Candy Cane Lane

I'm surprised some reviewers thought this movie was vulgar. I thought it was the first movie I've seen in a long time, directed towards children, that did not have crude remarks and events. (Adam Sandler obviously had nothing to do with making it.) Yes, it does have some obscene words and a few inuendos, but nothing like most movies these days.

The movie's main strength lies in the relationships between the very likable family members. Two of the three kids are teenagers wanting to do their own thing, while the parents, especially Dad, think they know what's best for them. Thankfully, there are no gender issues or other politically correct stuff stuffed into this film. A pleasant surprise for an Amazon movie!

The kids are normal, the parents are normal, family life is normal, until it is not. There's lots of amusing lines and events in the film, but the humor is not that consistant. That's the biggest fault of the story. The evil elf is also neither funny nor scary most of the time. She is mostly irritating. The Christmas breakfast was an anticlimatic ending, too, and we really could have done without the "lady mallard".

In fact, that poor duck, as well as having all the birds in the film as villians, made me take off a couple stars. The Santa in the movie was one of the fun parts, but the funniest line involving him was not in the film itself. When the credits run, watch out for scenes not in the story, the funniest one being what Eddie Murphy says to the Santa.

Wow... So Eddie Murphy delivers his second Amazon Movie and his first Christmas themed movie and as a huge Fan of his I can say I'm absolutely disappointed.

The movie starts of promising and seems to build up to original ideas, but only goes downhill as soon as the story starts to evolve. Sadly it's a absolute mess and they tried to cram so much into the movie that it's hard to keep track sometimes. The movie lacks depth and characters fight just to reconcile 1 minute later. The movie jumps from scene to scene and every moment of depth conflict or drama is resolved within a max of 3 minutes. There's not one scene that really made me laugh and the movie is so exhausting at times that i really struggled not to turn it off. I don't know what Eddie was thinking but this feels soulless and you can see it on the actors faces and their energy. Everyone seems bored, the dialogue's are hideous and nothing clicks... this is really disappointing and falls in the category of the Eddie Murphy movies that will be forgotten sooner than later.

We might like to see Eddie Murphy do adult comedy, but this was surprisingly funny and very entertaining. The humor is a mix of adult and young adult and it's actually pretty nice to see Eddie Murphy do something than R rated comedy. Tracee Ellis Ross also compliments his character very well, she hits with the humor right on time and is used very well and not just a (background) wife. The figurines are hilarious as well! Whenever they hit the screen, I at least smiled and chuckled, the CGI was perfect too! Loved every bit of the premise as well. Could Jillian Bell do better as a villian? Yes. Could they have gotten a better actress for that? Maybe. She doesn't take away from the movie but ties it up in the end for what it was. Enjoy this holiday special, i did and you will!

As I'm the Grinch of the family it's more difficult to review this Christmas family movie. My wife insists on watching a Christmas movie on Christmas day so I just get along with it. Let just say I was hoping for something like Bad Santa or Le Père Noel Est Une Ordure, the only Christmas classics that I really enjoy watching. Candy Cane Lane isn't that kind of movie unfortunately. It's well made though, especially the little figurines were nicely done. So as for the CGI's that was really good. Storywise it was a bit boring, at least for an adult like me that is fed up with this yearly overly happy period. But for kids this movie will definitely work so I guess it's a good family movie for Christmas day. Eddie Murphy, I've seen him in better movies to be honest. Jillian Bell and Nick Offerman are two comedians I really like and I guess they were okay considering the cheesy plot.

Candy Cane Lane is on the less offensive side of Christmas movie releases but suffers from being far too long at an energy draining two hours. Just when it starts wrapping up another 30 minutes come from nowhere.

Eddie Murphy carries the movie and helps to push it over the line. It is a step up from his previous Amazon Original, Coming 2 America. Jillian Bell is annoying as always but fits in better in this zany christmas movie.

It may not be everyone's cup of tea but Candy Cane Lane passes the time and is at least better than the 50 Hallmark exclusive movies which are soon coming down the pike.