BACKGROUND
I’m a big fan of Christmas films.
I make sure to watch all my favourite ones every year. But I also like to give the television Christmas movies a go, things from Lifetime and Hallmark for example, though, as anyone who has watched these types of movies will know, they are generally quite hit-or-miss and vary widely from unwatchable to amazing.
However, although some of my favourite Christmas films are Disney, such as The Santa Clause trilogy, I have not seen any Disney Channel Original Movies which are Christmas-themed. Luckily, there really aren’t many, so I haven’t missed out on much.
Two of them were released in the early 2000s – The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) and ‘Twas the Night (2001) – a little bit early for me to have been watching the channel. Ten years after that – yes, a whole decade – Disney Channel premiered their next Christmas-based DCOM, Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! (2011). Though I liked the series, I wasn’t an avid watcher of it, so, once again, I missed the boat on that one.
It wasn’t for another ten years that the next Christmas DCOM would come into existence, this being Christmas…Again?!, a movie about a girl who gets stuck reliving Christmas over and over again until she learns the true meaning of the holiday. You’d think such a leader in children and tween programming would want to prioritise Christmas as a theme in its original movies like other channels, but, for whatever reason, they have not.
Christmas…Again?! was yet another average Christmas movie for me, however, unlike the Hallmark-style of Christmas movies, Christmas…Again?! was not aimed at someone my age. It is best suited for those under 16, and I’m sure those kids really liked it. It has its moments of comedy; it represents modern-day families; and lots of children probably wish it could be Christmas every day. It is relatable for them.
Going into seeing this movie for the first time, I really thought I wouldn’t like it at all. That did not turn out to be the case. In fact, the first twenty minutes were alright, with the original Christmas scene, and the last twenty minutes, where the main character breaks her time loop, were fine too. The problem with time loops in movies is that they can get old and boring really quickly. Christmas…Again?! fell into that category in my opinion. I don’t think the movie needed to be 90 minutes long, and some of the middle section could’ve easily been reduced. If that had happened, I might have liked this film more than I did.
PLOT
The movie begins late at night on Christmas Eve. Rowena, also known as Ro, is talking to her mother about her Top 5 Christmas memories and talking about how she wants to relive all of them this year. There is just one problem with that; this will be Ro’s first Christmas with her father’s new girlfriend, Diane, and her son, Louie, so it’s going to be different this year.
On Christmas Day, Ro is scared awake by Louie who is standing by her bed, dressed up as a ghost. This causes Ro to stumble backwards, knocking over a glass of juice onto a laptop. She then goes downstairs and tries to talk to her father about all the cool things she wants to do this Christmas, but he is too distracted by Louie to listen. Ro follows him into the kitchen and finds that Diane has eaten the special Christmas chocolate that was meant for her – gasp! Ro’s grandparents and uncles soon arrive at the house for a big family Christmas but as the day goes on, Ro finds herself and her Christmas traditions being ignored, plus things start to go wrong, like her uncles’ dog peeing on Ro’s belongings; an antique bowl being broken; the dog knocking all the food off the table; and then just when Ro thinks she can get some peace to watch the annual Christmas ice hockey match she likes, Louie starts messing with the remote control and turns the TV off. Ro chases Louie to get the remote back, but accidentally gets caught up in the decorations and they all fall to the ground with a crash. Ro is blamed by the whole family for ruining Christmas – oh yeah, and destroying her sister, Gabby’s laptop with that morning juice spill…
Ro is furious at this as she feels like her family has ruined Christmas for her, so she storms outside and starts throwing snowballs at a statue of Santa as payback for her terrible Christmas. Surprisingly, a man in a Santa suit appears from behind the statue and asks Ro why she isn’t having a great day. She tells him what’s been going on and he then asks Ro if she’d like a Christmas do-over. She says she would and wishes for one.
The next day, Ro wakes up and is surprised to find the same things happening to her, like getting scared by Louie, spilling the juice, and having all the family over again. Ro plays along for a bit but soon gets fed up with this and accuses everyone of playing a prank on her to get back at her for “ruining Christmas”. The family have no idea what she’s talking about. The next day, Ro realises that, although it is still apparently Christmas, the exact same things have not happened that day, for example, the juice didn’t spill on her sister’s laptop this time. Ro figures out she is reliving Christmas and she can change it to do exactly what she wants; she thinks she’ll enjoy this time loop she’s stuck in.
