The Heat is On

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Director: Mark Molloy

Cast: Eddie Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Taylor Paige, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Kevin Bacon

Released: July 3, 2024

Viewed: July 3, 2024

It just happened to be pure coincidence that I had recently watched and reviewed the first three Beverly Hills Cop movies; I had no idea there was a fourth one coming to Netflix, but since I had watched the first movie, the trailer for the new one popped up and that's how I found out about it. By the time I had watched all the previous films, I was ready to watch this one and I caught all (well, most of) the shout-outs and nods of the previous films (well, the first two, really).

This movie is definitely going for the nostalgia factor for the old school fans. Why, within the first ten minutes you hear not one, but two songs that may sound a little familiar (especially if you just watched the first two films!). The opening scene starts with Axel driving through Detroit as "The Heat Is On" by Glenn Frey is playing on the radio (even though it appears to be winter, so kinda ironic!). If you remember, that's the song that started the very first film. So here's something I never knew: that song was written specifically for Beverly Hills Cop. Talk about a TIL moment! I have always been aware of that song for as long as I can remember, but I had no idea it was specifically written for BHC until I read it just now on Wikipedia. I was wanting to see what year it came out, thinking maybe it was the hot summer song of 1984 or maybe it came out a few years prior. Thinking about it now, it makes sense since "The Heat" is slang for police (I guess it has something to do with the red siren on their cars...IDK). 

About ten minutes later, when Axel and his partner (who's pretty much a nonentity in this as we never see him again after this scene) are chasing bad guys who were robbing the Detroit hockey arena (I guess they were taking rings and trophies, something that must have been of value), "Shakedown" by Bob Seger starts playing and that was payed during the opening scene of Beverly Hills Cop II. Now I knew that song was specifically for that movie as it was nominated for an Oscar. Here's a hot take (maybe, I really don't know if it is or not): I like "Shakedown" more than "The Heat Is On".

We'll also get "The Neutron Dance" by the Pointer Sisters that played early on in the first movie later on in this movie when Axel is getting into some hijinx in Beverly Hills, around Rodeo Drive. A remix of "Hot in the City" plays when he arrives in The Hills, but I can't remember if they played that song in any of the original movies. 

Another way they get the nostalgia factor is bringing back a lot of the characters from the previous movies. Of course we will get Judge Reinhold and John Ashton returning as Rosewood and Taggart (40 years older, but to be fair, everyone is 40 years older than they were in the first movie!), but we also get Paul Reiser returning as Jeffrey Friedman and Bronson Pinchot returning as Serge. Jeffrey is now the Chief and in his office there's a photo of Inspector Todd, the Chief from the first three movies, so that was a nice touch. When Axel and his partner (whose name I don't even remember because it's not that relevant) are chasing the bad guys in a snowplow (very reminiscent to when he and Rosewood are chasing the bad guys in a cement truck in the second movie), the partner calls it into the station and when one of the officers hears it and says "Let me guess...Foley", Jeffrey sticks his head in the room and says "Did you say Foley?" Ha! 

A bunch of cars and city property get damages because Axel can't drive the snow plow (I don't think Axel can drive any vehicle that isn't a car) and Jeffrey is furious. It's not an Axel Foley movie without Detroit or Beverly Hills getting completely destroyed (and BH will soon get its turn!) and the Chief getting angry with Axel. Jeffrey is irked that he himself was screamed at "for 45 minutes straight" by the police commissioner. He tells Axel that he's retiring and basically he won't be there anymore to help get Axel out of his jams because that's apparently what he did in the past. 

Of course, there are new characters too. We find out that Axel has a daughter named Jane (Taylor Paige) who he rarely sees. She works in (or perhaps near) Beverly Hills as a defense attorney and we see a quick shot of her ID card which has her birth year as 1991. This confused me a bit because this would mean that Axel had a young child in Beverly Hills Cop 3 (which came out in 1994) and, of course there is no mention of that because they didn't know they would be making a sequel thirty years later where Axel would have a grown daughter. It's just interesting that's the year they chose as her birth year. We get some backstory that he moved his family out to Beverly Hills when Jane was a kid because it wasn't safe in Detroit because the 12th Street Mafia was out to kill him and his family. He eventually divorced Jane's mother and moved back to Detroit. We never find out who the mother is (nobody we know, presumably) or if she's still around and we never find out the story with this 12th Street Mafia. I honestly don't even think the writers know and didn't really care that much. It certainly sounds like we could use a Beverly Hills Cop 3.5 because there's certainly a movie (or two!) missing from this timeline! 

Because Jane dislikes her father so much, she goes by Jane Saunders instead of Jane Foley. (I'm guessing Saunders is her mom's name.) When we meet her, she is meeting a young man in prison named Sam Enriquez who claims he's been set up to look like he killed a cop but insists he didn't. She tells him she is representing him pro bono and wants to hear his story of what happened. He says that somebody talked him into "muling one time". He was in the passenger seat with Copeland, an undercover cop, and he saw a black SUV trailing them. He tried to call someone, but his phone wouldn't work. The SUV pulled up alongside them and a gun pointed out and shot Copeland. Sam grabbed the wheel and steered them into the SUV, but lost control and hit a pole. The next thing he knew, he was waking up with the gun in his lap next to a dead body. 

Jane is suspicious of Copeland and thinks he's a dirty cop. At the court hearing, she tells the judge that "the defense will be submitted a motion to subpoena Lieutenant Copeland's finical records as [they] believe he was involved in potential criminal activity." 

In the parking garage, after she gets in her car, she gets a very clear message that there are people out there who do not want her working on this case. She knows this because her car, which she is still in, mind you, because she was unable to escape, is pushed off the parking garage by about four men in masks and she's just dangling there (the masked men were kind enough to at least tie her car with chains attached to poles so at least she didn't drop). However, that was just a warning, and next time she probably won't be so lucky. 

The police arrive as well as Rosewood, who now has his own investigating company. Apparently, he was the one who got her involved in the case. He tells her she needs to drop the case because he doesn't want to have to tell her dad that she got killed. When she refuses to give up on the case, he tells her that she and her dad are exactly the same. Billy calls Axel to tell him what's going on and this is the reason for Axel going to Beverly Hills. After hanging up the phone, two men have their guns pointed at Billy and he is kidnapped. He was in a junkyard and had "just got the evidence [he] needed". Axel had heard dogs barking and asked him where he was and learning that he's in an impound will be a clue for later on. 

Jeffrey drives Axel to the airport and tells him to "watch his ass out there" because he's "not 22 anymore." I believe that's how old Eddie Murphy was in the first movie (or at least, somewhere in his early twenties) so that was a fun little callback. Axel just smiles and replies, "They love me in Beverly Hills." 

Billy was supposed to pick up Axel at the airport, but he never showed up. Axel calls him from his rental car, but doesn't get an answer, so he goes to his office of Rosewood Investigations which is set in some hotel room (interesting place for a business, a little seedy if you ask me!). When he gets there, he notices the doors has been broken into and he walks in where he sees two guys rummaging around. Being who he is, Axel immediately acts like he's also supposed to be there. He asks them what's taking them so long and acts like he's looking for something. One guy asks who sent him and he (smartly) replies, "Who do you think?" These guys must be so dumb because one guy replies with "Beck?" and Axel replies (and this made me laugh), "No, LeBron James. Yes, Beck!" They're just giving him the answer that he needs! However, one of the guys sees a photo of Axel and Rosewood and points out to Axel that it's him (which he says is Wesley Snipes). Luckily before he was caught, he had ripped a page out of Rosewood's planner and surreptitiously put it in his pocket. 

Axel knows he's been made, but he's able to escape. Now there's a third bad guy and they're after him. This is when we get him wrecking havoc on Beverly Hills by driving a little scooter car through the posh shopping area while "Neutron Dance" is playing. At the end, the cart has flipped over and many tourists come up to him with their phones and start filming/taking pics of him. 

He ends up at his old stomping grounds of the Beverly Hills Police Department after he is arrested. He meets Detective Bobby Abbot (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who has pulled his files and is quite familiar with his time in Beverly Hills. There is a funny moment after he mentions his time in BH in '94 as "not your finest hour." Obviously a nod to Beverly Hill Cop 3 just being a suck show. 

Axel sees a photo of Bobby that shows he was in the LAPD Air Support, meaning he used to be a pilot. This will come back later (and if you've seen the previews, you probably know). Bobby wants to know what Axel was doing in Rosewood's office (very similiar to the first movie when Taggart and Rosewood want to know why Axel was in Maitland's office), but Axel won't answer him, instead asking if he can talk to Taggart or get a phone call to call his lawyer, meaning his daughter. It takes three tries before he can finally get through to her without her hanging up on him. When he blurts out that Rosewood called him last night and if she can bail him out, he'll tell her everything. 

We get a brief scene of Axel reunited with Taggart and he asks him why he hasn't retired yet. He said he did (which is true, they mentioned it in the third movie how he retired and moved to Phoenix), but he said he got back together with his wife, Maureen, (I guess they were the Ross and Rachel of this franchise because they were always breaking up and getting back together) and apparently he moved back to Beverly Hills and now he's working again so he can be anywhere but home. Let's be honest, John Ashton wasn't in the third movie because he didn't like the script, but came back for this one. 

Taggart introduces Axel to Cade Grant (Kevin Bacon) who runs the "interdepartmental narcosis task force." When I first saw the preview for this movie I knew immediately that he was the bad guy, but it wasn't like they were trying to hide it. The discussion turns to Sam Enriquez and Taggart isn't happy that Axel's daughter is defending an assumed cop killer. 

