The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two (2020)

Film and Plot Synopsis

Two years after the events of The Christmas Chronicles, Kate Pierce is now a cynical teenager who is being forced to spend Christmas in Cancun, Mexico with her family and her mother’s new boyfriend, Bob. After she decides to run away to Boston, she and Bob’s son Jack are whisked away to the North Pole by an evil elf named Belsnickel who plans to steal the source of Santa’s power. Now, Kate will rejoin forces with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus in a fight to save Christmas.

‘The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two’ Movie Summary

It has been two years since the events of the last film. Kate Pierce (Darby Camp) is now a pre-teen who is upset that her mother, Claire (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), is now involved with a new boyfriend named Bob (Tyrese Gibson). To make matters worse, Claire and Bob have taken Kate, her older brother Teddy (Judah Lewis), and Bob’s son Jack (Jahzir Bruno) to Cancun, Mexico for Christmas. Kate does not believe that the tropics are an appropriate place to celebrate Christmas and wishes to be back home where it is snowing and feels like a real Christmas. Kate plans to run away and return to Boston on an early flight. Unfortunately, Jack joins her on the shuttle believing that they are going to do something together. Both Kate and Jack are unexpectedly transported to the North Pole by the driver of the shuttle, Belsnickel (Julian Dennison), a nefarious Christmas elf that has been cursed with a human body.

Kate and Jack find themselves stranded at the North Pole and nearly freeze to death until Santa Claus (Kurt Russell) saves them both and brings them back to his village. Mrs. Claus (Goldie Hawn) whips up a concoction that warms them. The Clauses give the kids a grand tour of their village and show them how the entire toy making process works. The Clauses invite the kids to stay for dinner before Santa must return them back to their parents. Meanwhile, Belsnickel, who snuck in on Santa’s sleigh, begins to make plans to destroy the village with the assistance of his elf follower Speck (Debi Derryberry).

Kate and Jack stay the night. Mrs. Claus tells the kids the origin story of Santa in Turkey and how he saved the elves from extinction. She also tells them the story of how they adopted Belsnickel, one of the most talented, but arrogant elves. As Belsnickel grew older, the Clauses had less time for him. The elf became naughty and broke all the rules of the elf code, resulting in him being cursed to take human form. In a panic, Belsnickel flees from the North Pole before the Clauses can help him. Belsnickel has not been seen by anyone since.

Meanwhile, Belsnickel releases a yule cat named Jola into the reindeer pen. The large cat injures Dasher and severely limits Santa’s ability to deliver presents. At the same time, Belsnickel releases a potion into the village that causes the elves to go insane. While Santa, Mrs. Claus, Kate and Jack are distracted, Belsnickel steals the star on top of the Christmas tree. Belsnickel plans to set up his own toy making village in the South Pole with the star’s power. Santa and the others confront him, and Santa and Belsnickel struggle over the star until it is destroyed. Once the star is destroyed, the power goes out in Santa’s village. Belsnickel disappears again and the crazy elves begin a snowball fight with Santa’s group.

Santa formulates a plan to restore power. He and Kate leave for Turkey in order acquire a new star from the leader of the forest elves, Hakan (Malcolm McDowell). Neither Santa nor Kate are aware that Belsnickel has secretly hitched a ride on the rail of Santa’s sleigh. Kate and Santa find the elves who build a casing for a new star, and Santa captures the power of the Star of Bethlehem inside it. At the same time, Mrs. Claus tries to heal Dasher with the help of Jack. Mrs. Claus sends Jack to get a root to cure the crazed elves. Jack overcomes his fear and brings the root back to Mrs. Claus.

Santa begins his flight back to his village with the new star. Belsnickel catches up to them on his own sleigh and steals the star. He uses his power to transport Kate and Santa back to Christmas Eve in 1990 Boston. Santa and Kate look for away to return to their time. Kate discovers that Belsnickel’s device, which she and Santa have, needs AAA batteries for them to travel back to 2020. However, she and Santa are stranded at the Boston airport. While Kate acquires the batteries, Santa tries to raise Christmas spirit by leading the airport occupants in a Christmas song with the help of a worker named Grace (Darlene Love). Kate is unable to purchase the batteries due to having 2020 money and ends up getting arrested by airport security. While she is detained, she meets another kid (Sunny Suljic) who helps her bust out of the detention. Later, Kate learns that the boy is her teenage father. As the weather clears up and Christmas spirit high, Santa and Kate use Belsnickel’s device to return to 2020, where they recover the star from the nasty elf.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Claus makes the root into a powder. Jack takes the powder and fights his way to the snow cannons where he shoots it onto the elves, curing them. Santa and Kate arrive back at the village with Belsnickel in hot pursuit. Santa and Belsnickel begin driving their mutual sleighs at each other in a holiday game of chicken. Mrs. Claus throws an explosive gingerbread cookie in between the sleighs before they collide. At the same time, Dasher recovers and assists Santa in defeating Jola. All the while, Kate climbs the large village Christmas tree to place the new star on top, restoring power to the village.

Belsnickel is defeated, but vows to return to finish his objective. Before he leaves, Mrs. Claus and Santa give him the first toy that they built together. The overwhelming wave of emotion and holiday spirit causes Belsnickel to revert to his original elf form. The former evil elf rejoins Santa and Mrs. Claus. Santa then flies Kate and Jack back to Cancun to rejoin their parents. Kate tells her brother about their adventure in the North Pole. Kate also chooses to accept Bob as her mother’s boyfriend. In the final scene, Kate leads her family, including Bob and Jack, in singing “O Christmas Tree”, her father’s favorite Christmas carol.

Additional Film Information

• The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two official website
• Peruse IMDb’s article on The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two
• Learn more The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two information at Wikipedia
• Find out what people think about The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two at Metacritic
• Read The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two reviews from the folks at Rotten Tomatoes