1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. PRODUCTION
5. MUSIC
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

BACKGROUND

The festive season is a time when we see a wide array of Christmas films coming to theatres and our television screens.

This movie selection covers a range of genres and age groups. Given the Hallmark and Hallmark-style movies I’ve already watched this year – and there have been plenty – we could also say the film options vastly differ in quality too. 

It would seem that Christmas movies are being pumped out at break-neck speed when you think of the number that come out at this time of year, seemingly with very few story constraints and very little budget. Any idea will do; it just needs to be festive enough.

With all that in mind, you might think that Disney Channel would simply follow in the footsteps of other production companies and be able to throw out at least one new DCOM every year themed to Christmas. But that has not been the case, with there actually being very few Christmas-specific Disney Channel movies, only five in total over the years.

Only two have been released in the 2020s so far. One in this decade was Christmas…Again? (2021), a story very much inspired by Groundhog Day (1993) but a surprisingly touching one nonetheless. At least from my point of view. Not everyone agreed.

The other was released in 2023 and was technically labelled a Disney Original Movie. This film was The Naughty Nine, a holiday heist movie perfectly suited for children. It saw two kids lead a group of other naughty children, each with their own talents, to steal back their presents that Santa didn’t bring them because they are all on the Naughty List.

Sadly, I didn’t much care for The Naughty Nine. I’ve always liked heist films but this movie was obviously not aimed at me. I didn’t particularly enjoy the overall story, and it didn’t make me feel very festive. But that’s ok, because it is certainly not the worst Christmas movie I’ve watched this year and not the only one I won’t be rewatching! 

PLOT

The Naughty Nine begins in the Principal’s Office of a typical school. It is the day before Winter Break and yet the principal is dealing with a student in trouble. This student is Andy who always seems to be in trouble. Deep down, the principal knows Andy is not a bad kid, and after he turns on the tears, saying he can change, he is sent back to class. However, Andy has no intention of heading back to class, and with his friend, Dulce, they have a mini-heist planned for the end of the school term. Andy has already stolen the keys for the Confiscation Bin, the place where all confiscated items are sent before being given to charity at the end of term. Dulce and Andy prepare for the heist to begin.

First, they tamper with the film that is showing to all the students in the hall, changing it to a recording of the principal, making it seem like she has told everyone to leave school early. Andy and Dulce use this distraction to bag up all the items from the bin and put them on a cart to get them out of the building. The principal catches the two of them leaving the school grounds with a big bag of stuff. She looks into the bag and finds…cookies. Andy says they were meant for all the staff. The principal thanks Andy for his kindness and takes them away. It is revealed that Andy swapped out the bags just before seeing the principal and hid their one in a bin. The janitor has since picked up the bin and taken it outside to the dumpsters, allowing Andy and Dulce to retrieve it. Outside, Andy and Dulce charge kids to get their confiscated items back. One, tech whizz Lewis, worries that this might cause him to go on the Naughty List. Another, Albert, manages to get his slingshot back for free by using a fake innocent look. Andy and Dulce try to tell them that returning confiscated items back to their rightful owners is actually a good thing. The two discuss their most wanted gifts for Christmas, with Andy wanting a games console, and Dulce wanting a bow and arrow. They hope that Santa will give them these gifts on Christmas Day.

Back at home, Andy’s sister Laurel tells their parents that Andy got sent to the principal’s office today, hoping for him to be punished. Andy says that he was actually helping the principal, and his parents say no more about it. Laurel hates the fact Andy never gets in trouble, despite obviously doing such bad things, and she warns Andy that one day, all his naughtiness will blow up in his face. Later that night, Andy overhears his parents talking about one of his father’s colleagues, a pilot, who allegedly hit a reindeer whilst on one of his routes. This reinforces to Andy that Santa is on his way.

On Christmas Day, Andy gets plenty of presents from his parents, but doesn’t get anything from Santa. Laurel, however, has a secret gift, an official tracksuit for her gymnastics, that seemingly was from Santa. Andy asks his friend Dulce if she got a gift from Santa, and she says she got nothing from him either. They go over to meet with their friend Lewis, to get information about Santa’s Naughty List, to see if they might be on it. Lewis has handily written an algorithm in order to find all the naughty list kids across the globe; there are apparently over a million of them. Andy is horrified that Santa has so much control over these naughty kids’ happiness and decides they must go to the North Pole and retrieve their gifts themselves. Lewis knows the exact location of Santa’s Village so now they just need to assemble the perfect team to help enact the plan.