Oh, yeah, we also find out that Jane and Bobby have a history. They used to date, but they broke up because she didn't want to date a cop. There's a really awkward moment where Axel asks them (after noticing their attitudes around each other) if they've had "intercourse" (yes, that's the word he uses). Like, dude, why would you ask your daughter that? At first, I felt a little bad that Jane was being so dismissive of him, but now I don't really blame her for not wanting him in her life! But what are the odds that those two would know each other? Yes, I suppose they do work in the same circle, but still. 

When leaving the police department, Axel asks Jane why Rosewood would be at the impound and she tells him that's where Copeland's car is and they go there to check it out. On the way there, Jane tells her dad that Sam's "just a kid who got talked into muling cocaine for his uncle", who is "some big dealer on the east side named Chalino." Axel doesn't think it makes sense that if Copeland worked for Chalino, why would Chalino kill him? 

When they arrive at the impound, Axel does what he does best and pretends to be someone else to get the information he needs. He tells the young man behind that counter that he's the "producer of the new Liam Neeson revenge thriller, Impound" (what a terrible name for a movie!) and that they're looking for a technical advisor. He sees a headshot of the guy on the wall and asks if he's an actor and the guy replies that he was in Jupiter Ascending which is the most random movie and one that I've never seen and don't know anyone who's ever seen it. Wanting to butter him up, Axel giddily tells him he loved him in that movie. Knowing that her father has never seen the movie, she asks him what it's about and he replies it's about Jupiter...ascending. It's so stupid, but funny. The dumb guy behind the counter is so happy he's being considered to help them with a new movie, he doesn't even pick up that Axel has never seen Jupiter Ascending and can't even tell his daughter the plot. (I certainly wouldn't know what it's about!) He quickly changes the subject back to the faux film he's working on and tells the guy "the movie starts off with Liam Neeson breaking into a police impound yard." The guy stops him to tell him they just had a break-in last night and Axel is mock shocked. He asks if they could have a look for "research" and are allowed access where they find Copeland's car and Axel quickly discovers a surveillance camera that somebody installed. The SD card is missing and he surmises that's what Rosewood was after. Janes says there's nothing about a camera in the car in the police report and thinks that's what they were looking for in Billy's office. 

Axel quickly realizes they're being followed and he uses his camera phone under Jane's car to discover it has a tracker. He pulls it off and they drive away where he places it on the back of a stopped bus. They soon find out the two guys that were in Rosewood's office are following them. Axel and Jane start following them now and they go to a swanky restaurant where the father and daughter will use their magic to get into the private club on the rooftop. There they see the two goons with Cade and when Axel asks what they were doing in Billy's office, he replies that Billy "stole a crucial piece of evidence" which he needs to recover to exonerate Copeland and that he "will do whatever it takes to get it back." Sounds pretty ominous to me! 

Axel checks out the home of the address he found in Rosewood's planner. He tells his daughter that there was a lot of security there "even for Beverly Hills" and that he saw the guys that were following them. They're in the car when they're having this discussing and lucky for them, Bobby is following them. I say lucky because Bobby pulls up next to a car and he hears one tattooed man say to another tattooed man to take out the people in the car ahead of them, which just so happens to be Axel and Jane. It's a good thing Bobby knows Spanish because that's the language the tattooed men are speaking. We next get a crazy moment that should have made national news, but only seems to make the local news: the two men get out of their car and start shooting at Axel and Jane who by now have gotten out of their car and are crouching down to hide from the gunmen. One of them sees Jane in a side mirror and is about to shoot her, but Bobby shoots him and the other guy. Luckily, no one is killed here except for the bad guys. We find out that they were part of a "cartel kill crew out of Adelanto." Ah! I knew it! They looked like guys who would work for Gustavo Fringe. 

Apparently, Rosewood had tried to put these guys away, but somehow it never happened and perhaps that's because Cade was also involved in their case. Taggart denies that Cade is dirty and Axel questions him if he's part of this. Bobby is suspended without pay for what happened and he accuses the chief of not wanting to solve the case. Now he, Axel, and Jane are the only three people to check into the case. Jane had done some research of the mansion that was heavily guarded and they find out it was bought with drug money. The house next door to that one is for sale so they decide to recruit Axel's old pal, Serge (Bronson Pinchot), who is friends with a real estate agent (who feels like she should be on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and Bobby and Jane pretend to be a married couple who are interested in the house.  

We get some fun moments from Serge who seems to be completely the same at 60 as he was when he was in his 20s and 30s. When he pulls up in his convertible, he exclaims "I'm on an undercover mission with Ack-well Foley and I'm so happy!" 

At the house, we get another callback to their relationship when Axel asks how many bathrooms there are and when Serge tells him there are ten, Axel says "Get the f*** out of here!" and Serge (predictably) responds with "No, I cannot!" They're just giving the audience what they want.

While Bobby and Jane are being shown the house, Axel sneaks away to check out the shady house next door. There are lots of statues in the backyard that are very similar to the ones in the yard of the mansion in the first movie, so obvious a shoutout, but those statues just make the yard look cheap even though I'm sure they're very expensive. Of course, having lots of money doesn't mean you have good taste. We've all seen Trump's New York penthouse in The Apprentice. He sneaks into the garage and takes photos of the hood of a car parked in there. A camera catches him and one of Cade's minions calls Cade to tell him that Foley was at the house. 

Axel took photos of the car because he sees paint on it that must have come from Copeland's car and he found a device that's used to disrupt cell signals. Jane remembers how Sam had tried to call for help, but wasn't able to get service. They need to find the SD card and the only person who knows its whereabouts is Billy, but where's Billy? 

Axel and Bobby decide to talk to Chalino, Sam's uncle. They think he'll probably want to talk to them since Grant is trying to pin the murder on Chalino's nephew. Chalino's (Luiz Guzman) operations are in a bar-like establishment. Bobby says he's a little nervous since he knows there will be armed men everywhere and when he asks Axel if he's nervous, he replies that he's from Detroit and it will be just like going into Buffalo Wild Wings, heh. When they go inside and find Chalino singing karaoke (a half Spanish/half English "Man Eater"), he says, "This is nothing like Buffalo Wild Wings." They tell Chalino they're there because they know his nephew is being set up and is "about to go away for life for a murder he didn't commit." While pointing a gun at Bobby's head, Chalino wants them to give him a reason why he should trust them. Axel replies that his daughter is representing Sam and that the same guys who are trying to frame him almost took her out. Chalino agrees to work with them and tells them that Grant has dirty cops working for him, "protecting the cartel's interests." When ask why Grant killed Copeland, Chalino tells them "he was gonna go clean" and that he was talking to a PI that Axel realizes was Rosewood and when he asks about said PI, Chalino says "They caught him sniffing around the east basin of the port where they bring in the drugs." So now at least he knows Rosewood's last known whereabouts. I have to say, while people are concerned about Rosewood, they don't seem that concerned. 

When Axel and Bobby leave the bar and walk to their car, they are surrounded by Grant and his men. They have been obviously set up when Grant opens the trunk to reveal cocaine in a hidden spot. Both are held handcuffed in the country jail, but Axel, being Axel, manages to get them both to escape, but the only way out is on the roof where there's a helicopter...and remember, Bobby used to be a pilot for the LAPD Air Support. What he didn't tell Axel is that he doesn't fly anymore because he crashed the last helicopter he flew and now has PTSD from it. He must have forgotten how to fly because he does a terrible job. He's flying very close to the ground (like, he's level with the cars on the street, that's how low!) which just seems super dangerous. Cade shoots at the chopper and it ends up crash landing on a golf course. After listening to a couple of podcasts, I guess one of the golfers they see is from Happy Gilmore, but I've never seen that movie, so I didn't even realize that the first time I watched it. 

By this time, Taggart knows that Cade is behind this since he literally saw him shoot the helicopter. While Axel and Bobby are checking out the place where Billy last was and distract his captives to escape with him in a truck filled with statues that are full of cocaine, Jane is kidnapped when she gets into her car to drive home. Billy tells them he hid the SD card in his Rambo knife that's in his office and Axel calls Jane to let her know but Cade answer her phone and tells him to bring the SD card (by this time he already knows that Billy is with Axel) before he does something he "might regret" and to meet him at the Sunset Point Warehouse on Alameda in one hour. The audience clearly sees he's lying because he's at the mansion and Axel gets this confirmed when he calls Jeffrey to ask him to track Jane's phone. Billy thinks they should call for backup, but Bobby doesn't think that's a good idea since they're fugitives driving a truck full of cocaine (well, when you put it like that!). Axel sidesteps a police car that has a car pulled over on the side of the road and soon many cop cars are following the truck, but they soon lose their backup when the cars all crash into each other since Axel is driving so erratically. 

The truck crashes right through the front of the house which I'm sure you've seen if you've watched the trailer. I won't lie; it was a pretty cool moment. There's lots of gunfire as the bad guys are shooting at Axel, Bobby, and Billy. A few moments later, Taggart shows up and as he's pulling a gun out of the trunk, he's muttering, "That damn Foley! Here we go again." He's such a curmudgeon; I love it! Although, this guy is in his 70s; should he really be going into a house full of gunfire? When Billy does his "Drop your weapons!" routine, a clear shoutout from the first movie (and of course it doesn't work), Taggart just shakes his head and replies, "Some things never change." This is the first time we see Taggart and Rosewood together in this movie and it just dawned on me that we haven't seen them together since the end of the second movie since Taggart wasn't in the third movie. What a beautiful reunion! 

Axel spots Cade upstairs and makes his way to the second floor. We see that Jane has slipped out of her handcuff and we know that Axel taught her how to do that because they talked about it in an earlier scene. The guy watching her hears a noise and when he goes to check it out, this is when she breaks free of her restraints and smashes a vase over his head. 

