Movie Review - Candy Cane Lane

 

Yeah, I may as well watch at least one Christmas film this year that I have never seen before, and I saw this being advertised so thought to check it out. I believe (and I could be wrong about this) that it's the first film I have seen that is distributed by the studio nowadays known as Amazon MGM Studios, which I guess comes as a result of Amazon buying MGM of all things. This is probably a film that won't be winning awards or anything like that, but it is one that's been directed by one of the producers and writers of Bebe Kids which is giving me cause for concern. But it does star Eddie Murphy who has done a lot of comedy roles with some being very successful and others not so much, but often not his fault for the latter. Anyway, let's see how festive this film is:

The film's main focus is on Chris Carver (played by Murphy), a family man with a passion for making handcrafted decorations, especially during Christmas, where his street hosts a competition to see who makes the best decorations. He always loses to a neighbour who often wins with inflatable decorations and is more determined than ever to win, when the prize is revealed to be much more money than before. But things start to turn for the better when Chris comes across a mysterious decorations shop and upon using their supplies, is able to win the competition with ease. But not all is as it seems when the decorations go missing and magic begins to work, which prompts Chris to find them and, in a manner of speaking, save Christmas before havoc is unleashed.

While I appreciate the effort the film makes in trying to do something a little more original with decorations (even though it's not the first to have done so) and going all weird, which I like, I feel it's not enough for me to call this a Christmas classic. It is funny and full of heart, don't get me wrong, but I don't remember much of it after just one viewing. It's perfectly fine and serviceable for a Christmas film, but not really one that I would be religiously watching every Christmas, unlike some of the other stuff I see. 7/10