The next day, Ro decides to do things differently and orders herself a limo. When the car comes to pick her up, the man dressed as Santa from the other night – who Ro calls Tall Santa – is her driver. He asks her why she is alone and Ro simply states she wants to have a normal Christmas even if that means doing it all without her family. She goes sledging one day; goes to the pier for a Christmas event; goes to the museum; and goes to the Santas vs. Elves hockey game, eventually competing in it herself, to start ticking off her Top 5 Christmas memories list, redoing everything as she’d always planned. Ro also starts to get her own back on her family, getting up early to scare Louie instead of the other way round, and threatening Diane for the Christmas chocolate. She also decides to have some fun by pretending she’s psychic, since she knows what’s going to happen in the day, having witnessed it numerous times. Ro sets up more fun for herself by asking everyone questions and uses this information the following day to “prove” her psychic abilities.
One day, she takes the limo back to the hockey game again, but notices her neighbours acting out their same movements from the days before, like two kids having their charity money stolen by a local bully; a family putting up posters about their lost cat; and a woman dropping her groceries. Ro is then at the food stall at the hockey game and sees Tall Santa at the counter. Ro tells Tall Santa she knows what’s going to happen to all these people around her today, to which Tall Santa asks if she ever warns them if it’s something bad that happens. Ro says she doesn’t and that this do-over is just about getting her Christmas list done. Tall Santa reiterates that she should be spending time with family, even if it has changed. However, Ro doesn’t want things to change – but Tall Santa did give her an idea; her Christmas doesn’t need to change if she can get her parents back together!
This task then becomes Ro’s focus, spending days on this. She has to make sure Diane and Louie are out of the way first, so she covers Diane’s clothing with the cat hair from the neighbourhood’s lost cat – which she found but didn’t return to its owners – as she’s terribly allergic, and sits Louie in the bathtub with a laptop, saying he can watch whatever he wants. Ro then starts to get her mum and dad to relive their favourite Christmas Day, as they both told Ro on a previous day all about it. Gradually, Ro starts to piece together the perfect moment for her parents to reunite. One night, Ro and her sister dance with her parents in the living room, before leaving as their wedding song plays. Ro then dangles mistletoe above them. This doesn’t result in a real kiss and the parents start to suspect Ro is trying to get them back together. They both sit her down and tell her that they aren’t getting back together, as Ro’s father has asked Diane to marry him and she’s said yes. This devastates Ro and now her Christmas is tainted with bad memories forever…
As the time loop continues, Ro just wants everything to go back to normal and for this wish of hers to stop. She tries to destroy her penguin alarm clock which plays “Jingle Bells” to her every morning but it doesn’t work, and simply reappears each morning. Ro starts acting up during the day, saying she now relates to Scrooge in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and doesn’t see the point of Christmas anymore, worrying her family. Ro also tries writing to Santa to get him to stop the time loop and even yells at the Santa statue outside, but nothing works and she continues to live out Christmas Day.
Eventually, Ro has a heart-to-heart with Gabby who tells her she misses the old times too, but that her parents weren’t happy together so it’s better this way really. Ro was younger when the divorce happened so she doesn’t necessarily remember any of that. Ro realises she should be spending Christmas with family and needs to stop living in the past.
Over the next few Christmas Days, Ro sets her sights on helping others. For her family, she is kind to everyone, including Louie and Diane; saves the antique bowl from breaking; and brings a mariachi band to the house for them all to enjoy. The family even sit and sing “Silent Night” together. Within the neighbourhood, Ro helps two kids with their charity money as they exchange jokes for donations and even convinces the local bully to contribute to the money instead of stealing it. She also returns the lost cat to its owners; helps the woman with her groceries; and even saves an engagement from going wrong.
That Christmas evening, as Ro and her family spend time together, the neighbours and local people that Ro helped all come to the house with food to thank Ro for her help that day. This turns into a big party and Ro gives a speech telling everyone that this was her best Christmas ever and that Christmas really is about spending time with the people you love.