Axel comes across Cade and they have a standoff. Axel tells him to put his gun down and Cade complies because he sees one of his men has a gun on Axel from behind. When Axel is about to get shot by that guy, we see him get shot by Jane who had taken the gun from the guy watching her. Cade shoots at Jane, but Axel throws himself in front of the bullet, which hits him in the front of his shoulder. Bobby arrives just in time to shoot Cade in the head. Of course, this whole sequence is done in slow motion. 

Axel is taken to the hospital, but he's going to be okay and now he and Jane are on good terms. The movie ends with a callback to the first one with Taggart and Rosewood in a parked car outside the hospital to make sure Axel doesn't leave (he had already snuck out to get some food at a nearby diner). They're arguing about something and Axel slips into the backseat and tells them they're the worst surveillance team in the world (he ain't lying!). 

The first BHC movie will always be the best, but I think this one is the next best. The third is just terrible and the second one has its fun moments, but is a bit of a hot mess and I felt like this one was more thought out and at least the storyline made a little more sense.

A Christmas to Remember

Falling for Christmas

Director: Janeen Damian

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Chord Overstreet, Jack Wagner

Released: November 10, 2022

I try to have my Christmas movie review BEFORE Christmas, but hey, at least I still got it up in December. 

I wanted to like this movie. I really did. This Netflix Christmas movie was Lindsay Lohan's "comeback" movie and in the words of Tyra Banks, "I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you, Lindsay!" (Heh, anyone who never watched ANTM is not going to get that). But, unfortunately, this was just a predictable, formulaic Christmas movie that probably would have felt more at home on Lifetime (but probably wasn't there because Netflix can afford LL and they probably can't). 

Lindsay plays Sierra Belmont, the daughter of hotel magnate, Beau Belmont (Jack Wagner) who owns the Belmont Summit Resort, a fancy-schmancy ski resort. (You can tell it's fancy because of the outdoor Jacuzzi on the roof that they showed at least fifteen times). At first, I assumed they were in Aspen, but no, they are in the fictional town of Summit Springs. At one point we see a close up of a car and I paused it, trying to see what state Summit Springs is located in, assuming it was Colorado. However, all it said on the license plate was "Freedom State". I wonder when that state entered the Union? I looked up to see where this was filmed and it was in Utah. 

Sierra's dad wants her to be in the hotel business, but she doesn't want to. He wants to give her the position of "Vice President of Atmosphere" and even she realizes that's not a real job and he probably just made it up to give her something to do. She's on the phone with her boyfriend, Tad, telling him all this, but Tad, who is an influencer, seems more concerned with how many followers he has and keeping up his social media appearance than he does about her. He even hangs up on her when she's telling him she loves him. He doesn't do it on purpose, he just gets distracted with something on his phone, but still, it's a dick move. 

While Sierra is on the phone, we see she is very pampered as someone is working on her hair, someone is filing her nails, and another person is putting a champagne flute up to her lips so she can take a sip. But here's the thing: even though Sierra is clearly wealthy and is a bit spoiled as literally she has to have everything be done for her, she's not your typical snobby, hoity-toity hotel heiress. She's actually quite nice and pleasant. Yeah, sometimes she has her moments, but honestly, she's not that bad. For a movie like this, you want a character to really go through some growth, but eh, does she really? 

So Sierra has a boyfriend who's a bit full of himself (and even though he does some questionable things in the movie, even he gets a happy ending. It's like the move was too afraid to make anyone a villain) so we all know she's not going to end up with him at the end. On the slopes, we are introduced to Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet) who owns the North Star Lodge, a cozy little lodge that's a bit more affordable than the Belmont Summit Resort. When I first saw him, I go, "Oh, look, it's Matt from Glee." Uh, apparently his character's name was Sam. Oops. But in my defense, I only watched that show when it aired and haven't seen it since. Also, I'm pretty sure there was a character named Matt on that show... 

This scene make me miss skiing. I used to go skiing in Colorado pretty much every winter when I was a kid. Oh, don't get me wrong, many of these ski trips ended up in tears because I was too cold or got altitude sickness (THAT was the worst) or one of my skis got detached from my boots when I was in the chair lift because I was tapping my skis together or the one time I was too scared to get off the chairlift and they had to stop it (heh). Oh, and don't get me started on when we had to get fitted for our skis and ski boots. That was the worst. It took forever and it was so hot cuz you were already dressed in your ski gear. Wait, why do I miss skiing again? No, I'm joking. It's actually really fun to go schussing down a mountain. As long as there's no icy patches or moguls! Shoutout to Breckenridge (my favorite!), Copper Mountain, and Keystone, the ski towns in Colorado where I've skied. 

Anyway, Jake sees Mr. Belmont on the slopes and introduces himself to him. They go to the Belmont resorts to chat and Jake says Mr. Belmont has "a world class" resort, but not everybody can afford to stay there. He tells him, "Studies show that 70% of beginners learn to ski at smaller resorts." (Who is doing these studies?) He adds that when they become better skiers, they move up to resorts like Mr. Belmont's. I'm confused. Just because they become better skiers they can afford the fancier resort? What does that have to do with anything? Just because they become better skiers doesn't mean they're making more money. Beau realizes Jake wants to invest in his lodge and tells him he wishes he could help him, but he has his own investors. I'm not really sure what that has to do with anything, but whatever.

He gives him a cup of cocoa on the house and as Jake is leaving, Sierra has just gotten off the elevator in a designer outfit. It's a red jumpsuit with bare shoulders and these ridiculous ruffle sleeves. Like, seriously, I hope she's not going to eat while wearing that outfit because her sleeves would just end up in the food! And to complete the look are emerald green pumps. This is the most extra she will look in the movie. As Sierra is getting off the elevator, Jake is coming around the corner with his cup of cocoa. Hmm, why do I feel like a meet-cute is about to happen? The "cocoa" in the cup looks very weird. You can tell it's not full of liquid. And no, it's not because he's already drank some of it. The cup is full, but it's obviously not liquid. The way he's holding it it should be sloshing out. The resort is crowded and he's dodging a bunch of guests. There's even a point where he does a full 360 spin to avoid someone and the liquid doesn't even move. Of course, he ends up bumping into Sierra and just a mere dollop of whipped creams gets onto her "Valenyagi". (Heh, I had to look that up. Not a real designer). How the hell did only a little bit of cream get on her outfit? The whole thing should have sloshed onto her. I suppose she's quite lucky because getting hot cocoa on you can not be a pleasant experience. Jake tells her he would be happy to pay for dry cleaning or offers to get some club soda, but she just sort of brushes him off. This scene will not come up again so what was the point of it? 

While eating lunch with her dad and Tad, we learn that Sierra "doesn't do bacon" when the waiter asks if she wants some with her wedge salad. Okay, I understand if she doesn't eat the strips of bacon one would normally have for breakfast, but this was "artisan house-smoked bacon". That sounds delicious! And who doesn't enjoy a crisp wedge salad without some pieces of bacon to elevate the flavor? Apparently Sierra, that's who. 

I wasn't sure if this was Beau's first time meeting Tad, but he kept calling him "Ted" and Sierra had to correct him. When she tells her dad that Tad is an influencer and millions of people follow him, her dad replies that he's basically a salesman, hee! 

Beau is going out of town for a few days and will be back by Christmas Eve. We get some backstory where Sierra's mother died when she was five, but she still remembers things like her mother's perfume, her laugh, and how she used to brush her hair. How anyone can remember anything when they are five is beyond me. Do you know what I remember when I was five? Absolutely nothing. 

Even though she can't ski, Tad is taking Sierra to the mountains for a photo shoot. Must be for one of his Instagram stories. Like any proper Christmas movie, everything is red and/or green (mostly the Christmas decorations at both establishments and the wardrobe), including the car they're driving in. It's red with two dark green stripes. Very unusual. While driving, "Jingle Bell Rock" starts playing on the radio and Sierra sings along with it after turning up the volume. Hmm, could this be a shout out to Mean Girls? Tad turns down the volume and tells her that her singing is "a little pitchy". Who does he think he is? Randy Jackson? Sierra asks him, "Where's your holiday spirit?" and turns the volume back up and proceeds to sing. This time Tad changes the station. What a prick! That would have been a deal breaker for me. Sierra just turns and stares out the window. 

Tad is such a himbo. There's a snowmobile attached to the car and he tries to unhook it by telling it to unhook and an exasperated Sierra tells him it's not voice activated. I don't know how they got it unhooked (because Sierra told him she didn't know how), but we see them riding on it through the snowy mountains in the next scene. They go past a snow covered sign and after they zoom past it, the snow falls enough to reveal to the audience that they are heading towards dangerous terrain as the sign proclaims, "Waring! Danger! Do not pass! Turn back!" Do you think they made it clear enough?  

While they're doing the photo shoot (where Sierra is in skis and posing in a fuchsia ski suit and furry fuchsia hat), Tad tells her there's one thing missing: "I can't quite put my finger on it, but maybe you can?" [Insert groan here.] He pulls out a huge, gaudy engagement ring and proposes to her. Sierra never answers his question, but does tell him the ring is too big when he puts it on her finger. 

While all this is going on, we have another story line a-brewing that will set in motion the plot for the rest of the movie. Jake (the guy who owes the North Star Lodge, remember? Also the guy who will inevitably end up with Sierra) has a daughter named Avy who is around 8-10 years old. His wife died three years ago and now his mother-in-law, Alejandra, helps him run the lodge. Avy and her abuela are at the Christmas Village where they are making Christmas wishes. Avy wishes for someone for her dad to love. (We don't actually find this out until the end of the movie when she reveals to her dad what she wished for). She writes it on a paper star ornament and when she places it on the tree, we see a man, who is clearly supposed to depict Santa (we know this because he has a white beard and a red coat and hat), waggle his fingers and taps his nose like he's a long lost cousin of the Sanderson sisters. All of a sudden, a snowstorm starts brewing. 

