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A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS

"A Christmas Nod to Fathers Everywhere"

Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS is a sequel to the 1983 Christmas classic A CHRISTMAS STORY. Streaming on Netflix, it shows a grown-up Ralphie who has to plan a wonderful Christmas for his family just like his old man used to do for him and his brother. Ralph’s father has suddenly died a week before Christmas. So, Ralph takes his wife and two children to visit his mother for Christmas. Ralph decides he wants to create the perfect Christmas for his family, to honor his father’s memory. The question is, Does he have what it takes to give his family a Christmas to remember?

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS is a funny, heartfelt sequel that honors fathers and grandfathers in wonderful ways. Peter Billingsley returns as the adult Ralphie and does another great job. The movie has some positive, but usually brief, Christian references, including references to the Christmas star and the “Silent Night” of the Nativity. However, some scenes occur in a friend’s bar where people are drinking beer and whiskey. A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS also has some foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution.

Content:

(BBB, CC, PP, LL, V, AA, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Very strong moral, pro-family worldview stresses gratitude, reconciliation and celebrating Christmas together, and honors fathers and grandfathers, but doesn’t forget mothers and grandmothers, with positive but usually brief Christian references to the Christmas star, the Nativity, angels, and some Christmas carols that are sometimes heard in the background (including “Silent Night” and “Come All Ye Faithful”), plus man says another man’s actions made him want to stop being a bully and become a policeman

Foul Language:
13 obscenities (two SOB words, some “h” and “d” and a** words), six light exclamatory profanities (including OMG, Dear God and “Oh, Lordy”), three light scatological references, a character is called a “moron,” and boy vomits after licking a huge lollipop while standing in line to visit Santa

Violence:
Some slapstick violence and other violence such as bullies on a snowmobile deliberately run over a snowman built by boy and his sister made, its implied the snowmobile crashes in another scene, men slide down an icy construction ramp and land on their backs, men and a woman sled down a hill (woman hits hood of a junkyard car, boy sleds down a hill, and it’s implied he hits another junkyard car and broke his arm (he shows up in a cast in next scenes), family gets into a snowball fight, and father accidentally hits young daughter in left eye (knocking her down), and she has to wear an eyepatch for precaution after visiting the ER, father accidentally breaks some windows, father takes a pratfall trying to break into friend’s bar, wife slips on porch and sprains her ankle, and there’s talk about the family’s grandfather suddenly passing away

Sex:
No sex

Nudity:
No nudity

Alcohol Use:
Scenes are set at a friend’s bar with people drinking and one or two seem a bit tipsy in two scenes

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Lying, older bullies steal a younger boy’s scarf, Christmas presents are stolen when car trunk accidentally comes open, man and his mother avoid Christmas carolers because the carolers like to sing two or three songs not just one when you open the door, man breaks into his friend’s bar to take a Christmas decoration.

More Detail:

A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS is a sequel to the 1983 Christmas classic A CHRISTMAS STORY and shows a now grown-up Ralphie who has to plan a wonderful Christmas for his family just like his old man used to do for him and his brother. Streaming on HBO Max, A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS is a funny, heartfelt, well-acted sequel that honors fathers and grandfathers, as well as their better halves, but there are scenes set in a bar and some foul language, so caution is advised.

The movie opens at Christmastime in 1973 with Ralph Parker departing his home in Chicago and going to visit the one of only two publishers who haven’t turned down the new science fiction book he’s written. He and his wife, Sandy, have two children, Mark, and a younger daughter, Julie. Sandy has given Ralph one year to sell his first book, but the year is almost finished.

After returning from another disappointing publisher’s meeting, Ralph gets a call from his mother, who tells him that his father has suddenly passed away. The family piles into the rundown family car and drives straight to Hohman, Indiana, to the little house on Cleveland Street to be with Ralph’s mother.

As the family visits the grandmother, Ralph decides he wants to create the perfect Christmas for his family, to honor his father’s memory. The question is, Does he have what it takes to give his family a Christmas to remember?

Like its predecessor, A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS has a lot of funny comic setpieces in it. Though it’s not quite as hilarious or iconic, it adds a lot of heart to its story, more than what the earlier movie had. At the end, for example, it delivers a really strong yuletide nod to fathers and grandfathers everywhere. Peter Billingsley returns as the adult Ralphie. As the father, he again does a wonderful job. Erinn Hayes plays Ralph’s wife. The great Julie Hagerty plays Ralph’s mother. Ralph’s children are played by River Drosche and Julianna Layne. Finally, Scott Schwartz and R.D. Robb return as Ralphie’s childhood friends, Ian Petrella returns as his brother, and Zack Ward returns as Ralphie’s nemesis.

The movie’s nod to the father is very strong, and the two mothers are also honored. So, A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS has a very strong moral worldview that may remind viewers of one of the Ten Commandments, “Honor your father and your mother so that your days will increase in the land that the Lord your God gives to you,” in Exodus 20:12. The movie also has some positive but usually brief Christian references to the Christmas star, the Nativity, angels, and a few Christmas carols such as “Silent Night.”

However, some scenes take place in a friend’s bar where people are drinking beer and whiskey. A CHRISTMAS STORY CHRISTMAS also has some foul language. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution.



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