The very next day, Ro expects it to be Christmas Day again, especially as her clock radio is still playing “Jingle Bells”, but it turns out it is the 26th December. Ro is very happy that the time loop is over but is surprisingly sad to see her father, Diane, and Louie packing up their things to head back home. She says goodbye to them. Shortly after, a limo arrives, with Tall Santa still driving it. He asks Ro about her Christmas list, which she completed but found didn’t make her as happy as helping others and being with her family. As he is about to leave, Ro notices Tall Santa has his own list in the limo. This is the “Second Chance List”, not the Naughty List though, making her wonder if he was the real Santa after all. As Tall Santa drives away, Ro’s name vanishes from the list.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Rowena is only twelve years old so it’s quite understandable that she would want to spend her Christmas doing things she wants to do, like going to Winter Fest and seeing the Christmas hockey match. Although I’m not sure we’re meant to sympathise with Rowena too much, it must be difficult to have to spend Christmas with a new stepbrother and stepmother, with all Ro’s usual traditions going out the window because you have to incorporate other people into the day. I admire Rowena’s dedication to Christmas with all her lists and planning, and I’m glad she got to go out and do everything she wanted during the time loop, even if that wasn’t the way to break it! It was quite obvious that the way Ro was going to stop the time loop was by being more selfless but it was still a nice message.
Rowena was played by Scarlett Estevez who had previously been cast as Megan in the movie Daddy’s Home (2015) and its 2017 sequel. She also appeared in the series Lucifer (2016-21) in the role of Trixie, before being cast as Gwen in Season 4 of the Disney Channel series Bunk’d (2015-24). Estevez went on to star as Ultra Violet in the Disney series Ultra Violet & Black Scorpion (2022). For her role as Rowena in Christmas…Again?!, Estevez was also nominated in the Best Young Actor category at the 2022 Imagen Awards.
Rowena’s parents are loving and supportive of Ro, and, despite the divorce and the added awkwardness of a new partner and son coming along, they are determined to have a nice family Christmas altogether. It’s quite common to think that divorced couples can’t even bear to be in the same room as each other, but that certainly isn’t the case here. Rowena’s mother, Caroline, is welcoming to Diane and Louie and there is no sign of animosity between them. However, Ro struggles with the fact she is no longer the centre of attention with her parents, as they are surrounded by other family members to consider, and Louie is now the youngest child in the house. Caroline and Mike, Ro’s father, try to keep Ro involved in the usual activities, but Ro is seemingly uninterested to begin with. Regardless of how Ro behaves over those various Christmas Days, her parents are honest and open with her, and clearly love her, even though they aren’t still together.
Alexis Carra was cast as Caroline, having previously appeared as Cynthia Molina in the teen drama Recovery Road (2016), and as Jessica in the sitcom Mixology (2014). Mike was played by Daniel Sunjata who some may recognise as James Holt in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and as Brad in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009). Sunjata also starred as Franco Rivera in the series Rescue Me (2004-11). Recently, he was cast as Detective Karadec in the crime drama High Potential (2024-present), alongside Kaitlin Olson.
Rowena’s grandparents are Abuela Sofia and Abuelo Hector. Their arrival causes a bit of chaos in the household on Christmas Day as Sofia struggles with an upset stomach after eating at a greasy spoon earlier that day, and Sofia asks Ro if she liked the sweater they got her for Christmas, assuming that presents had already been opened – they hadn’t. Sofia and Hector are doting, loving grandparents, as you’d expect them to be.
Abuela Sofia was played by Priscilla Lopez, who originated the role of Diana Morales in A Chorus Line in Broadway in 1975. She was also cast as Camila Rosario in the musical In the Heights on Broadway in 2008. Lopez also played the roles of Fastrada and later Berthe in performances of the musical Pippin. Lopez was cast as Veronica, the mother of Jennifer Lopez’s character, in Maid in Manhattan (2002) too. Abuelo Hector was played by Tony Amendola, who appeared in the recurring role of Geppetto/Marco in Once Upon a Time (2011-18). He was also cast as the character Bra’tac in Stargate SG-1 (1997-2007). Recently, Amendola appeared as King Levitica in the movie Rebel Moon (2023).
