'Christmas in the Wilds (2021)
Opening thoughts: Love Christmas with all my heart. Love the fun and nostalgia it brings, and cherish all the time spent with family and friends every year. Decided in 2019 to see some newly released (at that time) Christmas films to broaden my Christmas film horizons (namely those from Hallmark and Lifetime), this turned into a quest that is still ongoing. Feelings have been extremely mixed doing this and even when trying to take them for what they're meant to be some have been lacking (though there have been some surprisingly good ones too).
UPTV were responsible for quite a number of above average films, Christmas and not, but they were also responsible for a fair share of misses. When they missed, they did so big time. 'Christmas in the Wild', and its predecessor 'Romance in the Wild', is a fine example of them missing big time. It is down there as among the worst Christmas films seen recently, and manages to repeat all of its predecessor's flaws (in a film that had almost nothing good it) and just as badly.
Good things: 'Christmas in the Wild' has some nice scenery, but that is it with the praise.
Bad things: Despite the scenery being nice, it is wasted by the disorganised editing that constanty jumps around and the poorly framed and equally chaotic photography. The direction lacks focus and never seemed to be in complete control or that engaged with the material.
Which in itself is incredibly weak. The dialogue throughout is cheese ridden, is very flat and never flows. The story never picks up momentum, suffers from a complete lack of tension and has no charm or heart. There is little Christmassy about it and everything is taken too seriously.
The characters with no exception had little to no development and had bland or/and grating personalities, with exaggerated negative traits and groan inducing decision making. Calling the acting bad is being generous, nobody looks comfortable and it was like the cast knew the material was bad and decides to not try.
Closing thoughts: Overall, very poor.
2/10.
