The Christmas Quest (2024)

I don't expect we'll watch a lot of Hallmark movies this season (nothing against the company; we just have too much else on our plate), but The Christmas Quest promised a premise too interesting to pass up. The gimmick this time was to fuse the usual romantic comedy with a National Treasure/Romancing the Stone/Indiana Jones style fantasy/adventure treasure hunt set in Iceland based loosely on folklore surrounding the Yule Lads (a group of Icelandic trolls who have become somewhat analogous to Santa as their more monstrous aspects became subdued over the centuries). That's certainly the kind of thing that gets our attention.

Sadly, the premise turned out to be much more interesting than the movie itself. As is often the case with Hallmark productions, the genre elements wind up feeling superficial: they drop in a handful of casual references, but when push comes to shove this is a Hallmark Christmas flick to the core. There's no real danger, no suspense, no excitement... nothing but a reskinned version of the company's usual fare, coupled with a sort of travelogue for Iceland that often feels like this is all doubling as a promotional video. I can't find much on the making of this, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hallmark got access to filming locations in exchange for agreeing to highlight bits of Icelandic trivia enticing tourists to visit.

If so, Iceland's getting their money's worth, but I was disappointed and at times a bit bored. To be fair, I'm not certain how much of that was due to my own expectations with the premise and genre this purported to be. I didn't expect this to cross lines in terms of rating or content, but I was hoping for a lot more ridiculous, adventurous fun than was delivered. The movie keeps telling us Stefanie (Hallmark MVP Lacey Chabert) is a globetrotting, treasure-hunting archeologist who risks certain death as she tracks down clues, but the only obstacles placed in front of her and love interest Chase (Kristoffer Polaha), feel like speedbumps. They encounter one trap which detains them for a bit, infiltrate a party where they casually avoid guards who never seem likely to catch them (and even less likely to hurt them), and - after being betrayed by their boss - contend briefly with a couple goons who are easily thwarted by Icelanders chucking snowballs. High adventure, this is not.

More importantly, the leads don't react to these events like they pose any kind of danger. The trap is an opportunity for them to air out grievances from their past. The party is more about dancing and realizing their feelings for each other. Their attention isn't on the job, so neither is ours. When there's a conflict between templates, the Hallmark tropes win out.

With maybe one exception. While they're at the party, there's a sequence where they realize they're about to be found in a restricted area, so Chase references the film Notorious, grabs Chase, and kisses her. This actually breaks the typical pattern of these, where the dramatic kiss is reserved for the end of the movie. Hell, they even had the characters nearly kiss before being interrupted a few scenes earlier, which is typically a component of the same formula. I was a little surprised to see them deviate. So, kudos on that, I guess.

But by and large this is generic Hallmark fare masquerading as something more interesting. And, to be frank, this really isn't some of the company's better stuff. The characters aren't fleshed out, the jokes aren't particularly good, and the cinematography never looks right. Despite some cool locations, you can tell Hallmark is out of its element and unable to compensate.

That said, I appreciate that the movie makes use of Icelandic actors for the bulk of minor roles. The jokes written for the leads don't really land, but I found a lot of the humor coming from the locals charming. And despite the studio's issues shooting on location, I'll still take this over yet another small American town decked out with Christmas decorations.

Now that we're through all that, let's move on to the important part: the Yule Lads. Aside from some unseen voices at the end implying some kind of spectral beings, they don't make any sort of appearance. The movie does explore the lore around them, which nerds like myself will appreciate. These characters, along with their mother, Gryla, and the Yule Cat (who are also discussed in the movie), are among the most interesting folklore connected with the holidays. And with one pretty glaring exception, the movie does a decent job with that lore.

The exception, unfortunately, is also the plot of the movie. Stefanie's goal is to honor her late mother by finding the lost treasure of the Yule Lads, which the movie tells us again and again is a legendary collection of the valuables the Yule Lads stole.

Okay, disclaimer. I'm not an expert on folklore or mythology, and I'm certainly not an expert on Icelandic culture. But I've read quite a bit about the Yule Lads, and I don't recall encountering anything about them having amassed any kind of treasure - when they do steal, it's generally stuff consumed immediately and certainly nothing a treasure hunter would care about. To be fair, the movie's resolution reveals this is functionally the case: the stuff they collected was essentially worthless, outside of sentiment (Stefanie finds her mom left a compass she got her with the other trinkets). In a sense, the resolution reveals the premise as absurd... but it still implies this supposed treasure hoard is part of the myth.

What complicates this is that everything else the movie states about the Yule Lads is more or less accurate (at least as far as popular modern versions are concerned: the movie glosses over the fact there have been countless variations over the centuries). The movie lays out its lore about the Yule Lads, Icelandic customs, and landmarks like trivia, to the point people watching this are going to think the treasure of Yule Lads is a major piece of the mythology. And as far as I'm aware, it's entirely invented for the movie (though, again, I'm not an expert - chime in below if I'm wrong).

Beyond that, the holidays permeate this movie, though that was a given from the production company. Even without their usual backdrop, Hallmark managed to wedge in a sizable number of their usual tropes, starting with the generic Christmas romance (though it's worth noting the leads used to be married, which isn't the studio's go-to dynamic). As if to make up for allowing her independence to be mostly portrayed as a positive character trait, Stefanie learns to set aside her adventurous lifestyle and embrace what truly matters, as her mother did years earlier. Though her mother gave up that lifestyle for her daughter; Stefanie seems to be about to do so for her ex.

In case it's not already obvious, this was all tied into her fulfilling a desire to connect with her late mother, albeit symbolically - another Hallmark Christmas staple. God forbid one of these doesn't bend over backwards to sing the praises of family connections.

The movie explores Icelandic Christmas traditions beyond the Yule Lads, too, explaining holiday baked goods, religious observances, yule books, and fermented fish. This stuff is a mixed blessing: it's nice to see these customs highlighted for a change, but they add to the pacing problems that keep this from developing any sense of excitement in the treasure-hunting adventure plot.

There are a handful of decent sets, complete with a couple fun props serving as puzzles for the leads to solve. None of this is exceptional, but for the most part they're executed on a level you'd expect from a mid-budget TV adventure show. Though I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a bizarre sequence where they seem to have forgotten, lost, or been unable to obtain a prop lever, requiring the leads to find and use it off-camera while describing it in a way that felt written on location.

In short, this is a frustrating movie. It's the sort of thing I wish Hallmark would make more of executed in a manner that makes me wish they'd tried a lot harder.