Back on the mountain, the wind is getting stronger and Sierra, still on her skis, starts to slide backwards. OMG, that would be terrifying! Tad manages to grab her hand, but just takes the ring off (we know what his first priority is! I still can't believe by the end of the movie, he's pretty much deemed a good guy....wtf!) and she slides down the mountain. She does start going down backwards (absolutely terrifying), but then we see she has turned around and even though she's out of control, at least she's facing forward. She falls and hits her head on a tree and becomes unconscious. I don't mean to sound morbid, but isn't this what happened to Lindsay's The Part Trap co-star, Natasha Richardson? Tad tumbles down the mountain in a different direction. 

At this point, Jake is taking a couple on a horse drawn sleigh ride with his trusty equine friend, Balthazar. (Okay, how cool would that be? I'm pretty sure I've been on horse-drawn carriage rides, but never on a sleigh!) Sierra is hard to miss in her brightly colored ski outfit. He stops the carriage to check on her and calls in for help. 

We jump to the hospital (more like a small clinic) where the doctor tells Jack that the woman he brought in is physically all right, but she does't remember anything prior to the accident. Sierra assures them she knows her name when asked, but can't think of what it is. She didn't have any ID on her (gee, how totally convenient for the plot!) and while they took her fingerprints, she's not registered in their database which means she's never been arrested or possibly never been employed. You know, I don't think I've ever had my fingerprints taken either, come to think of it. But I'm pretty good at usually carrying an ID with me, so if I'm ever found unconscious (God, I'm bringing up a lot of morbid topics for a light Christmas movie, aren't I?), they should be able to identify me. And I usually have my phone. Which begs the question, didn't Sierra have her phone with her? Obviously Tad had his, but I find it hard to believe that Sierra wouldn't have her phone in her coat pocket or something. Of course, if she did have her phone, this movie would be over by now. 

So Jake suggests she could stay with him at his lodge and they're all like, okay. Which....I find hard to believe they would just let him take her like that, but I guess he is a valued and trusted member of the community so they know he's not a serial killer or anything. (Another fun topic!) 

Of course the North Star Lodge is decked out with Christmas decorations (with a name like that, it should be all year!) and there's even a Christmas tree (complete with presents...what?!) in the room Sierra, or, ahem, the mystery woman (you know, since nobody knows her name), is staying. Do you think there's a Christmas tree (complete with presents!) in every room or is she in some type of special suite? Also, those must be empty boxes that are wrapped. They used to do that at my work, put empty wrapped boxes under the Christmas tree, but alas, not this year. 

We all know Netflix loves promoting itself, so it should come as no shock to anyone when she wakes up the next morning, grabs the remote and turns the TV on and we hear the unmistakable Law & Order-adjacent-esque sound when you turn on Netflix. This is a call back to the opening scene when we see Sierra's wake up routine where she grabs a remote to open the blinds. So subconsciously, she remembers some things about her daily life. 

After taking a shower, Sierra asks Avy where she can get a blow dryer. Shouldn't this lodge have a blowdryer in all the bathrooms? Isn't that standard in most hotels? But we need this as a plot device so Avy can take Sierra to her room to let her use her blow dryer and ask her what they're supposed to call her since she doesn't remember her name. She tells her she can use a name she calls one of her stuffed animals which she introduces to Sierra: Frankie, Wallace, Potter, and Sarah. Gee, I wonder which one she's going to pick? (Although I guess Frankie could be short for Francesca). Sarah is also conveniently similar to her own name. I'm surprised it didn't ring any bells. By the way, Sarah is a stuffed llama. As someone who also has that name, it's weird to think of someone naming a stuffed animal "Sarah". 

At breakfast, Avy (what do you think Avy is short for?) offers Sierra (I know they're calling her Sarah, but I still remember her name, so I'm just going to refer to her by her real name) bacon and she replies she doesn't do bacon, another thing she subconsciously remembers. After Avy tells her it's delicious and how does she know if she doesn't like it if she's never tried it, Sierra tries some and decides she loves it. 

While this is happening, Jake and his mother-in-law have a hushed conversations and he tells her he thinks he's met Sierra before, but he can't seem to remember she's the one he spilled a dollop of whipped cream on at the Belmont Ski Resort. I'm telling you, that scene where they bump into each other was really not needed as this is pretty much the closest we'll get to a callback. 

So you might be wondering what happened to Tad while all this is going on. Well, he wandered off and found some guy named Ralph in an ice fishing hut and the storyline is so pointless and I really don't care about him, so I'll return to him when he becomes relevant to the plot again (in fact, for a big chunk of the story, the movie forgets about him too!) Also, before she had left with Tad, Sierra had told staff at the Belmont Resort that she didn't want to be distrubed, but after twenty-four hours of not hearing from her or seeing her, they go into her room where they find her bed is still made. The silly security guard suggests maybe she had made the bed, but Terry, the concierge, scoffs at this and tells him she would never do that, "not in this lifetime." 

Lots of people are cancelling their reservations at the North Star Lodge to stay at Air BnBs instead. They are losing money (I guess that explains why they can't keep a hair dryer in all the bathrooms) and Jake says they can't afford a housekeeper. He realizes he can use Sierra for just that job when she tells them that the doctor told her if she did normal things, her memory might come back. The joke is on Jake, though, because Sierra never did chores. We get a montage of her attempting to do chores and struggling greatly with them. When she tries to make a bed, I had a lot of empathy for her because trying to put a fitted sheet on a bed is a pain in the ass. Like, I have spent way too much agonizing time trying to put on my stupid fitted sheet on my stupid bed. And even when I do manage to get it, in a couple of days, it will just come off again. Aurgh! We see her clean the toilet, but she gets the scrubby thing stuck in it and then a bunch of water starts spurting up at her. Eww. But I'm not sure how or why this would happen or if it could. While doing the laundry, she knocks a whole bottle of detergent in the machine (c'mon, how does she not even notice that?) and continues to put the bedding in. Of course, the machine overfills and there are bubbles everywhere. Jake is pissed about it and snaps at Sierra who runs off to Balthazar (he's the horse, remember) in the barn where she tells him, "I'd introduce myself, but I have no idea who I am. I can tell you I'm pretty much a useless human. I can't do anything right." She leaves to get firewood and that's when the camera pans and we see Jake was inside the barn on the other side of the stall the whole time. Wait...how did he get there so fast? Wasn't he just in the laundry room? 

Jake apologizes to her moments later and says he didn't mean what he said. Sierra tells him she feels like "unclaimed luggage" because it's been two days and no one has looked for her. If you're wondering why the hotel staff isn't more concerned about her, it's because they found a note Tad left for her about...something...I honestly don't even remember, but the point is, they just think he took her away on a trip or something. Jake suggests they go to the Christmas Market where there will be a lot of people there and maybe somebody will recognize her. (They don't. But it is weird that nobody recognizes this rich hotel heiress...you think someone would recognize her from social media or something. I mean, they never make it clear if she is on the Gram or Twitter, but Tad has a zillion followers and surely he has tons of pictures of his rich hotel heiress girlfriend on there!) This is the part in my notes where I wrote that I really like the white hat Lindsay is wear during this scene

They (this includes Sierra, Jake, and Avy) attend a Christmas tree lighting. I need to address a few things:

-There's no way this Christmas-crazy town is JUST NOW lighting this Christmas tree. It has to be around December 18-20th; remember Beau told his daughter he would be gone for a few days, but he would be back by Christmas Eve. 

-The mayor (who is doing the lighting) invites a little girl to help him light the tree and I'm shocked it wasn't Avy.

-There are FIREWORKS as the tree is lit (why are you distracting the crowd from the beautifully-lit tree with fireworks?) and the whole crowd is singing "Joy to the World." 

Next, we get a montage where Sierra is learning to do things for herself! She makes the bed, she makes her own breakfast, she does laundry (correctly), she does Christmas-related things with the family like sing Christmas carols and make gingerbread houses. While doing the latter, she puts icing on Jake's nose and he reaching for something to throw at her and Avy and at first I thought he was going for the bowl of red and green M&Ms and thought that was a bit extreme to throw at somebody, but it was just marshmallows. She even learns how to ski. 

She attends a Toy Drive with Jake that he helps run and while he's off helping someone, Louise, a woman who volunteers every year, tells Sierra how this town wouldn't get along without Jake because he volunteers and donates money and she wishes that "there was some way that Summit Springs could show him how much he means to [them]." In case you couldn't tell, Jake is pretty much the antithesis of Tad.  

There have been some sparks happening between Sierra and Jake. She has told him she has never met anyone like him because if she had, she would have "definitely remembered it." When they get back to the lodge from their Christmas Market outing, they find themselves standing under the mistletoe and Jake is about to kiss her, but then stops and tells her maybe they shouldn't do this because she might be with somebody. She tells him, "That would be unfortunate" and he replies, "For both of us." 

While they were at the Christmas Market, they had ran into "Santa" who was watching a stall for a friend. A snow globe catches the eye of Sierra and Jake buys it for her. In a previous scene with her dad, Sierra was admiring a snow globe that her parents picked up when they were in Gstaad (the Aspen of Switzerland; hell it's probably even more bougie than Aspen). The snow globe reminds her of something, but she can't quite figure it out. 

