| The Christmas Chronicles 2 | |
| Director: | Chris Columbus |
| Music: | Christophe Beck |
| Cinematography: | Don Burgess |
| Editing: | Dan Zimmerman |
| Distributor: | Netflix |
| Runtime: | 115 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Christmas Chronicles 2 (titled onscreen as The Christmas Chronicles Part Two) is a 2020 American Christmas comedy film directed and produced by Chris Columbus, who wrote the screenplay with Matt Lieberman. A sequel to the 2018 film The Christmas Chronicles, it features Kurt Russell reprising his role as Santa Claus.[1] Also reprising their roles are Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Judah Lewis, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, with new cast members Julian Dennison, Jahzir Bruno, Tyrese Gibson, Sunny Suljic, Darlene Love, and Malcolm McDowell.[2] The film had a limited theatrical release before moving to Netflix on November 25, 2020.
Two years after the events of the first film, Kate Pierce is a cynical 13 year old, unhappy about spending Christmas in Cancún, Mexico with her mother Claire, her brother Teddy, Claire's new boyfriend Bob Booker, and his son Jack. Wanting to be back home where it is snowing, Kate tries to secretly fly back early to Boston. Unbeknownst to her and their stowaway Jack, the shuttle is driven by Belsnickel, a nefarious Christmas elf, who sends them unepectedly through a wormhole to the North Pole.
Kate and Jack are found and saved by Santa Claus, who brings them back to his and Mrs. Claus's house. The Clauses give them a grand tour of their village, then dinner. Jack and Kate go to bed as Belsnickel and his follower Speck attempt to destroy the village.
Mrs. Claus tells the kids the origin story of Santa in Turkey, how he saved the elves from extinction, and received the Star of Bethlehem, a magical artifact that stops time in and provides power to Santa's Village. The Clauses adopted Belsnickel, but as he grew up and they had less time for him, he became unruly, transforming him into a human as a curse, so he ran away.
Belsnickel releases the yule cat Jola into the reindeer pen, injuring Dasher. He then releases a potion into the village that makes the elves go insane and steals the Star of Bethlehem from the top of the Christmas tree.
Santa and the others confront Belsnickel. The two struggle over the star, and it is accidentally destroyed, causing the power to go out in the village. So Santa and Kate leave for Turkey to get the forest elves, led by Hakan, to build a new one.
The maddened elves start a snowball fight that allows Jack to escape. He leaves to get a root to cure them while Mrs. Claus stays behind to heal Dasher. Meanwhile, Kate and Santa successfully find the elves and Hakan who give them a casing for a new star and Santa captures the power of the Star of Bethlehem inside it.
While flying back to the village, Belsnickel catches up to them on a sleigh pulled by jackalotes (a hybrid of a jackal and a coyote which he created). He steals the star to stop himself from aging until he can figure out how to replace Santa, and transports them back to 1990 Boston via a time-travel device he planted on Santa's sleigh.
Jack finds the root and brings it back to Mrs Claus. Kate attempts to buy AAA batteries for Belsnickel's time travel device at Boston airport so she and Santa can return to the future. However, she is detained by airport security as the bill has the modern redesign so seems counterfeit.
Kate is taken to a locked lost kids security room. When she laments about her wrongdoings in Cancun, another kid named Doug Pierce comforts her and helps her escape. After Kate joins Santa, she realizes Doug is her late father. With help from airport worker Grace, Santa gets everybody singing a Christmas song so the weather clears. With Christmas spirit high enough for the sleigh to fly, he puts in the batteries and they transport back and recover the star.
Mrs. Claus makes the root into a powder, which Jack manages to load into the snow cannons. He shoots it onto the elves, curing them. Santa and Kate race back to the village evading Belsnickel as he chases them.
Mrs. Claus throws an explosive gingerbread cookie between the sleighs before they can collide in a game of chicken. Dasher recovers and assists Santa in defeating Jola, who is hurled out of the village. Kate places the star on top of the tree, restoring power to the village. Santa gives Belsnickel the first toy that they built together, they reconcile and he is transformed back into an elf.
Santa flies Kate and Jack back to Cancún where they tell an excited Teddy about their adventure. Kate also becomes more accepting of Bob. At the end, Kate, her Mom, and Teddy, along with Bob and Jack sing "O' Christmas Tree" as Santa, Mrs. Claus, Belsnickel, and everyone in the North Pole also sing it.
On May 14, 2020, a sequel titled The Christmas Chronicles 2 was announced to have begun post-production.[3] Original director Clay Kaytis, who served as executive producer for the sequel, dropped out and was replaced by Chris Columbus, who produced the first film.
Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Judah Lewis were all confirmed to reprise their roles, while Julian Dennison and Jahzir Bruno joined the cast for the sequel.[4]
The film was streamed on Netflix on November 25, 2020. The film also played in three cities (at about 32 Cinemark theaters) the week prior to its digital release, the first time Netflix allowed one of its films to be played in a chain theater.[5]
The film was the most-watched item on the site in its debut weekend.[6] Netflix later reported the film was watched by 61 million households over its first month.[7]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: "While it's missing some of the magic of the original, The Christmas Chronicles 2 serves up a sweet second helping of holiday cheer that makes the most of its marvelously matched leads."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[9]