A Christmas Story Christmas
“ A Christmas Story Christmas”
To say that I was scared about this sequel is putting it mildly. I was six years old when the original A Christmas Story came out so I don’t remember a holiday season in my life where I didn't at least watch it like 4 or 5 times before Christmas morning. The past 10 years thanks to TBS that number could jump exponentially with their 24 hour loop all day Christmas day. In this time jump movie we meet adult Ralphie still played by Peter Billingsley and his family in their home in Chicago preparing for the arrival of his parents to visit on Christmas.
Ralphie gets a call from his mom that his dad has past and Ralphie’s new mission is to go back home and give his mom the same kind of grand Christmas the old man always seemed to pull off no matter what. If you're watching this hoping that you'll get to see a bunch of those old faces from the first movie well then you're in luck because they are everywhere. They give you all the old jokes a handful of new ones that hit just right. We get to see parts of the town we didn't see in the first movie and all the old favorites too. The story telling and style is a spot on match with the original film and is handled so well in all aspects be it visually and tone wise. There are a few things are missing Melinda Dillon the mom from the original has been replaced by Julie Hagerty and of course we are missing the old man played by Darren McGavin who passed away in 2006. But those are small grips and in the case of the old man passing away it makes for a very important plot twist to the movie that has such a nice tie in with the original movie that it almost makes the two films inseparable from each other now.
Sometimes when these grabs, or in most cases grasps for nostalgia just feel hollow or a money grab. I’m glad to say that in this case things couldn’t be more right. The story is great and heartfelt, we get to see all the faces that we wanted to see and find out just what they are doing now and we get a great holiday story that is more of an extension of the original than a sequel. Its funny how this movie with us all original fans being older now too like Ralphie we are all experiencing Christmas from the adult side of things now and watching the wonder in the kids eyes and every now and then you have one of those magic Holiday seasons that you remember the rest of your life happens. Sometimes you’re young when they happen or you get to make one happen for your own kids later in life. If you love the original then I highly recommend you watch this one this holiday season it can currently be streamed on HBO Max
*This movie review was originally published in The Current River Observer as the River Reels article written by Jeffrey Riggs
