I'll admit when I saw the previews last year, I had my doubts.
I mean sure, they could do a sequel or some kind of follow-up to A Christmas Story. In fact, they'd already done that twice. Both times, just not all that good.
But there were glimmers of hope: A lot of the actors from the original film were coming back for A Christmas Story Christmas. That could be good. And there were hints that even Scut Farkas was coming back, once again to torment poor little Ralphie Parker.
Saw the film for the first time tonight, and it's better than I hoped it would be.
As tone perfect as the first film was in showing Christmas through the eyes of a kid, this follow-up shows us Christmas through the rose-colored eyes of an adult suddenly having to create a perfect Christmas at a very imperfect time. A grown Ralphie navigates the same kind of world his old man had to navigate, but has to navigate it on his own as he never really considered what his old man was up to in life. In the original film, we don't know what the old man did for a living -- we don't even know his name.
Lives have moved on, some for the better, some for the same. No one's a real success, they're just ordinary people living those ordinary lives that their kids don't know about because all that really matters is that Christmas is coming and the expectation of presents is there.
Ralphie still daydreams, the Bumpus hounds still stink up the place, and there are bullies to be dealt with; faceless bullies the parents don't even really know.
It's a great film. As a friend said, it's not a standalone film, and probably not for anyone who's just a casual viewer of the original. It's a companion piece, filled with enough in-jokes a true fan is likely only those who'll consider it worthy.
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