Sierra tells Alejandra and Avy her idea for how to help the North Star Lodge. She wants to have a fundraiser/Christmas party and invite people. Luckily, Alejandra has the contact information for almost all the guests they've had the past three decades (I bet some of that info is out of date!) When Sierra mentions this to Jake, he's against the idea. He doesn't want people looking at him differently and thinking he needs a handout. He also tells her it wouldn't be such a bad thing if he loses the lodge because he's tired of struggling with it and tired of everything always breaking down and wondering how they'll "make it to the end of the month." Sierra reminds him to think of the memories and he says he'd be more than happy to let some of them go. He rudely asks her, "What do you know about memories? You can't even remember your name." She walks away and he quickly follows her to apologize. They only have so much time, so they need to do that quickly. He tells her that ever since she's been staying with them, she's made him "feel things that [he] didn't ever think [he] was ever going to feel again." Hmm, could he be talking about love? He also tells her he's afraid of making new memories at the lodge. 

It's now Christmas Eve and Sierra and her host family are getting ready for the Christmas Party/fundraiser for the lodge .

So you may have guessed that since it's Christmas Eve, Beau must be back. Well, he is and when he asks Terry where Sierra is because she's not answering her phone, Terry tells him he doesn't know where she is. After he explains the situation and says he thought Sierra and Tad went away for some private time together, Beau realizes that his daughter has been missing for four days. They check her room to see if she went away, but her luggage is still there. (You think Terry and the security guard would have checked that before Beau had returned...) Anyway, the sheriff is called and somehow, Ralph and Tad are found at a bar or somewhere. I don't even remember how they were found, but they are and Tad tells Beau that he proposed to Sierra. I did laugh when he says, "Looks like I'll be calling you, "Dad"." The sheriff was also at the hospital when it was decided Sierra would stay at the North Star Lodge, so he's able to take Beau and Tad there. But it will be a little while before we see them show up...

While Sierra is looking for something to wear to the party, Alejandra brings a box with a red dress (that shows a fair bit of skin - it's a little weird that Jake's dead wife's mother is pushing him into this relationship so much, but I suppose you could say she wants her granddaughter to have a mother figure in her life). She tells her, "You make Jake smile. He hasn't done that in a long time."

Before the party, Jake and Sierra share a moment where they "test out" the dance floor, slow dancing to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", but they are interrupted when the guests start to arrive. I am so confused by the dress code for this party. Outfits are all over the place here. Just take a look at what some of their guests were wearing:

-Some woman wears a red sweater that says "I sleigh all day" with red, white, and green plaid pants (and I'm pretty sure they're pajama bottoms).

-Some guy wears khakis with a Rudolph sweater.

-The mayor is dressed nicely in slacks and red shirt and tie.

-Some guy is wearing long shorts (WTF?) a white hoodie with a red and white striped scarf and a green Santa hat.

-A woman is wearing a white sparkly top and another is wearing a silver sparkly top.

-A woman is wearing a fair isle sweater.

-A few guys are wearing suit and ties, as well as a few women are wearing fancy dresses. We see a red dress and a sparkly gray dress. We even have a couple who are wearing a tuxedo and a white v-neck dress with lacy sleeves. I mean, what is going on here with the party attire? It's all over the place! 

Jake starts to make his speech and is about to tell his guests how his lodge is about to go under, but whispers to Sierra he can't do it. However, the guests seem to already know what this party is for as the majority of them have already written checks to present to Jake to help him invest with getting the North Star Lodge going again. 

A radon guy, still wearing his winter coat, scarf and hat (he must be roasting! At this point, he's probably been there for at least half an hour, if not more) comes forward and tells Jake, "I remember the first time our family came to the North Star Lodge. You took my son under your wing and taught him to ski....He's a ski patrol now. I figured I owe you this much for ski lessons." He's the first one to hand Jake a check and soon others start doing the same. (Wouldn't Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal be easier? Who even writes checks anymore? Besides my mom?) 

The well-dressed couple tells everyone when they got married, they could not afford a honeymoon so Jake gave them the biggest suite in the lodge and wouldn't take a dime for it. (Gee, I'm beginning to see why Jake is losing money! Does he know how businesses work? He really needs to start a non-profit organization; he is too altruistic for his own good). 

The Mayor comes forward and makes the announcement that the "Summit Springs town council has put forth a proposal to have the North Star Lodge declared a historical site." (Seriously?) This will help with funds and grants for renovations. He, too, gives Jake a check for the one time he helped him tow his car out of a snowbank. 

Jake is about to introduce "Sarah" as the person who helped him with all this, but as he's about to announce her name, "Sierra!" is shouted by Tad who has just arrived with Beau and the sheriff. Sierra says she remembers that name. She remembers her dad, but doesn't remember who Tad is. (And remember, she told Jake she would never forget someone like him, so you know it's true love with Jake and not with Tad). Jake recognizes Beau and says to Sierra, "You're Mr. Belmont's daughter? Duh, doesn't he remember running into her at the resort? He still doesn't say anything about that incident! I feel like I've said the word "remember" a thousand times in this paragraph. 

It's only when Tad pulls out the gaudy ring and puts it on her again and she says it's too big, that she remembers saying that to him on the mountain and she does remember Tad. Everything starts coming back to her as she remembers she fell down the mountain and hit her head. She's pretty much taken away by Tad to go back to her father's resort without so much of a goodbye to the people who have been taking care of her and as she goes home, we get flashbacks of "heartwarming" moments between her and Jake even though we have just literally watched this movie, so we have seen all of these moments not that long ago. Do you remember when sitcoms used to have episodes where certain characters would reminisce about something that happened in the past and they would show scenes from previous episodes? Well, I absolutely despise clip shows (I will skip them!) and sometimes they're showing us things from episodes that aired years ago! Imagine my irate when I'm seeing something again that I just saw not even an hour ago! Did they really think we were going to forget what happened during the movie? Sierra and Jake are in love; I think we know that. You're really not fooling anyone, movie.

The next morning, Sierra is wearing a white sweater and jeans instead of her usual designer duds. And instead of caviar for breakfast (caviar is yuck anytime, but double yuck for breakfast), she's eating bacon and makes her own eggs and pancakes in the hotel's kitchen. 

While Sierra is giving a press conference about what happened to her, Jake, Avy, and Alejandra are finished opening presents when they see it's about to begin. Sierra is now able to properly thank Jake and his family for taking care of her and highly recommends the North Star Lodge (which will get them a lot of business). When asked about her engagement, Sierra tries to tell them that Tad did ask her to marry him, but she technically hasn't said yes, but they won't let her get a word in. When Beau (who is also there) is asked if he's excited, he replies, "Excited doesn't come close to describing how I feel." Ha! I mean, he wasn't lying!

This is when we find out what Avy wished for as she tells her dad, "Guess my Christmas wish didn't come true after all. I wished for you to find someone to love. You take such good care of all of us. I just wanted you to have someone take care of you, too." He explains to her it's not that easy, but she tell him all he needs to do is tell her that he likes her since he never actually did when she was staying with them. Oh, kids! It doesn't take much convincing for Avy to motivate her dad to tell Sierra how he feels. 

Meanwhile, we need to wrap this movie up, so we get a quick scene of Sierra telling her dad she doesn't want to be "VP of Atmosphere" and wants to find her own way. She also gives Tad the ring back and tells him she's "not ready for this yet." (We all know she means she's not ready for it with him). Luckily, Tad seems to bounce back quite quickly and has his eyes on Terry now and invites him to go to the "undisclosed location" where he and Sierra were supposed to fly to that day. He had said this during the press conference, so Jake thinks she's in the hummer limo in front of the Belmont. He knocks on the window, but it doesn't roll down. That doesn't deter him from making his speech about how he's falling in love with her. The window rolls down to reveal Tad who tells him, "That's very flattering, but I have other plans" and the camera reveals that Terry is with him. I thought the camera was next going to reveal that Sierra was behind Jake the whole time and heard everything he said, but no, she's in the courtyard. When he finds her there, he thanks her for helping get the North Star back in business and all the rooms have been reserved for, like the next ten years. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a little). She offers to help him run the place and he accepts. He has also brought a mistletoe for them to try the holiday tradition. They kiss and yay, everyone is happy and in love, but nobody's happier than Avy. Yay, thank goodness this movie is finally over. 

Here We Come a Netflixin'

The Christmas Chronicles 2

Director: Chris Columbus

Cast: Kurt Russell, Goldie Hawn, Darby Camp, Jahzir Bruno, Julian Dennison, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Tyrese Gibson, Darlene Love

Released on Netflix: November 25, 2020

It's December! That means it's time for reviews of Christmas movies, yay! Two years ago I reviewed The Christmas Chronicles and today I will be reviewing its sequel. If you had asked me, I would have told you the first one came out last year, but no, it came out two years ago. Where did the time go? I would have also told you that Chris Columbus directed that movie, but no, he was a producer. He did, however, direct this movie, and I did notice some nods to some of his other holiday fare.

Many of the same characters from the first movie come back for this one (Kurt Russell as Santa is an obvious one!) and there are also some new characters. We are reacquainted with Kate and Teddy Pierce, who went on the adventure with Santa in the first movie. Don't get too reacquainted with Teddy, though, because he's only in the beginning and the end. He has aged out and has been replaced by a younger, cuter kid. I had no idea how old Kate was in the first movie and still don't know how old she is. They do mention the events of the first movie took place two years ago so this does follow real time. If I had to guess, I would say Kate is in the 11-13 range, but if she's 13, that would mean she would've been 11 in the first movie and I can't see an 11-year-old still believing in Santa. Yes, I realize that in this universe, Santa IS real, but even before they knew that, she still believed in him. Teddy was about to tell her, but decided against it. I looked up to see how old Darby Camp, the actress who plays Kate, is and she is currently 13, so she was probably 11 or 12 when she filmed this. 

