Christmas in Wonderland

Usual daft extreme ratings here. As with most films, it is not a 1/10 or 2/10 film, nor is it a 9 or 10/10 film.

It is as someone else here described, reasonable Christmas fodder. I did not find it any worse than Home Alone 2.

It is essentially a children's film and they should enjoy it, it had a few laughs, was interesting, easy to follow, a couple of good characters, played well by Curry and Electra. It was also good to get such a detailed showing of the Mall.

For adults it is far too much of a giant cliché though. The two boys, as a lot of these films do, have the worst hair cuts imaginable, or lack of cut.The young girl, could be the young girl in about 100 films and as in any Christmas film, it is Christmas Eve and they still have not put the tree up.

There are a couple of really peculiar moments which seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. When Patrick Swayze is buying the underwear for his wife, the whole scene and in particular the lady serving him was completely nonsensical and the whole scene should have been removed. You also had the oldest boy falling for a girl who came from the same city, for the same reasons, to the same new city and had the same unusual name as his other girlfriend for reasons unknown and which went nowhere.

All in all though, it is a decent watch. A little better than the 4.9 rating and will entertain you more than many daytime Christmas films.

Most of all, it was wonderful to see the marvellous Patrick Swayze in one of his last roles, as endearing as ever.

I read a lot of the reviews on this movie and to be honest it does have some really bad acting. Unrealistic situations. and predictable lines.

I liked seeing the film filmed in Canada. What I didn't like was their portrayal of Canadians and idiots. Tho the chief was a bumbling he did act well.But it still portrayed them as not being very smart. It was a family movie and is clean with no bad language.

I liked seeing the attractions at the mall shown in the movie. To bad that some of the actors in the movie couldn't bring the level of the movie up from a b movie. Family movie. Good to watch with younger kids. not really an Adult movie.

While the cast is who's who's of B-Lists, this is a cast we expect at lest a passable performance from. This is NOT the Tim Curry from Rocky Horror. This is NOT the Patrick Swayze from Ghost. This is not the Chris Kattan from SNL. Preston Lacy and Carmen Electra gave par performances, coming from them. The most impressive acting, for both comedy and warmth, surprisingly comes from the two youngest performer. Everyone else basically phones it in.

This isn't an insult. Given the movie's low budget, the actors were probably not well reimbursed.

That said, kids, who are not looking for Oscar winning performances or knee-slapping comedy, just low impact slap stick and puns will love this movie, with a familiar feeling family and a Santa Claus who pops in and out of the shadows, in many guises.

Energy felt very similar to "Trading Mom" or "Bogus" to me, with the acting being a few marks short of both. Great kid movie.

BEWARE OF BOGUS REVIEWS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY REVIEW ONE FILM. THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 Christmas MOVIES. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM FARE ABOUT THESE FILMS.

IN THIS FILM Three kids and their Dad move from L.A to Edmonton. When they go shopping at West Edmonton Mall they find counterfeit cash. They inadvertently help catch the crooks, and later make a discovery about Santa.

The film is safe for small children but they will even be bored. The cast of familiar faces do their best but the material just isn't there.

The screenplay had a nice gem of an idea but it needed a little more work. Had the screenplay been better the film could of been great.

Hell, I liked the film!

But I KNEW going' in, this film was going to be a piece of mindless holiday fluff, with sub-par acting. When the DVD costs 3 bucks at my local grocery store, I know I'm not going to see Citizen Kane part 2 or Gone With the Wind, the sequel. It's disposable holiday/family entertainment. The kids were lousy actors, the little girl had the worst looking wig I've seen in recent memory, and it's more conceivable to believe I will be a millionaire before I finish this review, then to actually believe the plot of this movie.

But it's a fantasy! It's Christmas! Miracles are supposed to happen. It's a holiday silly/slapstick comedy with a totally unbelievable "feel good ending".

Course it DOES help, being a fan of Tim Curry, Chris Kattan & Carmen Elcetra. It was also nice to see Preston Lacy actually "acting", as opposed to being a Jackass lackey. Also knowing within 2 years of the making of this film, Patrick Swayze would succumb to cancer, also makes me appreciate this film a little bit more.

I've seen lots of Christmas films this year, and this isn't much worse then the average "movie holiday fare."

If it's a Christmas Classic you want, steer clear of this film. If you want a lighthearted, silly, forgettable and inoffensive family friendly holiday flick, you COULD do worse then Christmas in Wonderland. In My Humble Opinion