Firstly, Lewis, Andy, and Dulce head to the park, where they recruit their getaway driver, a reckless go-karter, Ha-Yoon, who is on the naughty list for this reason, and animal whisperer Rose who will be useful in getting the reindeers at the North Pole on side. She is on the naughty list for illegally releasing captive animals. Next, they’ll need a gymnast for a very specific stunt. Andy goes to his sister’s gymnastics club and attempts to recruit the mean, snooty top gymnast Bethany, Laurel’s rival at the club. After some persuasion, and her desperation to get the top-of-the-range phone she wanted, she agrees to a meeting. They also find Jon Anthony, a young fashion designer who owns his own store selling his own original designs, who will create the elf disguises they’ll need to blend in at the North Pole. The fake innocent kid from earlier, Albert, is also added to the squad.

The group meet up at Andy’s house, in the basement, for a top-secret meeting to discuss the mission. A whole model of Santa’s village has been created to plan out the exact stages to the plan. At the location, Lewis will be tasked with shutting down the security cameras. The gymnast’s task is to flip over a large icy chasm to release the bridge from a centre platform to get over to the present vault. Bethany isn’t overly enthusiastic about joining a group of little kids, but she thinks the stunt will be simple enough. Laurel overhears this meeting taking place and tries to get her parents to catch Andy in the act of planning something naughty – but when they get down to the basement, Andy has already planned the perfect cover for this meeting: Recycling Club. His parents and Laurel leave. Andy then gives all the kids files with their alibis written inside. Each one will be at a different sleepover, with Dulce taking calls from the parents to make it seem these sleepovers are legitimate.

Now all they need is transportation to the North Pole. Andy goes with his father to work at the airport, where his father works as the cargo manager. Andy sneaks into the pilot’s lounge and finds Bruno, the pilot who saw a reindeer on one of his flights. Bruno is currently off duties for now, awaiting a psychiatric assessment. Andy tells him about their plan to steal from the North Pole and Bruno agrees to fly them all there, in the hopes of finding evidence that will prove to his colleagues that he is not crazy! But that’s not all because Bethany just dropped out of “The Naughty Nine” as her parents bought her the phone she wanted. Andy knows his best alternative is his goodie-goodie sister Laurel. Knowing she won’t agree to helping them because it is “bad”, he tells Laurel that Bethany doesn’t think she could’ve done the difficult stunt anyway, making Laurel join the group in an effort to prove she is just as good a gymnast as Bethany. Now they have a team.

On the day of the heist, the whole group board the plane with Bruno and they take off for the North Pole. En route, Jon Anthony has a crisis of confidence about his elf costumes as he admits he has never designed his own clothes before, instead just copying others and passing them off as his own – which is fraud, and the reason Jon Anthony is on the Naughty List. He is convinced to finish the costumes and the group actually really like his take on elf fashion. Bruno invites all the kids to look at the Northern Lights through the cockpit window, showing they are close to the North Pole, but an announcement comes over the radio saying they are flying into restricted airspace. Andy tells Bruno to lie about having a mechanical failure, but Bruno is a terrible liar and almost messes up the plan. Dulce grabs a part of the aeroplane and breaks it off, making them actually need an emergency landing at the North Pole! All the kids hide as officials board the plane and ask Bruno what he is doing here. Bruno shows them the broken piece and they say mechanics can fix this for him, telling Bruno to stay put. The kids then disembark the plane. They have two hours.

All eight children head off to Santa’s Village. Albert is told to go on alone to a security cabin and pretend to be lost. He is taken in by the security elf there. Lewis is sent to the control room to deal with the cameras, whilst Rose and Ha-Yoon head to the reindeer stables to make a getaway vehicle. The other four, Andy, Dulce, Laurel, and Jon Anthony, walk in the direction of Santa’s Workshop, coming across a party in full swing. After initially seeming suspicious of their strange outfits, Andy manages to blag their way into the party, and they are welcomed in by the elves. Andy quickly finds the door to Santa’s Workshop, but discovers that the other three are too distracted to notice. He is unable to get their attention when he is forced into dancing in a conga line!

Meanwhile, after some misunderstandings between Ha-Yoon and a reindeer, which Rose has to diffuse, the two manage to find a sleigh and have the reindeer lead it. Lewis has had some problems at the control tower as an elf interrupts his work and he must hide. The elf does not move, leaving Lewis trapped and unable to shut down the cameras.

Back at the party, Andy manages to grab the other three and they head through the door to Santa’s Workshop. After climbing what seems to be hundreds of stairs, they finally make their way to a rooftop – but they find that Lewis has not shut off the cameras! They start throwing snowballs to try and detach the camera. Dulce succeeds at doing this. They continue on to Santa’s Workshop. Inside, they see all their names on the official Naughty List and continue to the vault. They come across an icy tunnel and the huge chasm that Laurel must cross. Laurel initially prepares herself to do the huge stunt, however, she doesn’t think she can do it, and tearfully tells Andy she has failed his plan. Andy says they can always find another way in. As the others turn to go back to Santa’s Workshop, Laurel finds some inner motivation and proceeds to do the complicated trick. She succeeds and lands in the centre platform, releasing the bridge so the other three can cross over.

