REVIEW: Netflix Kicks Off the Holiday Season with Holiday in the Wild
Wouldn’t it be nice to take on an adventure to an elephant refuge in Africa Safari and meet the person of our dreams?! That’s exactly what Kate (Kristen Davis) does in Netflix’s new Holiday movie, Holiday in the Wild. Kate’s looking forward to her next chapter as her son heads off to college. Hoping to spend more time, and reconnect with her husband, she is blindsided when he announces he is leaving her and moving out. Kate decides to embark on what was supposed to be the couple’s second honeymoon in Africa to get over his shocking announcement.
There she meets Derek (Rob Lowe), a pilot and an elephant conservationist working for the local elephant conservatory. It is at the conservatory where Kate re-energizes her passion for helping animals, creates new lasting friendships, and begins to fall in love with her new home and the pilot/conservationist.
Unlike most Holiday movies, this one isn’t over the top cheesy. That’s not to say it doesn’t have a few cheese-tastic moments, instead these hit the mark. This movie is straight to the point with no real elaborate romantic gestures, but enjoyable light hearted moments. The storyline was cute, the setting was perfect and the casting was fantastic. It was also nice to see this movie shine a light on elephant conservation and all that goes into protecting and rehabbing these animals so they can one day return to the wild.
Lowe and Davis were excellent choices for this movie. They’re the perfect partners for a lovely, holiday romantic comedy. You can tell they really enjoyed working with each other on this movie, too. Their scenes had a sense of ease which helped amplified the characters’ chemistry and propel the story. There are a few supporting characters, but they are extremely minor who you may or may not remember by the end of the movie. This movie is really all about Davis and Lowe.
Holiday in the Wild is the first of many Holiday movies to be released by Netflix this season. It’s not set in a Winter Wonderland and doesn’t feature holiday decorations galore, yet the movie will get you into the holiday spirit. It will make you feel warm inside and leave you with a smile on your face. I recommend watching it within the next couple of weeks because with all the other Holiday movies being released, you wouldn’t want this one to get lost in the weeds.
Grade: B+