Kate and Teddy are in Cancun with their mother, Claire (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley). They were all brought there on a holiday vacation by Claire's boyfriend, Bob (played by Tyrese Gibson...the name "Bob" does not suit him at all) and his son, Jack, who is the younger, cuter kid who will be joining Kate on the new adventure. I would estimate Jack's age to be between 7 and 9. Kate is not happy at all. She hates being on a sunny beach so close to Christmas and would rather be ice-skating or drinking cocoa or Christmas shopping. I'm with Kate. Christmases in warm weather climates just seem strange to me. While it doesn't always snow every Christmas where I live, I can always count on it to be cold. Christmas is the holiday where you sit around the fire wearing your favorite cozy sweater and sipping a mug of cider or hot cocoa. It just makes more sense in cold weather! Kate is also not happy because she still misses her dad, who had died as a firefighter only a few years ago. She thinks Bob is going to propose to her mom and she's not ready for that. I can kind of see where she's coming from because if your mom's boyfriend invited her, both her children, and his kid on a trip to Mexico during Christmas vacation, that does seem like he's in it for the long haul. We know Claire and Bob have been dating for ten months and have known each other before they started dating, but we don't know where they met. Work? A support group for widowers? As it turns out, Bob's wife also died. You'd think Kate and Jack would bond over having a dead parent, but no, doesn't really ever come up. 

Kate is so upset she makes a Christmas Wish to Santa. She decides she doesn't want the electric scooter (from going over my review of the first movie, I was reminded that in this universe, kids only get ONE present from Santa, so you better choose wisely!), but would rather "get out of this place." She's worried "it's gonna feel like Dad never existed" if her mom and Bob get married. She even threatens (to literally nobody) that she'll run away. The next day she'll get her opportunity to do so when Bob discovers some tickets "complimentary from the hotel". Teddy and some girl go snorkeling. I wasn't sure if this was his girlfriend he brought along on the trip or a girl he met there (I have reason to believe it's the latter), but all he talks about in this movie is going snorkeling with this girl. Claire and Bob get to spend the night at Tulum with a private tour of the Mayan ruins. Meanwhile, the two youngest kids will get to go to a "kids' club slumber party" complete with all the ice cream they can eat. As a kid, that would have been my worst nightmare. Not the all the ice cream you can eat part (though I'd probably eat too much and get super sick), but being in a foreign (quite literally in this case!) place with a bunch of hyper kids (you know they'd be all buzzed on sugar!). Honestly, Claire and Bob, if you wanted to have your own romantic trip to Tulum, why didn't you just go on this trip without your kids? 

I need to interject with a weird fashion choice that I believe that was missed by the wardrobe department. There's no way this could have been intentional. So when the group is all gathered saying their good-byes before they go their separate ways, I notice that Claire and Teddy are wearing VERY similar shirts. They're both blue and peach buttons-ups. The designs are different, but both have some kind of pattern, kind of like a Hawaiian shirt. I have a hard time believing a teen boy would wear a shirt so similar to his mother's. 

Kate sees this as a great opportunity to run away since the adults have conveniently been painted out of the picture for the time being. I love that Claire and Bob just leave Kate and Jack in the lobby of the hotel; they don't even go to the kids' club with them. You'd think they'd want to check out where they'll be leaving their children overnight. Also, what about Teddy? They're leaving him alone overnight with no supervision with some girl he met? Like I said, Claire and Bob, why didn't you just go on this trip alone? But I digress...Kate tells Jack to head to the room where the slumber party is being held (seriously, what are they doing at this "kids' club" besides eating ice cream? Well, I guess we're told there's a slime-making station) and tells him she needs to go to the bathroom and she'll meet him later. Earlier she had called the airport who had told her she could book a flight home there (um, she has a phone...couldn't she just do it on there? Not that it's an important part of the story), so she heads outside and hitches a ride on a golf cart that will take her to a shuttle to the airport. Sensing that she's up to something, Jack sees this and hops on the back of the tram. He makes himself known a little while later and while he and Kate are arguing, they get flung through a portal that leads them to the North Pole. 

Confused? Let me explain.

The Pierce kids aren't the first characters we see, no, the first scene is of a character we've never met before. In the South Pole we see some kind of cave/hideout with lots of "Get Out!" and "No Trespassing!" signs. (Dude, who's going to be trespassing in your South Pole hideaway?) We see a young man with an Australian accent (I guess technically it's a New Zealand accent because I looked up the actor and that's where he's from, but honestly, I can't tell the difference) who is glowering as he looks at a picture of Santa and Mrs. Claus, stating that they "ruined everything" and that they "were the first humans I ever trusted and the last." My goodness, laying it on a little thick there, aren't we? So I didn't catch this the first time, but he's in the picture with the Clauses' in elf form. Yes, this human person used to be an elf and is now a human and has somehow been wronged by Santa and the Mrs. (By the way what is Mrs. Claus's first name?) We don't know the story, but don't worry, we will. 

He needs a "ticket" to get to the North Pole and he believes the answer is Kate. An elf that switched allegiances (either that or maybe there are also elves in the South Pole) has brought him the knowledge of Kate, a friend of Santa's. Somehow, he finds out that Kate is in Cancun (must still have some of that elf magic) and he happens to overhear Kate on the beach when she's making her Christmas wish. He's the one who leaves the "complimentary tickets" and he's the one who's driving the golf cart, thus the reason they go through a portal because he has a device that he throws that opens the portal. I honestly don't understand why Kate and Jack just don't jump off the cart that's only going about ten mph. They see the portal way before they enter it, so just jump off! I know, I know, they need the to go through so there can be a movie. But they could have easily escaped, that's all I'm saying.

Once they're in the North Pole, Kate figures Santa must have heard her wish about wanting to escape and granted it. Since she and Jack came from Cancun, they are wearing t-shirts and shorts and soon find themselves victim to the cold. Luckily, Santa spots them and puts them in his sleigh. By this time they are both pretty blue and unconscious. All they need is a little hot chocolate to warm them up! That's exactly what Mrs. Claus (Goldie Hawn) gives them and they wake up and are back to their normal selves. 

Kate thanks Santa for granting her Christmas wish, but Santa tells her he hasn't given her the scooter yet, so she knows that she didn't get to the North Pole via Saint Nick. When Jack figures out where they are, he is in awe. He exclaims, "I must be dreaming!" Santa tells him, "You're not dreaming, Jack. You're in Santa's Village: the real one!" The Clauses give the kids a tour of Santa's Village and boy oh boy, it is a more magical place than Disney World. (They use REAL magic at Santa's Village!) It's too bad this place isn't open to the public because Santa would make a fortune! We learn that the village houses over a million elves and Santa tells the kids this fun fact: "If you combine Amazon, FedEx, the postal service, and UPS with every manufacturing company in the world, and they quadrupled their output for an entire year, you just might be getting close to what we can accomplish here in Santa's village in a single day." Ha. Okay, yeah, I'm impressed! 

If you add up all the shops on Fifth Avenue, Rodeo Drive, the Magnificent Mile, and the Champs-Elysées, you're still going to get a better shopping experience at the North Pole. There are over 300,000 shops! We get to see a few of them, including a candy cane factory, a toy shop, and the place where they make video games (Santa knows how to code games...of course he does!). When the kids learn that Mrs. Claus designed all the shops, they point out the center should be called Mrs. Claus's village. Again, does Mrs. Claus have a first name? Santa agrees that it might be time for a change since it's been called Santa's Village for over a thousand years, but he's pretty reluctant about changing it. 

One of my favorite aspects of the village was the Polaris Cinema where Elf was playing and the admission was free. They also see the Hall of Letters, which is the place where Kate found herself in the previous movie. Kate mentions she's been there and Jack wants to know why she never told him. Good question, Jack. Kate replies, "There's a lot of things I haven't told you." Um, if you had met Santa and been to the North Pole, wouldn't that be something you'd want to tell everyone you met, especially a fellow kid?

Mrs. Claus prepare "dinner" which is a tableful of sugary desserts. Despite there being cookies, candies, pie, cakes, and brownies on the table, she tells the kids that all the food is actually "super healthy", but it tastes and look like desserts. Look, I am all for that. I would love if you could eat a cheesecake that was healthy for you AND tasted like real cheesecake. However, even if all these desserts were good for you, ugh, I could not eat all that sugar for every meal. No, thank you. That's why they call it a treat. If kids could have dessert anytime they wanted, I don't think they would be as coveted as much as they are now. I was very confused as to why Kate was eating Halloween brownies - they had orange frosting on them; they totally screamed "Halloween", but Santa told her it was lima beans and carrots and that's when I noticed it had green specks too. Jack eats "broccoli" which was a white and green layer cake. That did look pretty good. 

Jack and Kate want to stay overnight because their parents won't return to the hotel until the next afternoon anyway. Mrs. Claus says how wonderful it will be to have children, if only for one night and she and Santa look wistfully at each other. This makes me wonder: did they want children, but could never have any? They did this as a plot in the second or third The Santa Clause movie and Santa having a kid always felt weird to me. First of all, he's super old (in this one, we learn he's 1700 years old, so if he did have children, they'd all be very old too (assuming they're still alive with Christmas magic). Well, we do learn that time stands still in the North Pole, so nobody ages, so I suppose if they did have a baby, the baby would remain a baby forever? That's super...weird. Also, Santa having a kid just seems...unfair to both the kid and Santa. The kid would resent Santa for paying more attention to all the other kids in the world (remember this...this theme will pop up later) and all the kids in the world would be jealous of Santa's kid because they would pretty much get everything for Christmas. 

