When last we left The Pierce Family, teenage Teddy (Judah Lewis, The Babysitter) had given up on stealing cars thanks to his true believer little sister Kate (Darby Camp, Big Little Lies) and Kurt Russell’s (Deathproof) Santa Claus. Two years later, quite a bit has changed. The kids’ widowed mom, played by the ageless Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Father of the Bride), has met someone. New beau, Bob (Tyrese Gibson, of Furious 7, doing his darnedest to play against type as the dorky potential stepdad,) and his ten-year-old son, Jack (newcomer Jazhir Bruno) are in the picture. Teddy is more interested in girls than cars. And, instead of snowy Massachusetts, the family is in Cancun. That part, along with worries that her mother is forgetting their late father, is what has the now-teenaged Kate in Scrooge-y mood.
Little does Kate know but that makes her the unwitting target/accomplice of a renegade elf. Magically-turned-human due to his resentment of them leading him to break elf law, Belsnickel (Julian Dennison, Deadpool 2) has been making robots in a frozen cave, allying with the huge and reindeer-hungry “Yule Cat,” and plotting to steal The Christmas Star so as to leave Santa’s Village powerless to perpetuate Christmas.
The elves play an important part in the story this time around. The animation of the Mogwai-like small folk has improved, as has their characterization. Their society and culture get fleshed out. Even Belsnickel gets some sympathetic light when we see how ancient humans treated the elves.
All in all, the formula is there. It comes off similar to the first one … reminiscent of a TV special from the past. But it seems a little … it should be more. It was written and directed by holiday film royalty (Chris Columbus) wasn’t it?
Our start is rough. We don’t know who or what Belsnickel is. Kate comes off cringey (if not outright crude) in her tweenage angst towards Bob and Claire. We forget about this seemingly central tension once we’re at the North Pole. Even a trip back to 1990 seems like an out-of-order checked box to straighten Kate out. There’s more “tell” that could have been “show” than I would have liked regarding the infrastructure of Santa’s Village (that I don’t recall anyone asking about in the first place.)
Christmas Chronicles 2 is what it is supposed to be: A sequel in a franchise meant for the entire family. Kurt Russell always delivers. The right people are involved. There is no reason to think we won’t get a Christmas Chronicles 3 and beyond. This holiday, watching a double feature can continue a tradition or, at least, continue building the world of the Pierces and the Clauses.
