Candy cane lane
It's Eddie Murphy in Christmas jumpers!
Finally, we get a Christmas movie with more than minimal production values! Candy Cane Lane is a slick operation starring Eddie and some other great people and it takes us on a twisty turny journey which is not horror as I was kind of expecting but definitely has some creepy/quirky elements.
Eddie plays Chris who lives on Candy Cane Lane with his family and they are all delightfully named after Christmas (Chris, Carol, Joy, Nick and Holly). Each of the family have their own personalities - more or less. Chris is really into Christmas decorating (his street have a very big competition every year); Joy is a champion runner who wants independence from her family; Nick just wants to play the Tuba and is not very good at maths; Holly should be named ‘Joy’ because that’s what she brings to everyone; and Carol - well, I’m not sure what Carol is but it’s definitely an endearing version of slightly unhinged. Then again, she’s married to Eddie Murphy and has three kids so I’m not gonna judge.
Chris loses his job pretty early on, freeing him up to work full time on decorating his house for Christmas. It turns out that the annual street Christmas decoration competition is going to be televised this year and there’s a big prize for the winner. Chris immediately decides his exisiting decorations need a boost and takes Holly out of school to search for last minute Christmas paraphenalia. Naturally all the shops are sold out (it’s the week before Christmas, so they’re full of Valentine’s Day stuff LOL) but luckily he stumbles across a fully stocked creepy Christmas shop under a bridge in an unsavoury part of the neighbourhood.
Suffice to say that Chris unknowingly signs a deal with an Evil Elf (side note, I can’t believe Santa allowed this, Chris was totally led to believe he was signing to pay with his credit card, the legality of this contract would certainly not stand up in MY court) and while it’s true he does purchase THE most extra Christmas decoration for his house, he also has to do a (similarly extra) quest to retrieve 5 gold rings before 8pm on Christmas eve or else he’ll turn into a tiny sentient Christmas decoration like the other ones in the shop. That turns out also to be a trick involving MATHS, nice one.
There’s a lot of super cool references to the 12 days of Christmas (the theme of the decoration and the quest) and the thing that makes this movie really great is all of the side characters. My favourites include
The three hosts and the TV coverage of the Christmas decoration competition. They’re so absurd, it’s hilarious.
The tiny sentient Christmas decorations. Great personalities and excellent way to include the PENTATONIX, genius.
Pepper (short for Peppermint), the evil elf. Her use of evil hand movements is second to none.
The 10 lords a leaping. Loved them. Honorable mention to the 6 geese a laying, who agressively shoot people with their eggs.
Extra points earned too for the soundtrack (I got in trouble for bobbing my head, apparently that’s lame) - I really enjoyed this movie, Chris and Carol’s banter is great and I’m going to give it 10/10. This movie is the real Christams Deal THANK GOODNESS IT WAS GETTING A BIT TOUCH AND GO THERE FOR A WHILE THIS YEAR.