Then there is Diane, Rowena’s stepmother. She is trying her best to get Ro to like her, but to no avail, which is a shame because apart from eating Ro’s sacred chocolate, she seems like a kind person. Diane just wants Ro to like her and get on with her, so at the start of Christmas…Again?!, it is quite sad to see Ro being mean or dismissive towards her. Their relationship is much better by the end of the movie though, as Ro realises Diane shouldn’t be blamed for making their Christmas different this year, and that as long as Diane makes her dad happy, Ro should make an effort to get on with her. Diane also brings her son, Louie, to the family who starts off as a seemingly bratty little stepbrother to Rowena, scaring her when she wakes up and taking the remote control away from her when she wants to watch her hockey match. I think these were just cries for attention from Ro though, because when she starts to actually spend some time with him, they get on perfectly well.
Beth Lacke was cast as Diane, after appearing in other Disney projects previously. One of these was Teen Beach 2 (2015) where Lacke played Brady’s mom, and she was also cast in the recurring role of Lynne Bowen in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (2019-23). 7-year-old James McCracken was cast as Louie in his first big screen role.
Rounding out the family are Gabby, Rowena’s sister, and her uncles Gerry and Bruce. Gabby is the older sister, so naturally, she doesn’t always get along with Rowena, and that is made even worse when Ro spills juice on her laptop at the start of the film. The biggest moment between the two of them in Christmas…Again?! comes when Gabby tells Rowena about how Christmas might not be the same but that change isn’t always a bad thing. She wants Ro to know she feels the same about things being different, yet she knows that their parents not being together is the best thing for the family. Gabby doesn’t get a lot screen time, but she makes a lot of sense. Ashlyn Jade Lopez was cast as Gabby here.
For the uncles, Gerry and Bruce also don’t get much screen time, though each has a moment with Ro when she’s trying to make amends with her family after having some difficult Christmases with them during the time loop, which they obviously don’t remember Uncle Gerry is interested in stand-up comedy and on that first Christmas Day, he attempts to deliver some of his routine to the family, however Rowena interrupts him and critiques him making Gerry even more nervous about it. Rowena gives him some encouragement as he’s about to do this routine again later in the time loop. Uncle Bruce teaches Rowena martial arts during one of the Christmas Days, so she can use it on the neighbourhood bully for stealing charity money. Uncle Gerry is played by Gabriel Ruiz, and Bruce by Sean Parris.
Finally, we have Tall Santa. Tall Santa is the one who makes all this happen and is Rowena’s guide, trying to show her the real meaning of Christmas with his occasional appearances during her Christmas activities or with crypt messages. It takes quite a lot of time – we see Ro go through so many Christmas Days in Christmas…Again?! – but eventually the message about family and helping others sticks and Ro is able to stop the time loop. We also learn that Tall Santa was the real Santa, who had wanted to give Ro a second chance at Christmas, to realise what it’s really about.
Tall Santa was played by Gary Anthony Williams. I was so happy when I saw him in this movie as I am a big fan of Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1998-present) and Gary Anthony Williams is a regular cast member in that show – and one of my favourites. For Disney, he voiced Mufasa in The Lion Guard (2015-19) prior to this movie and went on to voice the character of “Pops” in the animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2023-present). He is also set to voice a character in the Eyes of Wakanda Disney+ series, which is scheduled to be released sometime in 2025.
MUSIC
I was quite surprised to find that a soundtrack for Christmas…Again?! was released on the same day as the movie, consisting of five songs. Only one is these is an original song for the movie, with the other four being covers of traditional Christmas songs and carols.
The original song here is called “Christmas Again”. It was written by Sam Hollander, Josh Edmundson, and Charity Daw, and is performed by Scarlett Estevez. It is played as Rowena goes on her various jaunts around Chicago, ticking off her Christmas Wishlist, going to the museum, the aquarium, and the Santas vs. Elves hockey game, just to name a few. It’s quite an upbeat, catchy song for Christmas.
