.
posted by sundrop at 6:30 AM on December 2, 2018

I really liked this, and I was impressed how they handled Teddy's wish to see his father again. It was magical but not too literal.

Goldie Hawn is awesome for turning up as Mrs. Claus.
posted by gladly at 6:16 PM on December 2, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have had to watch this TWICE and dislike it further each time, except for the adorable child actors. There are throwaway cheap lines - Fake News, the Indian-American guy is pissed at being addressed in Hindi, the hispanic gang members, black sex workers in prison as background singers, the ex-wife who is lonely and wants to reconcile as a Christmas miracle (with no mention of any change), the kid getting away with car theft at the start of the movie for fun - the whole "true bloodline of believers book" cult - blegh.

Either put in a solid moral tale or go full on anarchy and have some fun, none of this dithering for weak laughs and random plotting.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 11:31 PM on December 2, 2018

Unlike last year, Netflix is actually happy that a lot of people watched its new Christmas movie

I'm gonna comment on this at some point, but mostly it just really reminds me of the 80's a lot (no phones in this movie, at all!). Also, I have a shirt that says "Keep Calm and Define Naughty" and that seems appropriate for the Hot Santa in this movie, who is now cool with car thievery and whatnot.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:32 PM on December 4, 2018

I'm late to the game, having not watched this until a couple days after Christmas, but I thought it was mostly OK. It could have done without some throwaway jokes like "Fake News," which will be dated by next Christmas (seriously, they could have done the exact same joke without saying "Fake News!" That actually weakened the joke, IMO). I doubt this will become a Christmas tradition in our house, but it was a fun distraction, despite some really obvious flaws, as dorothyisunderwood pointed out above.
posted by asnider at 11:35 AM on January 2, 2019