User reviews

Not as good as the first.. but come on..Kurt Russell is the best Santa in forever lol!! And Goldie as Mrs. Clause!! Number 3??? Yes PLEASE!!

II thought it was worth watching. Kurt Russell is so enjoyable to watch in these movies. Just some Christmas fun.

2018 - "Hey, let's do a movie about Santa being stuck on earth on Christmas and he needs this dysfunctional family's help to get the presents delivered!"

2020 - "Hey, let's do another Santa movie, except this time let's take out everything that made it work the first time, throw in a ton of questionable CGI in every freakin' shot and let's gear it toward little kids . . and THEN, let's litter the entire movie with subtitles THAT THEY CAN'T READ!! That oughta work, right??"

Total mess . . it's like a horribly animated CGI version of Gremlins, written and directed by the guy who wrote . . . (wait for it . . ) GREMLINS!!!!

Way to go, one-trick-pony . . .

This movie was very enjoyable and a nice successor to the first movie. Kurt Russell always fits his role of playing Santa Clause.

The villain is OK. Kurt and Goldie are the standouts in the movie. Still a lot of fun and a enjoyable sequel. The elves were funny as well. Definitely worth a look.

Tim Treakle

Christmas Chronicles 2 is not as good as the first, but still enjoyable with the family.

Oh dear. The first CC was charming, funny, and fun. This one isn't. It's total hokum, with some of the worst acting, scripting and direction I've seen in a long time. And possibly the lamest bad guy any movie has ever had. Ever. Seriously, he's completely pointless. And everything else... well you get the idea.

Is this movie predictable? Yes! Does it have more plot and logic holes in the script that you can count (and I'm assuming you can count well by the way)? You betcha! But can it also still be fun? Yes. The time thing alone is quite nonsensical and who the bad guy in this movie is, is also quite ... well not good! No pun intended obviously.

All that aside, Kurt Russell and his wife (in the real world and in the movie) have as much fun as you can have making a movie and it really translates onto the screen. Which if you're not too cynical will warm your heart too. Of course watching it around the holidays is best, but you can watch it whenever to get into the "Christmas spirit" ... you don't even have to believe in it, to enjoy the movie. Just go with the flow and ... the song and dance at one point at least

Really liked the original but struggled through this one.

Goldie and Kurt make a great team on screen and off. This movie felt like Christmas, I loved watching this movie with my family. So cute.

Nice Christmas movie with some heart. Decent visual effects too :-)

I like the first movie, but The Christmas Chronicles 2 seems like a slapped-together sequel. The writing is lazy and tries to cram in as much exposition as possible in every line to hurry the muddled story along. The characters don't talk or react like normal people would. The villain is also very weak. I'm not quite sure why they cast Julian Dennison as Belsnickel. There is some magic in The Christmas Chronicles 2, but I expected more from Chris Columbus.

I really like this Christmas adventure. The themes of love and family are very strong in this film, but this does not feel preachy. I enjoyed it.

It's a different kind of movie, it's no longer about believing in Santa, but it's about the Northport and Santa's village. The story felt a bit weird and rushed sometimes. But I loved it simply because of the elves and the Christmas spirit. It's a children's movie...it's beautifully made, Santa's village was beautiful and the cast was awesome. People shouldn't go so rough on this movie...

I really don't understand all the bad reviews. Really fun family movie with great colourful effects and a nice story. Me and my kids aged 9 and 14 all enjoyed this.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first movie I was slightly disappointed with the latest film. While I love Kurt Russel as Santa, the performance from Julian Dennison as Belsnickel was pretty awful. Terrible casting and a completely unbelievable performance left me cringing every time he spoke. The role was definitely miscast and the movie suffered as a result. Beyond that I enjoyed the plot and found it light hearted and entertaining. It will be on my list of movies to watch each Christmas.

When I found out that they put out a part two of "The Christmas Chronicles", I must admit that I was rather looking forward to watching it as the 2018 movie was rather spectacular, and a much needed addition to the holiday movie genre.

Alas, "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two", while it is entertaining and watchable, does suffer from being a sequel. This 2020 movie from writers Matt Lieberman, Chris Columbus and David Guggenheim just didn't have the same punch or adrenaline, nor the same wholesome family feel, that the 2018 movie had. Now, don't get me wrong here, because "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two" is definitely an entertaining and enjoyable Christmas movie, no doubt about it. It just didn't stand out as being full up to scale with its predecessor.

