Hi everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
Here's hoping everyone had a very merry Christmas!
I know this Christmas entry is a few days late, but I was just so busy the last week or so that I simply didn't have time to upload this before now, and it was such a neat movie I didn't want to wait until next year to look at it.
For this one, we'll again be turning to Netflix, for a brand- new movie they created called 'The Christmas Chronicles.' So, take a comfy seat, pour yourself the last dregs of eggnog or cocoa, and let's get started!
SPOILER WARNING! There aren't a lot of major spoilers in this movie, but there are a couple up ahead.
This movie centers around the Pierce family. They were a loving, tight- knit family of four who always had great Christmases. However, their closeness was shattered shortly after Christmas 2017 when the father was killed in the line of duty as a fireman. Ever since then, his kids Teddy and Katie have become more estranged from each other, Teddy has become a juvenile delinquent, and their mother (Kimberly Williams- Paisley, an actress I've always enjoyed seeing ever since her role in the awesome and underrated 2000 TV miniseries 'The 10th Kingdom') is increasingly stressed out dealing with both their friction and working long hours at her own job at the hospital.
On Christmas Eve, as the mom is forced to work a night shift, Katie blackmails Teddy (She had recorded him and his thug buddies stealing a car earlier, further evidence of how desperately Teddy needs to make some changes in his life before it's too late) into helping her stay up in order to catch Santa Claus in the act. The siblings end up getting more than they bargained for, winding up unwittingly stowing away in the back of Santa's (Played by Kurt Russell, of all people) sleigh, and when he is startled to discover them there, he ends up losing control of his sleigh and crashing it.
Worse, he loses his reindeer, his hat (Which apparently enables him to fly even if he's not in his sleigh), and his bag of presents in the process. As a result, they are stranded in Chicago, far from where the kids live.
Santa then explains to the kids that, if they can't get all Santa's missing stuff together, get his sleigh fixed, and get all the gifts delivered in time, there'll be a LOT more at stake than just some kids having a crummier Christmas than they would have otherwise.
See, Santa making his rounds and not missing anyone is what keeps the world's Christmas Spirit level high, and the lower it drops, the more meanness, cruelty, selfishness, and unhappiness begin to take hold on humanity. He points out that the last time he missed a Christmas, the resulting plummet in Christmas cheer and goodwill led to the start of the Dark Ages. We soon see it's already beginning to happen, as we see an abnormally high (Even for Chicago) number of people committing crimes and being arrested.
This then leads to Santa and the kids having to do what they can to get Christmas back on track, but hitting plenty of bumps along the way; After failing to get a car to help find what they need, Santa and Teddy resort to hotwiring a car (In their defense, the car was already stolen, and they intended on turning it in to the police as soon as they were done with it) with Santa eventually getting arrested for it, Teddy attempts to get the bag of presents back but in the process is abducted by a vicious gang, and Kate recovers the reindeer but then soon afterwards finds herself warped to the North Pole and having to explain the situation to the Elves in the hopes that they'll be able to fix the damaged sleigh.
It all leads to a thrilling climax, Teddy getting set straight, and being given a gift that warms his heart and restores the close bond that the family once had.
Having never seen it before, I really enjoyed 'Christmas Chronicles.' The performances were solid, the story had plenty of heart and humor, and it really put me in the Christmas mood.
Kurt Russell made for a MUCH better Santa Claus than you might imagine. He's certainly a departure from the traditional views of St. Nick: He's replaced his traditional red suit for a fur- lined red leather jacket, he adamantly refuses to say "Ho, ho, ho," and is hilariously incensed at all the portrayals of him as a jolly fat man in advertisements and the like (As he puts it at one point, "Billboards add eighty pounds."). He also clearly doesn't have much trouble with breaking a few rules when absolutely necessary, such as his aforementioned hotwiring of a car and leading police on a chase through the streets of Chicago at one point. Yet, he is still as happy, good- natured, and sociable as he's always been portrayed. One element of his personality he displays that most portrayals of Santa miss is that he has an amazing memory of what specific adults were like as kids. He has the charming (Though it gets him and the kids into some trouble at times) trait of greeting adults and talking to them about what they were like as kids and some of their wishes from those days and how things have gone since then. His demeanor in those cases is like that of an old friend eager to catch up with people he hasn't seen in years.
This movie's version of Santa still has the same care for others, sense of joy, and desire to spread the Christmas spirit all around him that he's always possessed. When he's arrested, he convinces the police officer interrogating him to get back in touch with his estranged wife (It starts in a surprisingly quite moving way, as the officer is understandably skeptical and says to him, "Alright then: If you're Santa, then you must know this: What would I most like to have for Christmas?" Santa wipes the smile off his face by responding, simply, "Lisa"), who has apparently had second thoughts about leaving him. Then, in one of the movie's highlights, when put into a holding cell, he helps bring Christmas spirit even into that dismal environment by leading the other people locked up there in a rousing Christmas rock/ blues medley.