Then there is the radio track that is played every morning, “Jingle Bells” by Frankie Rodríguez. I already don’t like this song much, as I hear it too much over the festive season, but this version is at least a jazzier version of it, so I don’t mind it, though I’m sure if I had to listen to it every morning as I relived Christmas Day however many times it would get old really fast! This song is also played during the End Credits.
There is also the instrumental version of “Joy to the World” performed by Mariachi Son de Fuego. This scene takes place after Gabby has a heart-to-heart with Rowena about their new family. Rowena decides she should be making new Christmas memories with her family instead of living in the past, so she seemingly hires a mariachi band to come and play outside their house for all the family to enjoy. I do like mariachi bands so I like this number.
The final songs on the soundtrack are two family singalongs performed by the cast. The first is “Noche de Paz”, a Spanish version of “Silent Night” because this movie is based around a Latino family. This is played shortly after Rowena’s turnaround, as the family spend a happy Christmas Day evening together. Later on, there is a performance of “Silver Bells”, which isn’t a Christmas song I like, and is heard in this movie on the final Christmas Day, when all the neighbours and Rowena’s family are celebrating the day together. It’s nice to hear these two songs in the movie as singing feels like a typical Christmas activity for this family, so it felt natural.
Alongside the official soundtrack, there are four other songs that appear during Christmas…Again?! The first of these appears during the Opening Credits, as family photos pass across the screen. This song is “Little Bit of Christmas” by Juliet Roberts. Like “Christmas Again”, it is quite an upbeat, positive song. I did quite like it.
Some time later, the song “It’s Christmas“ by Clooney can be heard as Ro goes to Navy Pier and attends some sort of Christmas event there. This is more of a pop-rock song, perhaps showing Ro’s rebellion against the Christmas her family are trying to impose on her at home; instead, she’s out doing what she wants to do.
When Ro decides to get her parents back together this Christmas, two different songs play. The first is the dance tune “Epa Boom Boom” by Zalento. This is heard as Ro and Gabby dance with their parents in the living room. The girls then make a quick disappearance so that the song “Never Been In Love” by Lewis La Medica can be played instead, giving the parents a slow song to dance to. Although I liked the dance tune, I could barely hear “Never Been In Love” through all of Ro’s matchmaking shenanigans! Listening back to it now, it is good. It sounds similar to a Michael Bublé song in my opinion, like a swing-era sort of number.
The final song to mention is “My Christmas Wish” by Devin Jay Hoffman, Rhett Fisher, and Skip Armstrong, which is played during the montage of Ro attempting to destroy her penguin radio in a bid to end this Christmas time loop once and for all. Much like Ro’s attempts to get her parents back together, this does not work either. The cheeriness of this song is in complete contrast to Ro’s frustration at this point in the movie.
Outside of musical numbers, there is the score to mention. The score in Christmas…Again?! is actually quite noticeable, which I can’t always say with Disney Channel Original Movies, and that is because there are quite long stretches in this movie where there aren’t any songs. So, the score has to represent the confusion, frustration, happiness, etc., that Ro is feeling throughout all of these Christmas Days she has to experience. The score in particular does the heavy lifting during the first Christmas Day, to get across Rowena’s feelings of annoyance and sadness at the change to her normal Christmas, as well as the scene of Tall Santa granting her do-over wish. The score was composed by Nathan Wang. Wang had previously composed the music for other DCOMs including Hatching Pete (2009); Minutemen (2008); and Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), amongst many other non-Disney projects.
PRODUCTION
It was confirmed that production on Christmas…Again?! had begun in November 2020. At the same time, the cast members were announced, as was the director, Andy Fickman, the screenwriter Doan La, and the executive producer Betsy Sullenger. The basic premise of the story, about the Christmas time loop and Ro’s wish to have a Christmas like she’d always had before her father got a new girlfriend, was also revealed[1].
It is known that Christmas…Again?! took inspiration from a couple of places. One of these was from the 1892 short story Christmas Every Day, written by William Dean Howells, where a child wishes for it to be Christmas every day, and relives the day through a time loop which only ends when the true meaning of Christmas is learnt. This story had already been used in a prior Disney project, this being the segment Donald Duck: Stuck on Christmas, which features within Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (1999). For this segment, Donald Duck’s nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are the centre of the story.