The storyline was good, although lacking the spark that drove the 2018 movie. What the storyline in "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two" suffered from was that it was being a bit too generic and it seemed like director Chris Columbus was just playing it way too safe and settling on a formula that have already been used and used again in Christmas movies year after year.

It should be said, though, that actor Kurt Russell is so well-cast for the role of Santa Claus for these movies. He has that special charisma and appearance that just makes it work so well, plus he is just outstanding in that role and costume. It was nice to see Goldie Hawn appear in the movie, though it was hard to remove focus from that stiff upper lip she has now. Actress Darby Camp and actor Jahzir Bruno, playing Kate and Jack respectively, also performed very well in the movie, clearly enjoying what they were doing in the movie. It was nice to hear the iconic voice of Malcolm McDowell make an appearance as well.

"The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two" is definitely a watchable movie, albeit it is a sequel after all, for better or worse.

My rating of "The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two" lands on a six out of ten stars. Well-worth sitting down to watch, especially if you have already seen the first movie, and if you have children at your side as well, because the movie appeals to viewers of all ages.

I rewatched the first film right after finishing this, because I had forgotten what I even liked to begin with that was missing here... turns out it was a lot. Firstly, the main character is gone, Teddy (Judah Lewis)... but he's the lucky one because those who are present are all only half-there. There's no family thread, except one that gets sloppily bookended to the beginning and end with the care of a 90's sitcom (essentially a Full House subplot quality, teen girl temper tantrum). The first film they were dealing with a recent death, a cynical world, the son slipping into a realistic life of crime. Where do we start out here? On vacation??? Yes, their first world problem is that Kate (Darby Camp) is upset her mom is dating an awesome guy. I say problem, but this isn't really dealt with as she immediately gets away from the entire cast of her family to have a separate adventure hanging out with Santa (Kurt Russell) and wife (Goldie Hawn) in a bland mess of cliches that only a very young child will like (it does have bright colors flashing).

The rest of the film is a sloppy CGI romp through the North Pole, feeling much like the mess of Santa Clause 2 & 3, super villain and all. We're told the title Christmas Chronicles is no longer their video camera footage (as video camera films are no longer popular) but a series of novels (no doubt to establish a possible franchise and bunch of sequels). The film isn't set in a realistic nowadays world, but 100% in a fantasy, so essentially a totally different type a film and NOT a continuation of the first film. This would be like Christmas Vacation being set entirely in Clark Griswald's sex dream and acting like it's a sequel. It makes no sense. The elves are more like Gremlins (thank you Chris Columbus, just make Gremlins 3 already) than the edgy but sweet creatures from the first, with a goofy drug Elf-bane explanation of why they are snarling.

A bland villain pulls the plot along screaming all the way, instead of the protagonists (which should lead it). Their only motivation is to stop the bad guy, whose motivation is to stop the good guy. That's it. Spy vs spy. That's the movie. Absent are the bystander characters that made the first film fun, the cops, the waitress at the restaurant, the guy who stole the car first, the people in jail. We don't get any characters to really see their transformation due to their seeing Santa is real, ya know the magic of the first film. Santa is still cool, but without his sarcastic edge, snappy lines. In short, the fun is totally gone. It's got 10x the effects and none of the heart or story-building that made the original worth watching over and over. Terrible. Absolutely inexcusable. Watch the first one, ignore this one & future sequels.

Not as good as the first with the feeling of Christmas however, on its own its a great Christmas movie. The mum is the worst mum twice so thats good for consistency.

This movie was just flat out AWFUL. The CGI makes it look like an early 2000's movie and the plot is stupid. The first movie was amazing but this?! Yeah I would rather watch paint dry than this. Sorry but it's a HARD PASS.

I think people are thinking too much into the first film. This is a great family Christmas film. Kurt Russel has done it again with playing an outstanding role of Santa Claus.

....is that they are made by people who are too old to be the film's demographic, but too young to realise it.

My younger children thoroughly enjoyed it, its a solid 6/10. Is it better than the first film? No. Would anyone expect it to be? No.

A standard sequel. Remember the target audience.

This movie is pretty lame... no believable writing or characters. The actor who plays Belsnickel plays literally the EXACT same role he did in a Deadpool 2: a jealous and spiteful New Zealander who tries to get revenge on the person he once loved.

The first movie had character development... in this sequel, they're just lifeless actors spouting off lines.