“A Christmas Story Christmas” (2022), the highly anticipated sequel to the 1983 Classic “A Christmas Story,” picks up with Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) as a struggling writer living in Chicago, Illinois. He is shattered with the news of his fathers passing. In response, he and his family take a trip back to Cleveland Street. He then wants to make this Christmas one to remember but feels he won’t make Christmas the same as his father did.

Ever since I was a little kid, my family would sit down during the Christmas season and watch the Classic “A Christmas Story” multiple times. With this being one of my family’s favorites, it was naturally a highly anticipated release in my household. However I was met with a certain level of disappointment. This sequel had so much potential and the way it was executed is a missed opportunity of what it could’ve been.

The new movie is an attempt to connect Ralphie and his new family back to his old life. While it has good intentions, the acting was subpar at best, which affected my viewing experience. More specifically, Ralphie and the way he acted just seemed too forced. 

As the movie aged, so the characters should have, but instead they resorted back to how Ralphie as a child had acted. 

As for characters, one thing this movie did well was bringing back many vital characters including fan favorites Randy (Ian Petrella), Flick (Scott Schwartz) Schwartz (R. D. Robb) and the infamous Scut Farkus (Zack Ward). The revival of these characters in this movie brings nostalgia from the memorable first movie. 

A couple of characters that could be more properly developed is Ralphie’s wife Sandy (Erinn Hayes). The problem is that she isn’t really developed at all; she is just thrown in there with no introduction. This sparks some interest on how she came about in Ralphie’s life.

As far as the set and scenes go, I thought it was great how they brought back some of the most iconic scenes and locations, including the iconic house on Cleveland Street. But one that I liked even more was the scene at the mall when they saw Santa Claus and were shopping for presents. 

One of the scenes they could do without would probably be the one with everyone at the metal slide. It was just uncalled for and didn’t contribute to the plot very effectively.

Overall, this choice to continue the amazing story was a nice attempt but one that was an overall disappointment. It would’ve been totally fine and probably better if they left the iconic 1983 movie alone by itself. But even with all its disappointment, it really is the thought that counts.