In the middle of this platform is some sort of coded lock. Dulce recognises the symbols on this lock as being birds. She starts to sing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and one symbol lights up. It quickly turns off as the others discuss this. They think that if they sing the song in full, they’ll be able to enter the vault, so they do just that. After singing the whole song, the vault opens and the four go inside, taking their presents out of the vault. However, we see that Laurel has succumbed to the dark side and has taken Bethany’s phone that still sits in the vault. They then hear the security alarm going off. Ha-Yoon and Rose set off in their sleigh to pick up the others, and Lewis runs out of the control room. Albert leaves the security cabin too. As Andy, Laurel, Jon Anthony, and Dulce run through Santa’s Village, pursued by security, they are picked up by the girls in the sleigh. Lewis finds himself inside an inflatable ornament and runs through the village. Dulce uses her bow and arrow gift to deflate a large inflatable onto security, giving them some time, although they find themselves at a dead end. Lewis then rolls into the Santa statue at the village, which collapses onto the security guards. The others pick up Lewis and Albert at this point and head back to the plane. On the way, Andy sees that Laurel picked up Bethany’s phone as a “reward” and starts to wonder if what they’ve just done was right at all.

They see the plane heading down the runway without them. Bruno’s plane was fixed quicker than expected and the officials told him to leave immediately so he was unable to wait. Bruno opens up the cargo door and Ha-Yoon speeds up the sleigh so they can all jump into the cargo hold from the sleigh. Each one does this, until it gets down to Ha-Yoon and Andy. Andy takes over the driving of the sleigh, and tells her to jump in. He then stops the sleigh and allows himself to be caught with the gifts as the plane takes off.

On board, the others feel like Andy has betrayed them, but Dulce says that is not the case, and that as her best friend, she cannot leave him behind. Andy is taken to Santa, who shows Andy that he and his seven friends are all on the Naughty List still. Andy pleads with Santa to put all the blame on him as it was his idea. Santa agrees to take some names off the list, but he leaves Andy and Laurel’s names there, due to the fact Laurel stole the phone that wasn’t even meant for her. Andy says he can get the phone back, so Laurel’s name can be removed from the Naughty List. The others, who came back for Andy, are then brought in to see Santa as well. Andy apologises to Laurel for turning her bad like him. Laurel apologises to Santa and returns the phone. Santa then gives them all a message: that they must earn the right to be on the Good List, and that if they can promise they will try and be good from now on, then he will remove their names from the Naughty List. They agree to do this. Bruno, being an adult, was never in danger of being on the Naughty List as it does not apply to him, but came back to help Andy with the others anyway. He asks Santa for a selfie as evidence that he wasn’t going crazy when he saw that reindeer!

They all return to their homes, where Dulce is surprised to find that her large family actually noticed she was gone. Andy comes clean to his parents about everything he did, but they don’t believe him. Him and Laurel decide to get along from now on too.

One year later, we are back at school with Andy and Dulce on the day before Winter Break again, where they appear to have turned a corner and are no longer “naughty”. However, Andy is called into the Principal’s Office yet again. He tries to say he hasn’t done anything wrong, when he discovers it is actually Santa in the principal’s chair. Santa says he needs Andy’s help urgently with a problem.

CHARACTERS & CAST

Andy is the ringleader of the Naughty Nine, and the one with all the plans. He doesn’t like that fact that Santa has taken away gifts from him and his friends, and wants to settle the score by stealing back his much-longed for games console, enlisting the help of seven other children – and one adult – to do this. Eventually, after their getaway goes wrong and he sees his sister acting naughty like him, by stealing that phone, Andy realises the error of his ways and admits what he planned to Santa, so he can protect his friends and his sister. Santa knows that sometimes kids make mistakes and won’t always make the right choices, with Andy promising that he will try and be good from that point on, so this doesn’t happen again. Winslow Fegley was cast as Andy in The Naughty Nine. For Disney, he has previously been cast as Timmy Failure in the Disney+ film Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (2020) and appeared as Mel in the Disney Channel series Fast Layne (2019). Outside of that, Fegley played Young Jake Doyle in the HBO Max movie 8-Bit Christmas (2021) before starring as Josh Primm in Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (2022) with Javier Bardem.

Dulce is Andy’s best friend and second-in-command, so she is always willing to join Andy on his crazy schemes. She is very loyal to her friend, and even convinces the others that they have to go back to rescue Andy after he gives himself in to the North Pole security, because he was actually trying to protect them. Dulce is from a large family, and feels ignored most of the time, so that is probably why she has such a close friendship with Andy, because they are always there for each other. Dulce was played by Camilla Rodriguez. She played Angela del Toro in Daredevil: Born Again (2025-present).

