The Christmas Chronicles

Afternoon, Fam…

So, Netflix’s The Christmas Chronicles could be taken as an amalgamation of The Santa Clause, Elf and a buttload of Hallmark movies.

Let’s see, you’ve got the kids that’ve suffered a tragedy, check, you have Santa show up and said kids see, check, you have a lack in the belief in Santa, check, you have Santa get sent to jail, check, you have the kids wind up at the North Pole to try to save Santa, check.

See what I’m saying?

But, The Christmas Chronicles had a little bit of a different take on the story with Darby Camp’s Kate Pierce being most of the driving force behind the story with her damaged brother, Tedd (Judah Lewis) as they play against Kurt Russell’s Santa, who hits the Santa subtleties while infusing his own brand to the character.  Look for Russell’s real-life partner, Goldie Hawn, in the film.

The film’s made by the producers that were involved in the Harry Potter series and Home Alone, which can be seen in the kids’ neighborhood and the North Pole, which doesn’t really mean anything since there are hundreds of movies that reunited successful cast and crew to totally bomb.  Christmas Chronicles isn’t one of those statistics.

An example that harkens to said films are the special effects when Santa’d goo down a chimney reminded me of Harry Potter and the kids’ setup to catch Santa laying the presents, reminded me of Home Alone.  There was a sequence that seemed like a nod to Alice in Wonderland when Kate climbs into Santa’s bag.

It’s interesting how the familiar can still strike a chord as I’ve thrown out the movies that came to mind while watching The Christmas Chronicles.  There’s something about the human spirit we might get to glimpse once in a blue moon in real life that these types of films catch our eye and pull us in for an hour and 44 minutes, call it hope.  Perhaps, it’s simply the magic of Christmas.

Tis the season, and be good to each other.

-J-