Streaming
Service: Netflix
Movie
Name/Year: Holiday
in the Wild (2019)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Length: 85 minutes
Rating: TV-PG
Production/Distribution: Advantage Entertainment,
Netflix
Director: Ernie Barbarash
Writer: Neal H. Dobrofsky, Tippi
Dobrofsky
Actors: Kristin Davis, Rob Lowe,
Fezile Mpela, John Owen Lowe, Colin Moss, Keeno Lee Hector, Thandi Puren,
Waldemar Schultz, Hayley Owen, Lynita Crofford, Kgahliso Solomon, Tapiwa
Musvosvi, Renate Stuurman, Faniswa Yisa, Chanelys Garcia Nyapisi
Blurb
from IMDb: Jilted
by her husband on the eve of embarking on an African safari, a woman travels to
the continent alone where she meets an elephant conservationist.
Selina’s
Point of View:
This
was exactly the kind of movie I needed to watch today. As much as I love
Christmas movies, they all seem to run together at some point during December.
I give the majority of them the benefit of the doubt, though. My thought has
been that you can’t really do much different when you’re working with the same
themes over and over. There’s bound to be overlap.
I’m
not saying there wasn’t any of that overlap in this film, just a hell of a lot
less than usual.
Holiday
in the Wild,
first of all, takes place mostly in Africa. That means there’s only a few
scenes involving snow and none of them revolve around it. That setting, alone, changes
things up so much. Instantly, I felt like I was getting a break from the
typical Christmas movie.
Add
on to that the plot. You will find no Santa in this film. No shopping for gifts
or materialism. The main characters will not fall in love after only three
days. There’s no love triangle and there’s minimal family drama, even though it
seems like there’ll be more in the very beginning. Some of the movie doesn’t
even take part during the holidays, though I can still confidently call it a holiday
film.
This
movie embraces all the ideas that make me enjoy Christmas flicks. There’s the
importance of loved ones, the feeling of miracles and joy in the air, internal
betterment for the main character, charity, and love. Not just romantic love,
either. There’s love for other living creatures/family, sure, but it also
focuses heavily on love for oneself. I think that’s a lesson some of us will be
trying to learn for the rest of our lives: how to love ourselves.
I found
Holiday in the Wild to be so much more realistic than most holiday
films. Time passes. People change – but not overnight. It’s a beautiful thing
to watch, really.
The
actors were amazing in their parts. Kristin Davis (Sex and the City, Journey
2: The Mysterious Island, The Knight Before Christmas), Rob Lowe (The
Knight Before Christmas, Super Troopers 2, The Grinder), and Fezile Mpela (While
You Weren’t Looking, A Million Colours, Shadow) were perfect choices for
their characters. There was not a flawed moment between them. By the end, they
had me absolutely verklempt.
I’d
be remiss to not discuss the social commentary aspect of the film. But I don’t
have much to say about it. Elephant poachers are some of the scum of the Earth
and if you have a chance to donate to a sanctuary or help save one of those
majestic, hunted, creatures, you should. That’s all I have to say about that.
The movie didn’t come off preachy, and it raised awareness. Nothing else needs
to be said.
Rotten
Tomatoes Critic Score – 43%
Rotten
Tomatoes Audience Score – 49%
Metascore – 49/100
Metacritic
User Score – None
IMDB
Score – 6.1/10
CinemaScore – None
Trust
the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 4/5
Movie
Trailer:
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