Following on from that, we have Lewis, the IT expert in the group. Lewis actually kicks off this heist plan by showing Andy and Dulce his algorithm for finding those on the Naughty List and for discovering the exact location of Santa’s Village. His algorithm and data gathered from that is later used to find contenders to join The Naughty Nine team. Lewis’ task at the North Pole is to turn off the security cameras, something he does not succeed in doing. Being useful for one half of the plan isn’t bad, I suppose! Anthony Joo was cast as Lewis. He played Hudson Frickley on The Really Loud House (2022-24).

Jon Anthony is recruited to The Naughty Nine for his costume-making skills, as Jon Anthony is believed to be a fashion designer. His costumes are required so that they can be dressed as elves and blend in at the North Pole. It later turns out that Jon Anthony is on the Naughty List for fraudulently copying and then selling other designers’ work to the public, meaning he has no confidence in his own designing abilities. Once he sees the reaction to his elf costumes from the others though, he starts to believe he might actually be a great designer one day. Jon Anthony’s gift from Santa was meant to be a fancy sewing machine, which he retrieves from the vault. Jon Anthony was played by Deric McCabe, who had previously been cast as Charles Wallace Murry in Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time (2018). McCabe went on to play Wesley Witherspoon in Apple TV’s Home Before Dark (2020-21).

Albert is the youngest of the group and he uses his angelic face to get away with things, like getting his slingshot back from the confiscated items for free, and distracting the elf at the North Pole. He doesn’t actually have to do much in the heist, other than eat cookies and sit by the fire in the elf cabin, occasionally telling the elf not to call security, which must’ve been much less stressful than what the others were going through. Ayden Elijah was cast as Albert. He voiced AJ in Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines (2014-25).

Then we have the two members of the getaway team. Rose can communicate with animals, making her the ideal person to be able to convince a reindeer to lead their getaway sleigh. Rose is on the Naughty List for freeing animals in captivity, which doesn’t sound so bad in the grand scheme of things; she’s trying to do good after all, just not necessarily in the right way. Clare Stack was cast as Rose. Stack is currently appearing as Lilly Bainbridge in the HBO horror series, and a prequel to IT (2017), IT: Welcome to Derry (2025-present).

Ha-Yoon is in The Naughty Nine taskforce because of her insane racing abilities. They need someone who will drive fast and recklessly for when they have to get out of the North Pole fast. Luckily, Ha-Yoon doesn’t let them down by making some risky manoeuvres and outsmarting security. Ha-Yoon was played by Imogen Cohen, who played Zina Zacarias in the Paramount+ live-action series The Fairy OddParents: Fairly Odder (2022).  

Finally, for the kids, we have the two gymnasts. Andy’s initial pick for his team is Bethany, Laurel’s rival in gymnastics, due to the fact she is already on the Naughty List for her conceited behaviour, and would want to join The Naughty Nine just to get the gift she wanted, which was a new phone. She later decides against joining the heist as her parents got her the phone she wanted. Talk about selfish! Liyou Abere was cast as Bethany, having previously appeared as Jamie in the Netflix series Locke & Key (2020-22) and as Janine in Amazon Prime’s The Boys (2019-present). Abere currently voices Lyla in the PBS Kids’ series Lyla in the Loop (2024-present).

Instead, Andy turns to his sister, Laurel, who is not someone who would normally break the rules. She only agrees to go along so she can beat Bethany at something, but she actually ends up liking the thrill of the heist, and in a moment of madness, takes Bethany’s phone from the vault, apparently as some sort of reward. She eventually comes to her senses after Andy is caught by the elves and taken to Santa, apologising for what came over her. Andy and Laurel end the movie with a much better brother-sister relationship than they had at the start of the film, where Laurel is trying to get her parents to see how much of a bad kid Andy is – kind of like how Candace is with Phineas and Ferb in the series Phineas and Ferb (2007-15, 2025-present). Madilyn Kellam was cast as Laurel. Prior to The Naughty Nine, Kellam had played Cindy in the Netflix sequel Full Out 2: You Got This! (2020).

For the adults, firstly, we have the only adult member of The Naughty Nine, Bruno. He is just the pilot who flies them all to the North Pole because apparently there were no kid pilots available – or Disney didn’t feel it was appropriate to show kids illegally flying planes. Since Bruno can’t be on the Naughty List as an adult, his motivation for joining is to prove that Santa is real after being mocked for apparently seeing a reindeer in the sky on one of his flights, with his job even being at risk for it. Bruno gets his proof though, by getting a selfie with Santa at the end of the film, just before they head home. Bruno was played by Derek Theler, best known for starring as Danny Wheeler in the Freeform series Baby Daddy (2012-17), alongside former Disney Channel stars Tahj Mowry, Jean-Luc Bilodeau and Chelsea Kane. More recently, Theler was cast as Blue Granite in the Disney Channel series The Villains of Valley View (2022-23).

