Going into Candy Cane Lane, I wasn’t expecting a great movie. At one time, Eddie Murphy would’ve strayed far away from a movie like this. But I’m sure he was offered a huge paycheck and the opportunity to film a Christmas movie in Southern California so he doesn’t have to worry about getting cold. But still, it could have been a nice little family movie.
Let me just say, when a movie looks like it’s copying the drab 2006 family movie Deck the Halls, that’s never a good sign. There is a nice set-up as Murphy plays Chris Carver, who goes into work one day on to discover a business deal went through and he’s one of the many employees laid off. There’s some brutal humor here as Chris is given a holiday fleece as severance and he’s assigned an “outplacement officer” to assist “in the transition.” Murphy does some good schtick here and it’s savage. If only the rest of the movie had these few moments, it might have worked better.
It turns out that every year, the neighborhood goes all out for their holiday decorations. And Chris is in a rivalry with his neighbor across the road, Bruce (Ken Marino). They hear of a contest where the winner of the best house decoration will receive $100,000. (It’s later revealed that it was $100,000 worth of prizes and gift cards such as to a taco place. Another funny joke that the movie doesn’t embellish on unfortunately.)
Chris and his youngest daughter, Holly (Madison Thomas), discover a mysterious building located underneath a freeway’s interchange that is runned by Pepper (Jillian Bell). She sells Chris some decorations in a large round container but the receipt is long and he doesn’t read the fine print. When he set it on his front lawn, it’s a tree-like decoration representing “The 12 Days of Christmas.”
But very soon, Chris and his family, including his wife, Carol (Tracee Ellis Ross), begin to notice a lot of strange things such as the decorations coming to life. There’s swans swimming in their pool and geese laying eggs. Chris and his family realize they have to get the rings out of the live decorations. And now, Chris has to accept all rings by a certain time on Christmas Eve or else he’ll turn into another animated doll in a Christmas village in Jillian’s shop.
This fantasy-like concept gives some weight to the plot. It’s almost like the horror classic Dolls. But at almost nearly two hours, this is way too long of a movie. There’s also a subplot about Chris and Carol wanting their eldest daughter, Joy (Genneya Walton), going to the University of Southern California just like they did. But she wants to go elsewhere, mainly Notre Dame. So not only does it borrow from other movies, but Murphy’s own movies as Dr. Dolittle 2 had a subplot about his oldest daughter wanted to move away instead of going to college nearby.
There is a nice performance by David Alan Grier appearing as Santa Claus but the characters playing the animated dolls get lost in a contrived plot that ends with the typical All Hell Breaks Loose climax like the latest MCU/DCEU movie. Bell is one of those actresses I’ve never been able to see the appeal of and she’s sleepwalks through the role of a villian. Nick Offerman is supposed to play a Englishman with a bad accent. And Pentatonix appears as animated doll carolers which may be self-parody because they become annoying very quick.
Yet, there never seems to be the right mixture to make it a holiday classic. It’s a lot better than Dashing Through the Snow and Reginald Hudlin, as director, adds more creativity to the movie than it deserves. Rumor has it Hudlin and Murphy had a falling out following the 1992 movie Boomerang but Hudlin has lost his touch. And Murphy is never allowed to cut loose the way he used to. The PG rating seems to limit Murphy but the script isn’t the best.
It’s no surprise this is streaming on Amazon Prime Video because it seems like a glorified TV movie.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 