The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Might be good, not sure. This is one of those films that punish you for having bought an HDR TV. I'm not sure what's going on here, because someone decided to turn down the brightness to 20%. It's possible there's a good movie here, and I do love Kurt Russell, but unfortunately I was unable to watch it, because on a 4k OLED HDR TV, this was just a dark gray mass of pixels moving around.

Pretty standard fare mostly. Dad died, son going off the rails, daughter still believes, let’s haul Santa in to help. (Which he does by letting them help him.) I found myself poking holes in the plot, which is a silly thing to do anyway in a Christmas fantasy film, such as If Santa can make presents magically appear in the jail, why can’t he get himself out of the jail without help? But the writers have the last laugh, when it turns out that this all seems to be a test for the kids. Or something. Okay, Kurt Russell isn’t your typical Santa, but he is the movie version I would most want to hang out with. It is all a little predictable and silly in the way Christmas movies are, but there are worse ways to spend your time. Like shoveling snow!

Fun film, perfectly suitable for the festive period. I do enjoy Kurt Russell, I like most of the films that I've seen him in and this is another one to add to the list. He's great in the lead role, very much carrying the film. The other actors could've been better cast, but are still passable in their respective roles. There are also cameos for Goldie Hawn and Steven Van Zandt. The special effects are pleasant, the reindeer look alright but it's the elves that look the best. Plot-wise it's fine, nothing to shout about but it still makes for more than satisfactory viewing - they get the Xmas vibe right. There's only one scene I didn't rate, it involves a jail, yet it still kinda worked - in a cheesy way, of course. Without Russell I'd be rating 'The Christmas Chronicles' lower, admittedly. Still, an enjoyable film.

Decent watch at best, probably won't watch again, and can't recommend. Perhaps it's just that I don't like Kurt Russell and him injecting all his "Russellness" into Santa Claus ruins the magic of the character for me, but I really feel this portrayal of Santa Claus is lacking and borderline inappropriate. While the over all story structure and script are fine, there are just odd choices throughout the movie, particularly for the degree of life threatening risk in the adversity. I also hate the elves, they're basically furry smurfs. The really impressive thing is that Darby Camp can carry a movie. Despite everything happening, she is on it, mostly as a wide-eyed, dream filled kid, but she adds the charm of childhood spirit the movie requires.