Film Review: The Christmas Chronicles (2018)
The Christmas Chronicles (2018) is a family Christmas film distributed by Netflix, one of several they have released this year alone. Kurt Russell leads this film as Santa Claus as a meeting with a brother and sister on the night of Christmas leads to a journey to save Christmas, as well as a mission to save their family.
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The Christmas Chronicles (2018) – source: Netflix |
Netflix have already released at least three Christmas films this year, with the sequel to A Christmas Prince as well as The Princess Switch being released. I reviewed The Princess Switch last week and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be, which isn’t a bad thing per say but isn’t good either. Netflix aren’t known to make the best quality films either, with myself disliking a lot of the original films brought there. I am yet to see Roma but I know that will be the best thing Netflix will have produced in terms of feature films for years.
This suggests to me that Netflix is slowing turning into making the modern day “made-for-TV” budget films. The stuff that you basically expect to see your mother watching at 12pm in the middle of the week, with the same old formula and story repeated and repackaged several times. The Princess Switch certainly felt like that, and nothing says “made-for-TV” more than cheesy Christmas movies focusing on the same formula of love and defeating the evil of the “non-believer”. I was hoping that The Christmas Chronicles would be the exception to that rule, not following the formula of a romantic love and having Kurt Russell star as Santa.
Yes, this may be a soft and cheesy Christmas film, but it certainly isn’t a film “made-for-TV”. This seems to go back to the times of The Santa Clause, where the studios take the idea of Santa and have some fun with the character. Russell is incredibly fun and enjoyable to watch as the character, and it was especially nice to see a refreshing take on the legend.
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The Christmas Chronicles (2018) – source: Netflix |
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The Christmas Chronicles (2018) – source: Netflix |
There does seem to be a lack of great Christmas films being released in the past few years, with the only great one that has been out recently is Arthur Christmas. I feel like this is a great choice for a modern Christmas film for the entire family to sit down and enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey we were taken on from this film, and it would certainly be my pick for the best Christmas film that Netflix has to offer this year.
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