Now, most Christmas films need a Santa Claus, at least those that take place at the North Pole. So, for The Naughty Nine, they got quite a surprise casting, by having Danny Glover play Santa. But Glover’s Santa is not the jolly, happy Santa we’d normally see. Here, Santa is very disappointed in The Naughty Nine, or eight since adults don’t come under his judgement, and he guilt trips the kids into trying to be good, by threatening them with the Naughty List. He seems quite strict, or just annoyed that he is having to waste his downtime disciplining more kids who seem to think getting on the Good List is some sort of right. Kids are just so entitled these days! Anyway, Santa ends up needing Andy’s deviousness by the end of the film, going to him for help with a problem we don’t know about.

Danny Glover is well-known for his role as Sergeant Robert Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film franchise. He was later cast as Justice Thurgood Marshall in HBO’s Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fright (2013). More recently, Glover was part of the all-star cast, including names like Joan Cusack and Dermot Mulroney, who were cast in the Hallmark movie The Christmas Train (2017); Glover played Max Powers. This shows that The Naughty Nine was not his first television Christmas movie. This was also not the first time he had starred in a movie aimed at children either, as he voiced Jethro in DreamWorks Animation’s The Prince of Egypt (1998). Glover also played Milo Walker in Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), where Danny DeVito was also a new character for this sequel.

There is one other member of the cast that I’d like to mention, despite not being a main role, just because they looked familiar and now I know why. The Security Guard Elf in the cabin, who helps Albert by letting him stay in their cabin until they can find his parents, not realising this was actually just a distraction so The Naughty Nine could rob Santa, was played by Ci Hang Ma. Ci Hang Ma played Quinn, one of the marching band spirits, from Season 2 of the Paramount+ series School Spirits (2023-present).

PRODUCTION

The Naughty Nine was first confirmed to be in the works by Disney in February 2022.

At the same time, a sequel to Under Wraps, the 2021 remake of the first official Disney Channel Original Movie from 1997, was also announced. Under Wraps 2 came to Disney Channel in September 2022.

When discussing more details about the movie, The Naughty Nine was labelled a holiday heist movie, where Disney called it Ocean’s 11 at the North Pole. In this press release, a brief plot description was given, along with the name of the director and writers[1].

The director for The Naughty Nine was Alberto Belli. Before The Naughty Nine, Belli had directed the horror-comedy film Gatlopp (2022), which starred Emmy Raver-Lampman from Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy (2019-24) and Jon Bass from the anthology series Miracle Workers (2019-23). Belli has since directed Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado (2025), a live-action movie based on Dora the Explorer, for Paramount+ and Nickelodeon.

The writers of The Naughty Nine were Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas, who already had some experience of working for Disney, Disney Channel specifically. Together, the duo developed, and wrote several episodes of, Raven’s Home (2017-23) for the channel, this being a spin-off of the very popular series That’s So Raven (2003-07). They also created the series Best Friends Whenever (2015-16) prior to that, and have more recently developed the sequel series to Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-12), titled Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (2024-present). This duo were therefore well-placed to write this Disney movie.

The Naughty Nine was filmed in Quebec, Canada, more exactly in and around the city of Montreal. The movie is said to have filmed some of its scenes in the Pointe-Claire area of Montreal. Many other Disney Channel movies have been filmed in Canada, including some films within their successful musical franchises Descendants, Camp Rock, and ZOMBIES. Shooting took around three months, going from February to April 2022. After the shoot was over and production had left the area, there were some complaints from the local residents of Pointe-Claire about the mess they’d made from all their productions vehicles. An area of green space was covered with gravel to use as a parking lot during filming and residents were not happy that this gravel was seemingly going to be left. The production company, Poutine, said they would repair the area during the spring. It made these residents very hesitant to allow any more filming to take place here in the future[2].

Despite filming taking place so early in 2022, a 2022 release date was not possible due to the amount of post-production required. As they had filmed The Naughty Nine whilst some of the world was still dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there had been a significant delay with the FX team involved, with their requirement necessary for this film. Since The Naughty Nine is Christmas-themed, this meant the release date of the movie had to wait until the next festive season rolled around in 2023.

Despite the need for some special effects, such as the CGI reindeer and the background at the North Pole, proven by the fact the getaway sleigh sequence was actually filmed in a studio in front of a blue screen – it couldn’t be a green screen as the cast’s costumes were green, the director Belli has stressed in interviews that around 70% of the film uses practical effects and real sets[3]. The Santa’s Village set, for example, was viewed as being very impressive by many audience members, due to its vast size and detail. The ice cavern with the vault entrance was also a real set that was built. The team working on The Naughty Nine enjoyed designing their own version of the North Pole for this film[4].