Others see Christmas…Again?! as mostly being inspired by the movie Groundhog Day (1993), potentially one of the most memorable movies to feature a recurring time loop. In this case, Bill Murray’s character, Phil, only manages to stop this time loop by learning the importance of love and in doing so, becomes a better version of himself. Some moments of Christmas…Again?! do imitate those with Groundhog Day. For example, Rowena’s clock radio plays “Jingle Bells” to her every morning to wake her up, in the same way that the radio plays Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe” every day to Phil, letting him know it’s Groundhog Day yet again. Both radios also play the same song even after the time loop is broken, just to give a moment of doubt to the characters and viewers that this might still be the same day. Also, when Rowena is getting fed up of reliving the same Christmas Day over and over, she tries to destroy her penguin radio to get it to stop. It simply reappears the next morning. For Phil in Groundhog Day, he gets so bored that he starts to do very reckless things, like driving off a cliff and committing robbery because he knows he’ll just wake up the next day.
Andy Fickman was chosen to direct Christmas…Again?! He had directed the movies She’s the Man (2006) and Parental Guidance (2012) before Christmas…Again?! and was no stranger to Disney Channel, as he had also directed numerous episodes of the series Liv and Maddie (2013-17). Fickman said that he had always liked Groundhog Day and the concept of that film so was happy to make a Christmas-themed movie that took inspiration from that same type of story. He also responded to the central blended family within the story and their challenges in navigating that with new partners and their children. Fickman said he enjoyed working with Scarlett Estevez as she was so enthusiastic. Most of the cast mostly just acted out the same motions during each time loop, but Estevez had a more difficult challenge, by having to base her performance around how her character was feeling in each and every time loop, of which there were apparently around 50[2]. I wouldn’t know because, funnily enough, I didn’t count them!
Christmas…Again?! was filmed from November to December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, so that added another layer of difficulty to the production. Cast and crew were required to wear masks when not filming and production would have to shut down for days at a time if anyone tested positive for the virus.
The movie was filmed in and around Chicago in Illinois. Illinois and Chicago are popular places for Christmas movies to be set, however, not too many of these are actually filmed there too. Two that I found that were both set and filmed in Chicago are Home Alone (1990) and While You Were Sleeping (1995), although this second one may not be considered a Christmas movies by some. Regardless, Christmas…Again?! takes full advantage of Illinois for its filming locations, as well as its wintry weather. Some areas that are seen within the movie include Navy Pier, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Millennium Park, all in Chicago. The Shedd Aquarium and the 360 Chicago Observation Deck in the John Hancock Center are also shown. The cast supposedly loved filming in Chicago as the LA locals got to experience some snowy, cold weather at Christmastime[3].
RECEPTION
A sneak peek of Christmas…Again?! was first shown around July 2021, showing the scene of Rowena asking Tall Santa for a Christmas do-over. It was confirmed at this time that the movie would be released in December that year[4].
Christmas…Again?! premiered on Disney+ and Disney Channel on the same day, 3rd December 2021. It reportedly drew in 0.5 million viewers from its Disney Channel premiere, but exact figures are difficult to find. This might sound low, however, with the release of Disney+, it is likely that many families have turned away from watching live television and now fully focus on the streaming service instead. Viewing figures for the Disney+ release of Christmas…Again?! were not announced so it is unclear how popular it was at the time.
In terms of reviews, these were easier to come by. With all the Christmas movies that are shown on television or on streaming services every year, both old and new, Christmas…Again?! had a lot of competition. Viewers who enjoyed the movie said it was charming if somewhat predictable. Given that the movie was based on a typical plot point of a time loop, as well as being inspired by a hugely recognisable 90s film, the story was quite easy to guess. Others also said they thought Estevez did well in the lead role, especially as the whole movie revolved around the character of Rowena so she really had to hold it all together. The general consensus was that Christmas…Again?! was not a bad Christmas movie, but that it was not the best one either.
