Kurt Russell was born to play Santa Claus.

If you have any doubts, watch The Christmas Chronicles, which in my book is one of the best holiday movies ever made.

It starts out a little like a Hallmark movie. Heartwarming family scenes through the years, as the Pierce family -- Mom, Dad, Teddy and Kate -- celebrate Christmas with great joy. But then we hit the present, and Teddy and Kate's father is gone -- a hero firefighter, who died in the line of duty. His grieving widow (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) approaches Christmas with sorrow, Teddy (Judah Lewis) is veering away from a good path in life, and Kate (Darby Camp) is holding on to her happy memories through old home movies.

Then on Christmas Eve, Kate is looking through old Christmas videos taken by her parents over the years, and she catches a glimpse of -- wait, was that Santa Claus? She, still young enough to believe, blackmails her older, more cynical sibling into setting a trap. And the trap kind of works, enough for the kids to sneak onto Santa's sleigh and inadvertently cause a crash that costs Santa his hat, his bag of toys and his reindeer. It's up to them to help him find them before Christmas is ruined.

And then this movie gets awesome.

Russell's St. Nick is simply perfect, from the gruff facade he initially shows the children to the warmth and genuine caring he demonstrates to pretty much everyone he meets. He's peeved by artistic representations that show him as plump -- he works out, you know -- and he flatly refuses to "ho ho ho," but he recognizes everyone he encounters and he knows all of their Christmas wishes by heart.

Some of the best moments come when Claus gets arrested; not only are his interactions with Chicago police officers Poveda (Martin Roach) and Jameson (Lamorne Morris) delightful, but his pickup cellblock band (including appearances by fellow inmates Steven Van Zandt, Marc Ribler and other members of both Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and Little Steven & the Disciples of Soul) for a little Christmas blues is, well, phenomenal.

The film even includes a brief detour to the North Pole, where we meet cute, animated elves (who communicate adorably in Elvish, a made-for-the-movie Norwegian-like language -- devised by David J. Peterson, who also created languages for Game of Thrones -- that solidifies the elves' similarity to Minions). And we get a brief glimpse of Mrs. Claus, played by Russell's real-life partner, Goldie Hawn.

The Christmas Chronicles is an instant Christmas classic, with plenty to dazzle children and parents alike, and Russell is the ultimate "cool" Santa. I can't wait to see the sequel!