On the grand scheme of holiday films, including telefilms, “A Christmas Story 2” is probably better than most holiday telefilms, because there is comedy, happiness, hope and the holiday spirit but comparing it to the original, then I can see why people feel it fails in comparison. But if one is able to separate their feelings of the original film and just watch “A Christmas Story 2” as a holiday family film, if you are entertained, then I guess that’s all that really matters.
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TITLE: A Christmas Story 2
FILM YEAR: 2012
DURATION: 85 Minutes
COMPANY: Warner Premiere
Based on the novel “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” by Jean Shepherd
Directed by Brian Levant
Teleplay by Nat Mauldin
Produced by Phillip B. Goldfine, Brian Levant
Co-Producer: Chris Foss
Associate Producer: Galen Fletcher
Executive Producer: Benjamin Sacks
Music by David Newman
Cinematography by Jan Kiesser
Edited by Roger Bondelli
Casting by Nancy Nayor
Production Design by Brentan Harron
Art Direction by Tyler Bishop Harron
Set Decoration by Shannon Gottlieb
Costume Design by Kerry Weinrauch
Starring:
Daniel Stern as The Old man
Braeden Lemasters as Ralph PArker
Stacey Travis as Mother
Valin Shinyei as Randy Parker
Gerard Plunkett as Hank Catenhauser
David Michael Paul as Schwartz
David W. Thompson as Flick
Tiera Skovbye as Drucilla Gootrad
Shawn Macdonald as Assistant Manager
The original, traditional, one-hundred-percent, red-blooded, two-fisted, All-American Christmas continues five years later with Ralphie, Randy, mom and the Old Man. This time, Ralphie has his eyes fixed on a car. But trouble is sure to follow.
We have arrived at day 50 of the holiday marathon and today’s review is “A Christmas Story 2”, a direct sequel to the iconic holiday 1983 film “A Christmas Story” but many people are not aware that the first sequel is the 1994 film “A Summer Story” (which was based on the semi-autobiographical stories by Jean Shepherd).
This direct-to-DVD film was directed by Brian Levant (“The Flintsones”, “Jingle All the Way”, “The New Leave it To Beaver”) and written by Nat Mauldin (“Barney Miller”, “Doctor Dolittle”, “Downtown”).
The film revolves around the Parker family and playing the family members are Daniel Stern (“The Wonder Years”, “Home Alone”, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”), Braeden Lemasters (“T@gged”, “11.22.63”, “Flock of Four”), Stacey Travis (“Ghost World”, “Intolerable Cruelty”, “Easy A”), Valin Shineyi (“Nodd, Toyland Detective”, “Mrs. Miracle”), Tiera Skovbye (“Nurses”, “Dirty John”, “Riverdale”) and more.
The film is set during 1946 and Ralphie is now a 15-year-old teenager and he really wants a 1939 Mercury Eight convertible for Christmas.
While out with his friends Schwartz and Flick, he sees his dream car on a display ramp at the used car lot. When he goes inside and acts like he is test driving it and dreaming that he is driving with the girl of his dreams, his classmate Drucilla Gootrad (portrayed by Tiera Skovbye).
The used car owner stops by and Ralphie tries to hide but his pants get caught on the shift knob and he ends up reversing the car and a reindeer statue falls on top of it, damaging the vehicle.
The owner demands that Ralphie pay $87 to fix the damage ($87 in 1946 is like $1,373). So, now Ralphie must find a way to come up with the money to pay for the damage.
Meanwhile, we see the usual family antics with the old man dealing with the bad furnace, the mother and father dynamics and the jokes by young Randy.
I have to admit that I did NOT want to see if this film all these years because of the bad reviews and because the original film is so iconic, to watch a film about the Parker’s without the original cast seemed like a disservice.
Granted, I have reviewed a sequel with most of the original cast for the 2022 film “A Christmas Story Christmas” but there is no doubt the heart of the writer and director was to provide a film showing a grown up Ralphie as a teenager.
Being direct-to-video, some may think the film are like the “Home Alone” sequels without Macaulay Culkin, just the title of the film but nothing much tied to the family members of the original film.
As mentioned, “A Summer Story” was the first sequel and that film did not feature any of the original cast but featured Ralphie at the age of 10. This was based on the semi-autobiographical story by Jean Shepherd, like “A Christmas Story”, thus making it canon. Jean Shepherd also narrates the film.
But “A Christmas Story 2” is not based on Jean Shepherd’s film nor does it tie anything to “A Summer Story” but whether or not you take it as canon depends on the viewer. Most who criticized the film probably do not include this film at all.
Needless to say, after watching this film, it’s actually not that bad. I was entertained but the problem is that it ties into “A Christmas Story” a bit and it’s a hard act to follow such an iconic holiday film.
In many ways, this is a teenage-driven film of Ralphie as a teenager dreaming of a girl, dreaming of having a convertible and trying to find jobs to pay a major debt. While his parents focus on saving money or not spending money and father/mother bonding or trying to during a day of ice fishing.
For those who missed the dream sequences, there are numerous, but again, mostly focused on Ralphie’s interests (girl and car). No bullies, no Bumpuses, it’s more slapstick comedy and different from the original.
But you have to keep the two films separate and because the film had received so much negativity, I watched this film expecting a truly bad film. But it’s not truly bad at all. It’s just not a strong following to “A Christmas Story” and I don’t even know if that’s even possible. Granted, the returning cast for “A Christmas Story Christmas” was able to bring that nostalgia back as it featured Ralphie as a struggling writer and his family visiting his hometown after the death of his father. There was a lot of tie-ins to the original film.
This one, there are a few tie-ins but it is what it is.
On the grand scheme of holiday films, including telefilms, “A Christmas Story 2” is probably better than most holiday telefilms, because there is comedy, happiness, hope and the holiday spirit but comparing it to the original, then I can see why people feel it fails in comparison. But if one is able to separate their feelings of the original film and just watch “A Christmas Story 2” as a holiday family film, if you are entertained, then I guess that’s all that really matters.
Give the film a chance and separate your feelings from the original film and just watch this direct-to-video sequel for what it is. And I think you may find yourself being entertained.