On the downside, some felt the movie could’ve benefitted from giving the other characters more screen time, to give more balance to the plot, as it was just focused on Rowena. Others said it was boring and not that funny, and did not appreciate that it was a “rip-off” of Groundhog Day. I don’t have a problem with movies using similar ideas as other films, so the Groundhog Day similarities didn’t bother me, however, I would agree that Christmas…Again?! was a bit boring in places. I felt that some of the time loop montages were too long and could’ve definitely been edited. I also did not find the movie particularly funny, but I am aware that I am not the target audience.
Although I personally don’t plan on watching Christmas…Again?! again, I think for families, this would be an enjoyable film to sit down and watch together over the holiday season as it wasn’t a terrible film, just a bit average.
LEGACY
Christmas…Again?! was Disney Channel’s first Christmas-themed movie in a whole decade. Since there have only been a handful of Christmas-themed DCOMs, this means that Christmas…Again?! is featured in the Disney+ Christmas Collection every year.
It also appears within the typical movie ranking articles that come out at this time of year. For example, in 2023, Christmas…Again?! ranked at No. 24 on Cosmopolitan’s “Top 40 Christmas Movies on Disney+” list[5]. It ranked at No. 37 on Good Housekeeping’s list[6]. For the record, I don’t agree with most of the rankings within either of these lists. Personally, I think they need some serious rearranging.
After Christmas…Again?!, Disney Channel did release another Christmas-themed movie, The Naughty Nine (2023), which premiered on Disney+ a day later. Perhaps this is showing that Disney Channel are trying to get more involved in the Christmas movie space now, especially with the added bonus of the streaming service’s availability. Many television channels and streaming platforms release new content for the holiday season, with Netflix potentially being Disney’s biggest competitor. Netflix markets their content very well – although their 2024 Christmas movie selection was quite disappointing – so if Disney+ want to entice new viewers, they need to up their Christmas game!
FINAL THOUGHTS
The message of Christmas…Again?! is that Christmas is all about family and helping others, something that children can forget if they get consumed by thoughts of presents – or in Rowena’s case, checklists.
This is a lovely idea and very true to most people. Spending time with family at Christmas can be magical, and being thoughtful of others does make you feel warm inside. However, this movie presents the image of a perfect Christmas that many cannot replicate.
Although Christmas is an amazing time for some, it is not for others. As adults, most of us lose that child-like wonder for the holiday season, instead being consumed with worries and pressures of the day. Is there enough food for everyone? Are there going to be arguments? Can I put up this joyous exterior for a full 24 hours even though I don’t feel the same inside? Or simply, how will I get through the day?
Whatever the reason, Christmas or the general holiday season is not always easy and we shouldn’t be telling people how to celebrate it because there is no “one size fits all” way of doing this. I struggle with Christmas at times. I enjoy the build-up to it, with the movies, music, and TV specials but when the day arrives, I feel consumed by all this pressure to have the best Christmas ever.
What we should be telling people is you should spend Christmas however you want. Spend it with family or don’t, if you find that difficult. Treat it like a normal day or fill it with fun and frivolity. You can even just do your best to ignore it if it’s a really hard time for you.
Whatever the plan, make Christmas how you want it to be. Christmas…Again?! makes Rowena seem selfish for wanting to have her own plans for Christmas, but in actual fact, it’s not always selfish. Sometimes it’s healthy and necessary to take time for yourself, even during Christmas.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Alexandra Del Rosario, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Christmas Again’ Kicks Off Production, Reveals Cast For Holiday Time-Loop Flick’, Deadline.com, 10th November 2020.
[2] Credit: James Mercadante, ‘‘Christmas Again’ Director on How Scarlett Estevez Helped Shape the Movie’s Time Loops’, TVInsider.com, 1st December 2021.
[3] Credit: Jason Beeferman, ‘Every day is the holiday in Chicago in new Disney movie ‘Christmas Again’, ChicagoSunTimes.com, 29th November 2021.
[4] Credit: Disney, ‘Christmas Again?!’ I Sneak Peek I Disney Channel Original Movie I Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 11th July 2021.
[5] Credit: Leah Marilla Thomas, ‘The 40 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+’, Cosmopolitan.com, 20th November 2023.
[6] Credit: Marisca Lascala and Lilli Iannella, ’41 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+ Filled With Holiday Magic’, Good Housekeeping.com, 16th November 2023.
The Disney Purist 