The Christmas Chronicles

I think it was the casting more than anything that got me excited for Netflix's biggest new Holiday offering, The Christmas Chronicles. I mean, Kurt Russell as Santa Claus. How could that possibly be anything short of completely awesome? I'm happy to report, it actually really is. 

Kate (played by Darby Camp) and her older brother Teddy (played by Judah Lewis) are facing their first Christmas without their father (played by Oliver Hudson), a firefighter who passed away on the job. Kate is trying to cope the best she can while Teddy is struggling more and started hanging out with some trouble making friends whose idea of a good time includes Grand Theft Auto (and I'm not talking about the video game).  When their Mom, Claire (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is called in to work at the Hospital on Christmas Eve, the two siblings are left on their own. When Kate spots a glimpse of what she thinks is Santa (played by Kurt Russell) in an old home video, Teddy humors her and they set up a clever trap to catch a glimpse of the big guy when he arrives that night. To their surprise, their set-up works and as they venture outside to catch sight of the big guy they stumble across Santa's sleigh, complete with a team of reindeer, hovering in the alley. Wanting to get a closer look, Kate climbs a telephone pole and jumps into the sleigh, with Teddy following. Before they can get out, Santa returns and unaware of his extra passengers, takes off. When Kate taps him on the shoulder, Santa is understandably shocked to find the two kids in his sleigh and winds up losing control of the sleigh, crashing in downtown Chicago, losing both the reindeer and his sack of presents in the process. Stranded, the three have no choice but to team up to find Santa's reindeer, lost sack of presents and help him complete his run and in the process save Christmas. 

The film was directed by Clay Kaytis from a script by Matt Lieberman. Liberman has, within this fairly straightforward Christmas fantasy, crafted some fun reinventions of the Santa Claus character and his surrounding operations. This version of the character is much more of a straight-shooter and no-nonsense. He doesn't go for the jolly, "Ho-ho-ho" stuff and bristles at his depiction on billboards and soda cans. They also come up with a neat twist with how the presents are delivered. In the bottom of his sack is a portal that leads to a conveyor belt at the North Pole (think airport baggage claim on steroids). The depiction of the Elves in this one is also a welcome change. Rather than using kids or little people, they went with a fully CGI creation, while not the most convincing CGI, makes for a decidedly cute group of helpers, reminding me a little of the Minions from the Despicable Me films. Of course, a lot of the magic of Santa, how exactly he's able to deliver presents to all the kids around the world, isn't explained in any real depth but we get enough of a sense of it through Santa's navigation system allowing him to instantly travel from city to city and that's enough to satisfy most viewers rather than get bogged down in details that don't really matter. The filmmakers wisely keep the film focused on the more comedic and fantasy elements striking a tone more reminiscent of 80's family comedies such as The Goonies or Adventures in Babysitting, including an impromptu musical number with Santa singing Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus is Back in Town" (because of course it had to be Elvis). However, the few emotional moments in the film did land nicely, being sentimental without being overly saccharine.

Once he shows up, Kurt Russell owns this film with his rendition of Santa Claus. It's such a fun and refreshing take on the classic character. In a way, Russell makes him feel a bit more real and three dimensional. His Santa gets frustrated and can be a bit grumpy at times, but at the same time he knows everyone (because of course he does) and does seem to genuinely enjoy what he does. It's that he also understands how important what he does is to the world (apparently, the last time he didn't complete his run he accidentally caused the Dark Ages, so there are some stakes). Darby Camp does well in the usual precocious kid sister role and captures her character's innate resourcefulness quite well, which comes in handy more that once, even as she goes through the film with the family camcorder more or less glued to her hand, capturing every moment of their adventure with Santa. Judah Lewis has the trickier role with much of the more emotional moments falling to his character but he's up to the task with making them work while managing to make his character remain likable. Lamorne Morris and Martin Roach have amusing supporting turns as two Chicago police officers who have a run-in with Santa and have a hard time believing he's the real deal.          

In the end, The Christmas Chronicles is probably not the most earth shatteringly original film, but it is cute and a lot of fun. A lot of that has to do with Kurt Russell's infectious performance as Saint Nick. His performance dominates the film as soon as he shows up and along with the two kids, they make the film work as well as it does. Yes, the plot is a little predictable, but it still has enough fun surprises to keep things interesting (including some A+ casting for Mrs. Claus, a surprise I wouldn't dare spoil). It's certainly fresher and more fun than the latest recycled Holiday Rom Com the Hallmark Channel is churning out.  Yet, it is probably not going to rank among the all time Holiday Classics like It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, or A Christmas Story, but The Santa Clause might have cause to be nervous.