Now would be a good time to explain why the human-who-used-to-be-an-elf needed Kate to help him with his plan. Where Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves live, it is protected under the shield of the Veil of Borealis, which keeps them hidden and protected from the outside world. The veil is created by light from the star of Bethlehem which is also connected to the Christmas star tree topper that sits atop the massive Christmas tree in the center of the Village. (I think I got that right?) Santa is the only one who knows how to get in and out of the veil safely; remember that scene in Finding Nemo where Nemo and Dory go through the jellyfish waters (when they should have been staying above them) and they're dodging all the jellyfish? Well, in this case, when Santa goes through the veil he has to dodge a lot of electrical currents or something. He's the only one who knows how to weave in and out of them and when he gets the kids in his sled, the human/elf hitches a ride on the back and that's how he finds his way there. 

When the kids are getting ready for bed in their adorable matching red and green plaid pajamas, Jack discovers a set of books titled "The Christmas Chronicles." Mrs. Claus offers to read them a bedtime story. She starts with the first one which is called "The Origin of Santa Claus." Even Santa Claus has an origin story! Here we get a lot of exposition that will tell us that back in the day, WAY back in the day of 312 AD, he was "a local hero and his legend spread" to the Forest Elves. We learn that elves are "an ancient species of very magical and wild creatures." It gets super dark, but never really explored when we are told that they "were hunted for their magical powers" and were "captured by humans to the brink of extinction." Yikes! Anyway, the story goes on to say that the elves knew about a man who would be "King of the Elves" and "lead them to safety." This, of course, was Santa Claus. As we are told by Mrs Claus, "He led the elves on a mystical journey to an unknown land, where Christmas would truly endure." In the story, there is one particular elf who comments how much he hates humans. His name is Belsnickel and he is the elf who turned into a human; yes, the very same one who needed Kate (and Jack) as bait to get to Santa. Why is an elf who hates human now a human, you ask? Well, luckily, we're about to get some backstory on Belsnickel! He was "a precocious and brilliant elf"  who was taught the "art of magical potion-making" by Mrs. Claus and "the art of invention" by Santa. Mrs. Claus makes a comment how she and Santa loved him "very, very much", but don't they love all their elves the same? I would assume the elves are almost like children to them. Why does Belsnick get special treatment? As we're going to soon find out, Belsnickers was a little sh*t. By the time he became a teen, (elves can become teens? I kinda assumed they were all kind of one age), things started to change: "The spirit of Christmas had grown around the world. Santa had less time for Belsnickel. He became resentful of Santa and more rebellious." Yep, see, there's no way Santa could have ever had children - if an ELF, who WORKS for Santa becomes resentful of him, can you imagine how his own child would feel?

The Elves live by the ELVES' Code which stands for Ego, Lying, Viciousness, Envy, Selfishness. I'm guessing this is a list of things that elves strive NOT to be! As Mrs. Claus tells the kids, "If an elf commits every single one of those, they become cursed." Well, guess who broke all five? I'll give you zero guesses because you don't need any. 

We get a few examples of what a little sh*t weasel Belsnot has turned into. He places a whoppee cushion on a chair in a room with a handful of other elves and when one unexpected elf sits on it, he makes a big scene, pointing and laughing at the elf, who is clearly embarrassed and humiliated. And it's not like a "Haha, Flouflou farted" ribbing in a friendly kind of way, no, he is maliciously laughing at and mocking him. F**k you, Belsneeze. We see him tip over a gum ball machine outside one of the 300,000 stores, so when one elf comes out of that store, he slips on the gum balls and drops his packages. While elves seem to have a high threshold for physical pain (they go through a lot in this movie, but always seem to be fine in the end), this elf could have seriously injured himself. Again, f**k you, Belsnoopy. The only actually funny prank he pulls is when he puts his image on cans of "Rik Cola", when they are usually reserved for images of Santa. (Much like the holiday Coke cans...hey, remember those commercials?)

When Santa asks him what he's doing, he replies, "I build all the best toys around here. It's about time I get some of the credit." Now he says this in English, and not in Elvish. While we sometimes hear the elves maybe say a few words in English, mostly they are talking in their native language, so is speaking quite fluently in English a sign of his intelligence? Also, if he hates humans so much, why is he speaking one of their languages? The last thing he does that sends him over the edge is when he commits vandalism by spray painting his name on the side of Santa's sleigh. When Santa asks him why he would do that, he replies, "Because you care more about children all over the world than you care about me." I mean, Santa can easily just get rid of the paint with a little bit of magic, so Belsnivel's acting out here is pretty weak and lame. Also, shut the f*ck up, Belsnoodle, like seriously. In case you can't tell, I really don't feel sorry for Belsnitch. He's a whiny-ass elf who needs constant attention and praise and can't stand not getting any of the glory when I'm sure the other 999,999 elves (remember, one million elves live in Santa's Village!) are just as accomplished at making toys as he is and they're actually decent elves who don't cause mischief and mayhem. I'd be like, "Bye, Belsnipper, don't let the door hit you on the way out". Well, after breaking the Elves' Code, "he transformed into the thing he despised the most, a human." To quote Nelson from The Simpsons, "HA, HA!" Belsnoozy is so ashamed of his new form that he runs away and never returns...until now. While Mrs. Claus is reading the kids a bedtime story, we see Belsnorkel looking things over in a sly way and says, "In a few hours, this entire village will be nothing but a distance memory." Geeze, he really hates Santa, doesn't he?

I did laugh when Mrs. Claus is done reading the book and claps her hand to turn out the lights. It's done with magic as you can tell from the sound and visual effects, but I love the nod to the Clap On/Clap Off lights. (I feel like my grandma had one of those, but I could be remembering that wrong. Maybe I'm thinking of the commercial...it was always an elderly woman who used those things). 

Once everyone is asleep, Belscooter can now hatch his plan. He has a pet yule cat named Jola who he tells to "take care of the reindeer" so they won't bother him while he gets the star. Oh, yeah, did I tell you that's his plan? To get the star tree topper since it powers the entire village. But first, I must interject with something that doesn't make sense. When Belsnap became a human, he went to live in the South Pole. I'm not sure how long he's been living there...maybe a couple years? Who knows. When we are first introduced to Jola (we meet him before we know he and Belsnail are chummy), Santa is chasing him because he keeps trying to take one of his reindeer as a snack. Obviously Jola lives in the North Pole. So why is he Belsnout's pet? I'm so confused. But Jola goes to the stable where Dasher seems to be the head reindeer and is the one who stands up to Jola, protecting the seven other reindeer, but also gets attacked by Jola. Because this is a children's movie, we only see shadows of Jola about to attack Dasher and when the humans find Dasher lying down in the stable (brought to their attention by an elf), there is no blood anywhere. I did like that when the Claus's (is it Claus's or Clauses'?; now I'm confusing myself even more!) are told, they are watching It's a Wonderful Life in Elvish. I'm not really sure why they would have that in that language, unless they have a magic TV that can dub movies in non-human languages. 

To cause havoc, Belsnipper drugs the elves with Elf Bane which turns them from sweet and friendly elves into mean and mischievous elves. It's very similar to when Mogwais (don't ask me what the plural of Mogwai is...) turn into Gremlins. And I'm sure that wasn't accidental since Chris Columbus wrote that movie. One elf is even tied up in lights before it breaks free, much like that poor dog. Also, there's a scene that is VERY similar to the one where the gremlins are in a bar just going crazy. In the movie, the scene involves elves dancing to "Who Let the Dogs Out?" 

So while Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the kids are fretting over Dasher, who is apparently dying (this movie goes to some dark places!), Belscooby nabs the star, but Santa catches him before he can make his getaway. When he finds out what happened to Dasher, he does look remorseful (I guess a sign that he can be redeemable). He says that Jola was only supposed to scare the reindeer so they would run off into the forest. The kids out the human elf as the guy that drove the shuttle that took them through the portal and Belsnow thanks Kate for helping him get back to Santa's Village, making though as this is all her fault. Belsnub's plan is to take the star back to the South Pole and start his own village, aptly named "Belsnickel's Village" (doesn't roll off the tongue like "Santa's Village") where he's going to gather his own elves and invent "really cool stuff" that "will make everyone forget that the North Pole and Santa Claus ever existed." But that's not the only reason he's taking the star. It will stop him from aging so he can have time to figure out a way to "break this awful curse." When Kate asks him what's so bad abut being human, he responds in a very teen human whiny way: "Humans suck! Elves rule! And I am tired of being a human." Yeah, that's some weak sauce. And YOU suck, Belsuckle. 

So he just wants to become an elf again and as Mrs. Claus tells him (and the audience), the only way for him to break the curse is to come home and embrace his family. Dude, you're right there. Just say you're sorry and I don't know if that means to literally hug his family or accept them the way they are, but just do whatever you need to do and you'll be a stupid elf again. This movie could end now, but we still have an hour and eight minutes to go! Belsnuff's response is "Bah humbug!" and Santa scolds him, "You watch your mouth, young elf!" I admit that got a chuckle out of me. 

Santa and Belsnickerdoodle get into a brouhaha over the star and end up breaking the veil, which makes everything go dark. Belsneedle ends up with the star and flies off with it in his homemade flying contraption. Santa exclaims, "Without the star, the North Pole, the village, Christmas itself, is doomed!" Kate asks, "Like, for this year?" and Mrs. Claus replies, "Like, forever." Gulp! 

It is decided that Santa and Kate will go to Turkey to get a new star, which can only be made by the Forest Elves while Mrs. Claus and Jack will stay behind to take care of Dasher and find a cure for the elves. The excuse they give for Kate joining Santa is that he doesn't think he'll be able to get his sleigh off the ground with only seven reindeer. So a pre-teen girl can hep with that? Really, Santa? It's a very contrived way to get Kate to go with him. When they do start flying away, there's an empty spot in the front where Dasher would have been. Wouldn't it be better to move one of the reindeer from the middle to the front so the missing spot is in the middle so at least the front and back are both loaded with reindeer? I'm no expert in physics, but this just makes more sense to me. 