It was said to be extremely cold at the time the cast and crew were shooting, with this being made worse by the number of nighttime shoots there were. Still, the cast of mostly kids kept their spirits up during this time, by building snow forts in the snow, and Winslow Fegley building his own igloo, which later became an icy slide for the cast as it started melting. They also spent time together in the lobby of their hotel playing games and cards during their downtime, where they grew close as a group[5].

The costumes on The Naughty Nine were designed by Julia Caston, who had previously worked on such screen projects as A Bad Moms Christmas (2017) and the ABC sitcom The Middle (2009-18). Just a year after The Naughty Nine came out, Caston was the costume designer for another Disney Channel movie, Descendants: The Rise of Red (2024). Caston enjoyed designing the elf costumes for the kids. They had to be quite stereotypical, as this was what the children all believed elves to look like, so the costumes are primarily red and green, but they also had to suit each character’s specific skill. For example, Ha-Yoon’s costume looks similar to a racing suit, Andy is wearing a hoodie to suit his casual, no-fuss leadership style, and Laurel has a gymnastics leotard on underneath a thick fit and flare coat. Caston then had the opportunity to reinvent the typical elf look that we see all the time, to contrast the costumes that the children are wearing. These real elves of the North Pole wear a variety of colours and although their outfits are uniform in style, they are embellished with accessories. Santa also had to have a slightly different look for The Naughty Nine, because the events take place after Christmas, so during Santa’s vacation. In this case, they kept the classic red coat and hat, but you can see he is wearing loose fighting trousers and a white jumper, instead of the buttoned-up coat and matching red trousers[6].

MUSIC

The composer on The Naughty Nine was Kenny Wood, who has collaborated with director Belli on some of his other projects, by working on the music for Gatlopp and Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado. Wood has also worked as a musical arranger on films like F9 (2021) and Despicable Me 3 (2017), as well as on the CBS series Magnum P.I. (2018-22, 2023-24).

When asked about his inspiration for the music on The Naughty Nine, Wood said he was inspired by magical family Christmas movies like Home Alone (1990) and The Polar Express (2004), whilst also mixing in spy/heist music to complement the film’s genre[7]. You can hear this blend of themes in the opening and end titles of The Naughty Nine and during the scene where the children see Santa’s Village at the North Pole for the first time. Kenny Wood was nominated for The David Raskin Award for Emerging Talent at the Society of Composers and Lyricists Award in 2024 for his work on The Naughty Nine. The award was actually won by Catherine Joy and her work on the documentary Home is a Hotel (2023).

Alongside the score are a selection of songs that also feature within the music of The Naughty Nine. In movie order, whilst Andy and Laurel are opening their presents on Christmas morning, a jazzy version of “Jingle Bells” is playing. “Jingle Bells” was originally written by James Lord Pierpoint, but this rendition seems to have been performed by The Whispering Pines Holiday Orchestra. Following that, in Jon Anthony’s store, just before he gets recruited into The Naughty Nine, there is a song playing as background music. It is “Christmas Every Day” by the group Sweet Sundays.

At the North Pole in Santa’s Village, there is more music. At the security elf’s cabin, a piece of music is playing on the gramophone but we only hear it briefly, all I can say is that it seems to be some sort of take on “Jingle Bells”. Later, we return to this cabin and another song is playing. I didn’t know what this song was, but it seems to be “Hej tomtegubbar”, a traditional Swedish song that children sing at Christmastime. It is also used as a drinking song nowadays. Another song is also playing in this cabin later on and it is a version of “Silent Night”, but I’m unsure what language it is. According to the website I found much of this soundtrack information on, What-Song.com, it seems to be French.

At the elf party, there is even more music. As Andy, Dulce, Laurel, and Jon Anthony step into this party, the song “Holla for the Holidays” performed by Wizardz of Oz is playing – until the elves abruptly halt the party to check who these intruders are. This song was actually used in a routine that appeared on the Season 3 Christmas episode of Dance Moms (2011-19), performed by Abby Lee Dance Company’s biggest rivals, the Candy Apples. The party soon restarts and the song playing seems to be “Christmas Time of Year”, written by Dave Feldstein. A third song is heard at this party and it is “Share My Christmas with You”, from SATV Music, written by John Ross and Natalie Williams. There is also a Spanish song that Dulce sings with some other elves, but I do not know what this song is. A fourth party song also plays briefly, I also don’t know what that is, before the conga begins. This “Conga” was written and performed by Kenny Wood and is the only credited song here. I think this song is also used in the End Credits.