The Elves provided for a lot of good laughs as well. They sort of reminded me of a cross between Minions and Furbies. A particularly enjoyable scene is when Teddy is about to be killed by the gang that abducted him before being rescued by the Elves, who proceed to clobber those jerks in hilarious and highly satisfying ways.
The other supporting characters are very good, too. Teddy is a kid who acts the way he does largely out of anger over his father's death (As he puts it at one point, "He had a wife and kids, and he gave it up just to save some random strangers."), as well as shame over how disappointed he knows his father would be in him. Katie just wants the kind of close relationship with her brother that they used to have. The mother largely just wants her family to have the sorts of peace and harmony they had when the dad was alive. One of the only issues I had with this movie was that the mother was a bit underused, they could have shown more of her. Seeing each of those characters ultimately get their Christmas wish is extremely satisfying.
The visual effects are extremely good. A couple real highlights are seeing Santa blast from house to house as a flash of red mist, and traveling through the wormhole between nations. Santa's reindeer are also brought to life through VERY convincing CGI.
There is a lot of clever humor too, such as sly nods to other Netflix shows (i.e. a restaurant valet is at one point seen distracted by watching 'Stranger Things' on his tablet). There is also a cameo by Mrs. Claus at the very end of the film, and the actress they chose to play her was a VERY clever and appropriate choice, especially considering who they had playing Santa.
So, all in all, 'The Christmas Chronicles' makes quite a good addition to the library of Christmas films destined to become classics.
I found a couple excellent Scriptural messages that can be taken from 'The Christmas Chronicles.'
One of the first is that, much like when I talked about 'Santa Claus is Comin' to Town' last year, the Santa in this movie can similarly be seen as an allegory for Jesus. We see Santa in 'The Christmas Chronicles' acting as a major force for reconciliation in this world, between his aforementioned help reconciling the police officer with his wife, and gradually helping the Pierce family reconcile with each other. Jesus, of course, was all about reconciliation, as the whole reason why He came down to Earth was so that sinful mankind could be reconciled with God. Romans 5:10 observes that "For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"
Furthermore, Jesus also encouraged people to reconcile with each other. In Matthew 5:23- 24, he tells people that if they are in the temple, about to present a gift or offering at the altar and remember that they have an issue with someone, they should leave that gift at the altar and immediately go to find that person and reconcile with them, THEN return to the temple and present their offering. In other words, Jesus does NOT want people to let grudges linger, but for people to resolve things and reconcile with those they may have had issues with.
Also, this version of Santa, while as friendly and good- natured as ever, still manages to encourage people to keep on the straight and narrow. He helps Teddy get out of his delinquency phase by holding up a surly bartender/ career criminal they come across as a cautionary example of what Teddy's future could look like if he stays on his current path. He also, after being freed from jail by the Elves, turns to the other prisoners (The ones he had been leading in the aforementioned musical revue earlier) and tells them to "Try to be good." This immediately called to mind Jesus in John 8:11, as, after He saved the woman caught in adultery from being stoned to death by the hypocritical Pharisees, He told her, "Go and sin no more." While God's grace through Jesus's death and resurrection covers all of our sins and grants forgiveness to those who trust in Him, and while we will stumble from time to time, that doesn't mean we should go on willfully sinning left and right. We need to try as hard as we can to pursue righteousness and avoid sin, to keep on the right path with God and set a good example for others to follow.
Another Scriptural message I found in 'The Christmas Chronicles' concerns the issue of Christmas spirit dropping to low levels and having a negative impact on people's hearts. As Santa puts it at one point, "People need the Christmas spirit to remind them of how good they can be." I'd say this can make an obvious comparison to the Holy Spirit, which works on the hearts of people and helps them, as well, realize how much better they can become if they listen to the voice of God and follow His guidance. When people stop trusting in the Lord, and stop following the leadings of the Holy Spirit, that can lead to all manner of evil coming into the world and growing stronger every day. As it says in Romans 2:5-6, "Those who live according to the flesh have their mind set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." Like the Christmas spirit in the film, the Holy Spirit provides people with hope and inspiration to live the way they should and make a positive impact on God's Kingdom around them.
Living according to the example of Christ and the leadings of the Holy Spirit can help us all better serve the Lord and keep the Christmas spirit in us year- round.
Well, that's all for now. Here's wishing everyone a happy New Year! Stay tuned, my Top Ten Favorite Movie Characters of 2018 list will be up in a few weeks. Until then, God bless you all!
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