So Santa and Kate get to Turkey, but they don't know that Belsnood has also hitched a ride on the bottom of the sleigh. They talk to the Forest Elves, a new star is made, Belsnapper tries to stop them, yada, yada, yada, they fly back to Santa's Village.

Meanwhile, back at the Village, Mrs. Claus has given Jack the task of finding an arctic flower that "only grows in one place" (which isn't exactly close to where they are). It is the only thing that will cure the elf bane and she needs to stay with Dasher. She gives him a map and some cookies that will help him: a gingerbread man cookie will explode when he throws it and a snowman cookie will give him courage if he eats it. There are two of each cookie on the platter, but he only takes one of each. I mean, why not stock up on more ammunition? There's also two Christmas tree cookies on the plate, but we don't find out if they have any special powers. Naturally, Jack is worried about frost bite, but Mrs. Claus tells him not to worry because she's "an expert at reattaching fingers and toes." You'd think a place brimming with magic, they'd have some kind of heating installation in their winter clothes (btw, Mrs. Claus "magically" changed the kids' resort clothes into winter garb). 

Jack has to climb a mountain to get to the antidote so he takes a bite of the snowman cookie to give him courage. Luckily he didn't bite the exploding cookie. He almost did, but then realized that was the wrong one. He does use the exploding gingerbread man cookie when he gets attacked by Jola and they both fall off the mountain. He throws the cookie at the yule cat who runs off and Jack has to climb the mountain again, but finally reaches the flower which he brings back to the stables. 

In order to distribute the antidote to the elves, he has to go to a certain spot in the village. The scene where he's fighting through the slew of elves who is making this very difficult for him is quite funny. Mrs. Claus has armed him with a Nerf crossbow and we see slow motion scenes of him shooting at the elves and running and taking cover like this is a war movie. At one point, when the elves are closing in on him, he grab a large lollipop and just smacks the crap out of them. Talk about elf abuse! I love that while the elves turn "bad", the movie at the Polaris theater has turned from Elf to Bad Santa. Personally, I think they should have gone with Gremlins as an inside joke, but they probably wanted to go for a joke that kids would have gotten since it literally says "Bad Santa". 

So Santa has dropped Kate off (literally) at the tree so she can reconnect the star to it, but that won't be without any problems. In the air, Santa and his reindeer are about to have a standoff with Belsniffles whose flying contraption is being pulled by a jackal and coyote hybrid called jackalotes. Santa tells him that it "doesn't exactly scream aerodynamic." We see them charging at each and Mrs. Claus throws a gingrbread man cookie that explodes, causing Santa, Belskittles, and all the animals to come crashing down to the ground. The gingerbread man's mouth turns into an "O" expression which got a laugh out of me. 

Kate has managed to restore the power of the star and the elves have turned back to their happy, helping, healthy elves selves. The movie is almost over, but we just need to close up Belstar's story. He and Santa share a moment when Santa shows him the first toy they built together. When Belstickle tells the Claus's he's always loved them, he turns back into an elf. All the other elves cheer and are happy, but I'm not sure why. When he WAS an elf, Belsnag was a massive jerk douche to them. I certainly wouldn't be welcoming him back with welcome arms. But, whatever.

There's a nice moment when the kids are saying good-bye to Mrs. Claus as they get in the sled with Santa so he can take them back to their resort in Cancun and she reveals to Jack that the snowman cookie he ate that supposedly had magical powers to give him courage was actually just a regular old cookie and that "the hero was always inside you." Aww. 

I did have to laugh when Belsnare jumped into Mrs. Claus's arm and you can tell Goldie Hawn was probably holding a cookie jar or something before they replaced it with the CGI elf. 

Kate and Jack are returned to the beach where they meet up with Teddy and he's like, "Oh, cool, you got to see Santa again" and they fill him in on what they did with one sentence each. The adults have returned from their getaway and they are hugged by their kids as though they've been gone for a thousand years and Kate surprises Bob when she seems to have accept his and her mother's relationship. The movie ends with the five of them outside on the beach singing "O Christmas Tree." (This is why I don't think the girl who was always going scuba diving with Teddy was his girlfriend; she wasn't a part of this singalong). While the mere mortals are singing on the beach, we see Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves are also singing the same song in Santa's Village. Of course Belsnagglepuss has to be the center of attention. I'm sorry, what did he do again to deserve the Best Elf of the Village title and Santa's and Mrs. Claus's favorite elf? Oh, right, he was a total asshat who whined about being a human when he was one so was rewarded by turning back into a whiny bratty elf. While they are singing this song, it struck me that I never knew the words to it. I could hum it, but I couldn't tell you the words besides the obvious "O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree..." I think there are different variations of it. I feel like this is a song you don't hear a lot on Christmas albums. I honestly couldn't tell you any artist who has covered it. They get a surprise from Santa when he magically makes the words "Merry Christmas" appear in the sky formed by the stars. I'm sure Claire and Bob though it was some sort of special effect the resort put on, but the kids know better. 

This was a cute movie and I can see it and its predecesser being holiday staples in peoples' homes. After all, they're both on Netflix, so it's pretty easy to come upon. 

HOWEVER, that being said, they could have gone a completely different route with this movie and I, personally, think it would have been more interesting. So there was a part I literally yada-yadaed over earlier in my review and I want to go back to that. It's when Santa and Kate now have their newly minted star and Belsnarl is ready to snatch it from them. He rams into their sleigh which makes the star fall and he throws a device at them which makes them enter a vortex and they find themselves flying above Logan International airport in Boston in the year 1990. Kate is from Boston, but she definitely wasn't around in 1990. I was confused by the year, but it soon becomes clear why it's that particular year. 

Their sled loses power and Santa tells Kate that is due to "the lowest Christmas spirit" that people have at airports during the holidays. Their plan is to make people happy at the airport which will power up their sled again and Kate needs to find batteries for the time twister device that made them enter the vortex. I would think this thing would be powered by magic that they would get from lifting peoples' Christmas spirits rather than batteries, but we do get an amusing scene of Kate buying batteries at a newsstand and the woman thinks she's using counterfeit money and notices the bill is from 2020 (I NEVER notice the year on paper money!) and says people "probably won't be using paper money in thirty years." I mean, she isn't totally wrong. 

All the flights have been cancelled due to bad weather so that's why everyone is in a bad mood. A woman goes to the ticket counter and demands, "I want a flight to Chicago right now." She totally reminded me of Kate McCallister from Home Alone when she's begging to get on a flight to Chicago to get to her son. It can't be coincidental the same city was used! 

Santa uses his magic to have the woman who's working the ticket counter to belt out, "Now wait a minute...!" When she sang those notes, I was like, is that holiday song legend Darlene Love who sang "All Alone on Christmas" from the Home Alone 2 soundtrack and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", the opening song from Gremlins, coincidently, both movies Columbus worked on as a director and writer, respectively? Obviously he loves Darlene Love. Oh, by the way, just this year, I learned that she was the original singer of "Baby Please Come Home". I honestly had no idea and never really gave it any thought. There are so many artists who have covered this song (it IS a great song) that I just figured the original just got lost in the shuffle. I was always aware of her version and knew it was one of the best versions of that song and now I know why! It's so good; no wonder so many artists cover it. It also makes SO much sense when she sings the line, "Do you remember sleigh riding in the snow; dancing all night to 'Baby Please Come Home'?" in "All Alone on Christmas?" (Another great song that sadly gets overlooked).

Anyway, Darlene Love can add another Christas song to her repertoire: "The Spirit of Christmas" which she sings with Kurt Russel. It's a catchy little ditty, but it doesn't hold a candle to her other Christmas songs. The song gets everybody in the airport dancing and singing and their Christmas spirits are lifted so much that all the flights are able to be boarded and everyone will be able to be home for Christmas. (I guess Christmas spirit also helps clear up bad weather!) 

So while all that is going on, Kate strikes up a conversation with a boy about her age who tells her he's flying to Miami to spend Christmas with his grandparents. Immediately I knew that was her dad; immediately. Later it is confirmed that her dad was 13 when she met him in 1990, so I wonder if she is supposed to be 13 too? :::shrug:: Because the kid doesn't give his name until she and Santa are about ready to leave, she doesn't realize who it is at first. Young Doug is absolutely adorable and if I were a pre-teen girl, I would have a crush on him and I was a little worried that Kate would get a crush on him and this would be a reverse Back to the Future, but this is a family movie, so I figured they wouldn't go there. When she does figure out it's her dad as a thirteen-year-old, she gives him a tearful hug goodby and thanks him. I do have to laugh because they want to make sure the young kids who are watching it know that he is her father as a kid. You would think when he tells her his name is Doug, that would be the obvious clue. But then Santa clarifies that his name is Doug Pierce and when Kate hugs him goodbye, she calls him "Dad" but quickly corrects herself. It just made me laugh that they wanted to make it very clear that this is her dad! 

But I think it would have been a more interesting movie if she had spent Christmas with her dad in 1990. Maybe his flight to Miami was cancelled (despite all that Christmas spirit), so she was invited to his house and also got to see her grandparents when they were around her mom's age. Maybe, just maybe, Kate could inspire young Doug to go into a different profession other than a firefighter. Not that I think 13-year-old Doug knew he wanted to be a firefighter, but maybe he and Kate make Christmas cookies and she inspires him to be a pastry chef (do pasty chefs even make cookies? IDK) or maybe they play with Lego bricks and she's impressed with his designs and tells him he should be an architect. I don't know, just something that inspires him so he has a profession that is't so dangerous, so when Kate returns to present her dad is still alive! (Poor Bob). I think they could have had a really cool idea for a movie, but instead they went with the Belsnuffleupagus plot line. Oh, well, at least I had fun making up different names for him and I hope you all got a kick out of that too.