You can also hear “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, sung by the cast, within this film, as this is the way they open the vault, by singing this song in its entirety – but don’t worry, we don’t have to hear all of it; that song is way too long! “The Twelve Days of Christmas” was written by English composer Frederic Austin[8]. There is one other song playing towards the end of the film, as we move forward one year and Andy is called to the Principal’s Office again. This song is “Are You Ready for Christmas?”, by Karl Karlsson and Krissie Karlsson.

RECEPTION

The Naughty Nine first came to screens in November 2023.

After the teaser trailer was released on 28^th September 2023, Disney Branded Television announced the release dates for The Naughty Nine, as it would air on Disney Channel in the US and later come to Disney+ for international audiences to enjoy. It was decided that it would premiere on Wednesday 22^nd November 2023 on Disney Channel, before coming to Disney+ on 23^rd November 2023, which happened to be Thanksgiving Day that year[9]. The official trailer seems to have been released on 27^th October 2023.

Now that Disney Channel doesn’t exist in most countries, as they were shut down, with the majority of the content being available on their global streaming platform, Disney+, this is the way most Disney Channel Original Movies are being released, although in some cases, the gap between the Disney Channel and Disney+ premieres have been much larger.

The Naughty Nine received mixed reviews, as many Disney Channel-type movies tend to have. On the positive side, The Naughty Nine was compared to lots of different films, such as the children’s action movie franchise Spy Kids, and theOcean’s franchise. This film also reminded me of The Polar Express at times, specifically when the kids are secretly trying to get through Santa’s Workshop because there is a similar sequence in The Polar Express. The sets and costume design were also considered to be impressive, especially for a smaller, television movie, and many felt it was entertaining. Some preferred it to the other recent Disney Channel Christmas movie Christmas…Again?!, although I did not. The Naughty Nine was seen to be a fun, family-friendly film to watch over the festive season.

But this opinion was not shared by all viewers. Many felt The Naughty Nine showed a lack of real consequences for the children, despite their bad behaviour, and due to the number of characters in this film, many of which would be counted as main characters, there wasn’t much opportunity to give the characters their own backstories or any real depth, which led to some being boring and others being underused. Others also said The Naughty Nine didn’t feel particularly Christmassy, which I can agree with, although that doesn’t necessarily make it bad. Sometimes the standard Christmas movie events, like decorating, baking cookies, and family feuds can feel very overdone, so at least The Naughty Nine did not have that. There were comments that Danny Glover’s Santa was not kind enough to be Santa Claus. I can only assume the filmmakers wanted to take Santa in a different direction, and by making him strict and authoritative that might be the only way for The Naughty Nine to understand that what they were doing – trespassing and stealing – was very wrong. If the children had been younger, this type of Santa probably wouldn’t have worked, but these kids were older and could take the criticism.

There was one other very specific criticism of The Naughty Nine that irked some viewers, mostly parents, that I did read in various reviews online. This was around some “flirtatious” language used by the character of Jon Anthony. When we are first introduced to the character, Jon Anthony calls a slightly older male buyer a “hottie”. This upset some more conservative audience members, who felt this was an inappropriate comment to be coming from a child. Others didn’t feel this comment was so bad, likening it to teenagers having crushes on older celebrities. This all comes down to personal preference and what we individually consider to be appropriate in a family-aimed film. I personally didn’t even notice this line, only hearing Jon Anthony later call Andy “cute”, but that didn’t bother me. It was also a very minor line that didn’t add anything to the plot, or add much to the character, so you could argue for and against it; that it was a throwaway comment that didn’t need to be considered, or that because it wasn’t needed, the line could’ve been removed from the film[10].

Viewing figures for The Naughty Nine have not been made available from its Disney+ release, nor has Disney Channel confirmed its data from the premiere night, so it is unclear how well the film did from that aspect. But The Naughty Nine went on to be nominated for four Children’s and Family Emmy Awards, along with a large number of other Disney content. These nominations were in the categories of Outstanding Fiction Special; Outstanding Music Direction and Composition for a Live Action Program; and Visual and Special Effects. In the first category, it lost out to Apple TV+’s The Velveteen Rabbit (2023) and for the other two, it lost to the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2023-present). The Naughty Nine was also nominated for Best Sound Editing – Movies For Television & Mini-Series at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards, but the winner was the Showtime miniseries Fellow Travelers (2023) and its episode “White Nights”.

LEGACY

Disney Channel don’t have much of a reputation for making Christmas or festive-themed movies each year, and The Naughty Nine did nothing to change that.

Despite the fact Christmas…Again?! in 2021 was followed by The Naughty Nine in 2023 and seemed to be suggesting that Disney Channel were perhaps going to be producing more of these types of movies in the years to come, especially given the ease that new content can be released via Disney+, there have been no more Disney Original Movies announced for the holiday season in the last couple of years. In fact, the only movies they’ve confirmed so far are sequels to already established Disney Channel musical franchises.

