The Christmas Chronicles 2 Review

"The Christmas Chronicles 2" is a lot of movie. There are violent elves, time travel, broken families, and still it finds time for a musical number (no doubt the best part of the entire picture).

Again we follow Kurt Russell's suave, silver-foxed portrayal of Santa, as his path crosses with a young girl Kate, played by Darby Camp, for some sappy Hallmark holiday magic, only for ex-elf Belsnickel (Julian Dennison) to crash the party to steal Christmas. The confused narrative doesn't stay in one place long enough for any of the dramatic moments to have any heft, but hey, its yuletide spirit remains consistent, and wears you down until you're won over by its kitschy charm.

To go into detail of the plot would be a disservice to its manic charisma, but in short, its up to Santa to win back Christmas AND get Kate and her other stowaway Jack, played by Jahzir Bruno, her soon-to-be half-brother, or so she fears at least. It's a shame their roles aren't occupied by more convincing kid actors, as they entertain most of the runtime, and by the end you're kind of sick of their saccharine performances. It doesn't help that their personalities are defined by what adults think children are like (she misses her dad and he's a worry-wart), but it's times like this that you pine for someone like Mara Wilson, star of director Chris Columbus' own "Mrs. Doubtfire," among others, who's natural screen presence could meld any ponderous script into believable gold. 

Talent like hers is missed, as the child acting here feels like they're auditioning for a commercial- smiling after every line delivery. Even the villain is oddly static, a credible threat not onscreen but only because the script demands he be. Hell, even the CGI monstrosities that are elves are more pleasing to the eye (and there are like a million of them).

That represents the other major issue with the picture, the visuals. While they have a sort of studio-backlot glamour to them, something you might find in a mall around December (well, maybe not this year), there's a gloomy dampness to every shot, a sort of artificial darkness that distracts from the whimsy that these scenes should invoke. This overreliance on computer-generated effects is glaring, from the sleigh riding to Santa's Workshop (or was that "Mrs. Santa's Workshop" now?); it's obvious where the real set ends and where the computers take over. Even the snow looks fake- it's 2020 and we still can't get snow to look real in the movies?!

I dunno. There's a lot going on at any one time that it'll surely hold the attention of the millions of Netflix-subscribing tykes. And the parents? Well, they're just be happy with the peace and quiet.

As for the film itself, none of these musing matter, because towering above all the inadequacies is the great Kurt Russell as Saint Nicholas himself, and the irresistible Goldie Hawn, as who else but Mrs. Claus. They were born to play these roles, and fill the screen with a chemistry that only almost forty years of dating can create. Your eyes can't leave their toothy smiles and huge personalities, a wonderful duo clearly having so much fun that it forces you to join in on the joy. Would the inevitable "Christmas Chronicles 3" benefit from tighter dialogue and a more cohesive plot? Of course! But only if these two return. In the meantime, number 2 ain't so bad.