The Christmas Chronicles 2
netflixBeing the mastermind of appealing to mass audiences that they are, Netflix has found that there is a market for seemingly endless Christmas themed movies that can easily be produced with little or no effort as long as the film's runtime is filled with holiday cheer, classic Christmas iconography and some basic interpretation of a story about family and love. Whilst this year Netflix has not shown any signs of slowing down when it comes to original holiday releases, the service has also returned to multiple of their previous stories – the newest being The Christmas Chronicles 2. Though the original film had some exciting sequences and an immediately natural version of Santa Claus from Kurt Russell, it largely disappointed by the end, yet there was quite a bit of hope for the sequel. With legendary family filmmaker Chris Columbus stepping into the role of director, it seemed like there was no better choice that could turn the series around but, rather than fixing the mistakes of the first film, The Christmas Chronicles 2 simply makes them worse.
The clearest areas of utter pain within the film's 115-minute runtime is in its new additions to the story. In an effort to provide fresh new dynamics, the film introduces multiple new additions to the cast without a single new member fitting in or being enjoyable. It isn't that these actors lack ability – after all, those like Julian Dennison and Sunny Suljic have proven to be some of the most exciting young actors working today – but the writing that they are given is abysmal, to put it nicely. The Christmas Chronicles 2 is built on a miserable foundation that blends boring cliches with convoluted lore to tragic results. Whilst someone like Julian Dennison gets so caught up in the confusing lore that their character never feels natural or like it connects with the world the film is building, others like Jahzir Bruno get caught up in painful cliches like being the scared kid who constantly complains and screams in fear over nothing supposedly for comedic effect despite that feeling never being realised; all around, the screenplay is an absolute failure for the characters within the film. The only actor who truly gets no pass is Tyrese Gibson. Whilst Gibson is very much so in a supporting role, his sheer stumbling to read simple lines at the very start of the film sets the tone for the quality of performances to be felt throughout the entire film.
The screenplay not only hurts the dialogue but the fundamental ideas within the film. At first, it seems that they are playing it too safe with their choices, setting up what feels like an extremely one-dimensional story but, around halfway through, the film becomes shocking with some of its plot choices. What starts as an unneeded expanding of the Santa Claus lore in multiple ways by unbearably long exposition scenes turns into one of the wildest series of twists and turns from any film this year. How The Christmas Chronicles 2 attempts to find its biggest emotional moments truly is jaw-dropping at times in the worst of ways. The film borders on incompetence as it devolves and completely loses control of its own identity and plot. It also doesn’t help that the visual effects within the film have drastically dropped in quality while the film’s reliance on them has gone drastically up, creating a disconnection between the audience and even the basic visual world the film is attempting to create.
Whilst everything new in the film fails to land, what carries over from the previous film also has clearly lost its charm. With the exception of Kurt Russell, who still feels born for the role of Santa, the characters of the first film – which were naturally likable and able to garner sympathy – have lost all their charm. Opening the film on a girl complaining that she has to spend Christmas on an all-expense-paid vacation to a resort in Cabo immediately will rub the vast majority of audiences the wrong way. The wholesome charm of the relationship between Kate (Darby Camp) and her brother Teddy (Judah Lewis) is lost, not just from the physical separation of the two characters but also the emotional journey that Kate goes on being drastically more forced and inauthentic.
Even within the microcosm of Netflix Original Christmas films, The Christmas Chronicles 2 stands out as a particularly sour outing. Whilst the first film was ultimately unremarkable, at least there was the basic sense of charm that made it watchable and fitting for the holiday season; however, the sequel is simply painful. Bordering on incompetence at times, this is a true holiday disaster that is best left outside in the cold of Netflix's endless library rather than actually being seen.