However, The Naughty Nine ends on a cliff hanger, with Santa asking Andy for his help, and the matter seems to be quite urgent. No sequel to The Naughty Nine has been confirmed, despite the fact this ending was clearly meant to be building up to one. This annoyed some fans who said there is no point in setting up a sequel if there is no confirmation that one is going to happen. This is the same critique that was levelled at Secret Society of Second-Born Royals (2020), another Disney+ movie that had a cliff hanger ending leading up to a sequel that has not come to fruition.

The director of The Naughty Nine stated that he would like to make a sequel, shortly after The Naughty Nine was released, but Disney don’t seem to be making any moves to greenlight a sequel[11]. I think something would’ve been announced by now if they had plans to. It would seem that The Naughty Nine did not do as well as expected.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Naughty Nine was a different kind of Christmas film for Disney, although with other festive heist movies coming out in recent years, like Netflix’s The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star (2021) and Jingle Bell Heist (2025), maybe it wasn’t so different after all.

Still, the intent was there to try something new. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to have worked out that well for The Naughty Nine and that possible sequel that they teased at the end of the film does not seem to be coming.

So, where does this leave Disney Channel and their festive content now? I can only assume there will be another Christmas film from them someday, but who knows when!

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Alexandra Del Rosario, ‘Disney Orders ‘Under Wraps’ Sequel & ‘The Naughty Nine’ Original Movies For Disney+, Disney Channel’, Deadline.com, 7^th February 2022.

[2] Credit: John Meagher, ‘Disney movie shoot leaves Pointe-Claire neighbourhood stoney’, MontrealGazette.com, 20^th March 2022.

[3] Credit: Disney Channel, ‘Behind the Scenes of Disney’s The Naughty Nine I NEW Disney Christmas Movie’, Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 24^th November 2023.

[4] Credit: Roger Palmer, ‘Behind Disney+’s “The Naughty Nine” Newest Christmas Heist Movie With Director and Composer I Exclusive Interview’, WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com, 21^st December 2023.

[5] Credit: Just Jared Jr, ‘‘The Naughty Nine’ Cast Dish On What Went On Behind-the-Scenes While Filming the New Disney Holiday Movie (Exclusive)’, JustJaredJr.com, 22^nd November 2023.

[6] Credit: Spencer Williams, ‘Unwrapping ‘The Naughty Nine’: Behind the Costumes with Julia Caston’, TheArtOfCostume.com, 2023.

[7] Credit: Roger Palmer, ‘Behind Disney+’s “The Naughty Nine” Newest Christmas Heist Movie With Director and Composer I Exclusive Interview’, WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com, 21^st December 2023.

[8] Credit: What Song, ‘The Naughty Nine Soundtrack’, What-Song.com, no date.

[9] Credit: Disney, ‘Disney Original Movie ‘The Naughty Nine’ To Premiere Wednesday, Nov. 22, On Disney Channel And Thursday, Nov. 23 – Thanksgiving Day – On Disney+’, DetPress,com, 28^th September 2023.

[10] Credit: Zach Gass, ‘Disney Accused of “Sexualising Kids” in ‘The Naughty Nine’’, InsidetheMagic.net, 23^rd December 2023.

[11] Credit: Roger Palmer, ‘Behind Disney+’s, “The Naughty Nine” Newest Christmas Heist Movie With Director and Composer I Exclusive Interview’, WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com, 21^st December 2023.

1. BACKGROUND
2. PLOT
3. CHARACTERS & CAST
4. MUSIC
5. PRODUCTION
6. RECEPTION
7. LEGACY
8. FINAL THOUGHTS
9. REFERENCES

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 26^th 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, 3^rd 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. 

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REFERENCES

[1] Credit: Alexandra Del Rosario, ‘Disney Channel’s ‘Christmas Again’ Kicks Off Production, Reveals Cast For Holiday Time-Loop Flick’, Deadline.com, 10^th November 2020.

[2] Credit: James Mercadante, ‘‘Christmas Again’ Director on How Scarlett Estevez Helped Shape the Movie’s Time Loops’, TVInsider.com, 1^st December 2021.

[3] Credit: Jason Beeferman, ‘Every day is the holiday in Chicago in new Disney movie ‘Christmas Again’, ChicagoSunTimes.com, 29^th November 2021.

[4] Credit: Disney, ‘Christmas Again?!’ I Sneak Peek I Disney Channel Original Movie I Disney Channel YouTube Channel, 11^th July 2021.

[5] Credit: Leah Marilla Thomas, ‘The 40 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+’, Cosmopolitan.com, 20^th November 2023.

[6] Credit: Marisca Lascala and Lilli Iannella, ’41 Best Christmas Movies on Disney+ Filled With Holiday Magic’, Good Housekeeping.com, 16^th November 2023.