Christmas in Wonderland (2006) User Reviews

I Guess I Need To Be Lobotomized For Christmas...

[PACman66 · 5/10 · 17 December 2010]

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

Some good moments save an otherwise mediocre film

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 31 December 2009]

I was warned by the reviewers on IMDb not to see this film, but I did decide to give it a chance for two reasons; Patrick Swayze and Tim Curry. My thoughts on watching Christmas in Wonderland were that while there were some good moments, the film could've been much better. It is a long way from being the best movie ever and from being a Christmas classic like Scrooge(1951), Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alones 1 and 2 and It's a Wonderful Life, but personally I do not think it's the worst ever either, Disaster Movie, Home Alone 4, NeverEnding Story 3, Cat in the Hat and Superbabies:Baby Geniuses 2 were much worse.

So what were the good things? Well the soundtrack was one. The incidental music was not bad, but I liked very much the song choices. Christmas in Wonderland is certainly memorable, same with Not So Zen. But my favourite is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, the timeless tear jerker, immortalised by Judy Garland in the musical Meet Me in St Louis. It was nice to see the West Edmonton Mall too. Also Mary's conversation with Santa twenty minutes into the movie was the closest to heartwarming Christmas in Wonderland got, likewise with the moralising between Wayne and the imaginary Santa in the bar. While I do agree that the writing was not very good at all on the most part, there are one or moments of inspired physical comedy. No I am not talking about the crooks chasing the kids on the escalator, I am chiefly talking about Carmen Electra's character Ginger after falling into the water having a hard time with the seal. That was funny, shame the whole film, while starting off ever so promisingly, didn't have the same kind of momentum.

Before mentioning the cons, I am going to talk about the performances and start with the good ones first. Most of the acting was terrible, and while the more decent performances were anything but outstanding, there were one or two bright spots in the cast, particularly the two lead kids. Matthew Knight is quite appealing as Brian, and his sister Mary is played by the adorable Schlagel twins Amy and Zoe. And Tim Curry, the wonderful and underrated actor he is, is actually quite entertaining as the memory-challenged McLoosh. Critics were divided on Curry's performance, others praised him as one of the few bright spots of the movie, others complained of his performance being full of sheer pantomimic excess. I would be inclined to agree with the former, while he does overact a bit, and his Scottish accent leaves much to be desired(though the accent is infinitely better than Jon Voight's German accent in Superbabies:Baby Geniuses 2), he at least makes some effort to make the most of the questionably meagre material he was given, and his facial expressions were priceless.

However, the other performers weren't that much better. Whereas in general I enjoyed Tim Curry's performance, I was disappointed with Swayze. Perhaps this movie would have been forgotten, if it weren't for the fact that it was one of Swayze's last performances before he sadly died. He wasn't terrible, but the script gave him very little to do so no matter how hard he tried it was a bit of a wasted effort. Cameron Bright as Danny gives a very lifeless and monotonic performance; there were times when I wanted to give him a kick up the backside. Chris Kattan and Preston Lacy step into their roles with enthusiasm but like Swayze they weren't given that much to do. That leaves Carmen Electra. While I wanted to see this movie for Swayze and Curry, I was hesitant as well because of Electra. Sorry, I can't stand her, I just don't think she can act, and a lot of the characters she plays are more of the same. She was marginally better than she was in Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans, both movies in which she was truly terrible, but that is not saying much.

Other problems I had with Christmas in Wonderland was that the script, no matter how physical-comedy engineered it was, was clunky and devoid of humour, and gave the actors little to work with- a lot of the "funny" lines just weren't funny. The repeated gag about McLoosh forgetting everyone's names was funny the first couple of times, but it got tiresome, an oft-danger with repeated gags. Then there's the formulaic and utterly predictable plot and the fact, it looks like in terms of camera work etc. direct to video quality. The direction from James Orr ranged from sloppy to non-existent, the love story between Danny and Shane was underdeveloped and out-of-the blue and the CGI I agree was rather fake and amateurish. All in all, has some good moments, heavy emphasis on the some, but it is mediocre. Showed good promise, but didn't deliver in most aspects. 4.5/10 Bethany Cox

Not awful. For kids.

[jackhammerroses · 6/10 · 16 November 2010]

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.

Worst Movie Ever

[ducati_999 · 1/10 · 30 November 2007]

I got to see an advanced screening of this movie in Edmonton. Sadly while its good for a movie to be made in Edmonton, this is the worst movie i have ever seen. Worse than Police Academy Mission in Moscow. Worse than a Sylvestor Stalone or Hulk Hogan comedy. And those are bad movies. Im sure most direct to DVD movies are better than this. And this is sad as i do enjoy GOOD Christmas movies.

The script is terrible and doesn't give the actors much to work with, but only a few actors seemed as though they are not just reading lines. The movie is full of product placement. Initially at their house with apple products and a PSP in center screen, then at the mall with the kids going on a shopping spree. The West Edmonton Mall had a terrible CGI makeover from the outside to make it seem 'magical' as it was painted in blue gold and pink. The first 5 minutes of mall footage was like a promo video for the mall. (Although it is a great mall and you should all visit it, this is meant to be a movie not an infomercial.)

The love story in the movie is unbelievable. The older boy misses his girlfriend from LA. But luckily he finds an attractive girl with the same obscure name as his old girlfriend, who also just moved from LA, and who has the exact same catch phrase as the boy does. He says one line to her, and they are instantly dating. It must have been love at first sight.

There were a couple of bright spots though. Tim Curry Played a Scottish Canadian Mountie. He forgot peoples names and i did laugh when he called one of his helpers 'Rico' when that was neither of their names. But this gag was used several times and grew tiresome by the end of the movie. Santa also made many appearances, making the whole family believe in him again.

One part i cant get over though is the image of the north pole. One of the boys opens a door supposedly to the north pole. The next scene is very poor cgi animation. I think the whole audience was shocked by its lack of quality. They must have hired a computer graphics student who hadn't finished the course yet. As it was beginners level stuff.

To conclude, while I got a free pass to this movie i still felt somewhat short changed by it all. I would have hated to have paid money to see it. Terrible.

To say this movie is awful is too kind...

[gra_arch · 1/10 · 17 February 2008]

As an Edmontonian, having a movie filmed in our city is always exciting as that is a very rare occurrence. To have the movie actually set in Edmonton is even better. "Christmas in Wonderland", however, is an embarrassment for Edmonton. It is that bad.

Firstly, the writing is awful. It sounds like it was written by an elementary school student. The 'funny' lines are cringe-worthy. The story itself is ridiculous. Aside from the main storyline, the 'love' story involving the oldest brother and some girl he meets in the mall is absurd. She just happens to be the same age and also just moved from California to Edmonton. The police are also misrepresented. Why is it that the RCMP is the only law enforcement organization in Canada? Edmonton does have its own police force, which were even featured in the movie, yet were called the RCMP. Another ridiculous element of this movie is the fact that there is no snow on Christmas Eve. In fact the grass is nearly green. Anyone who has lived in Edmonton for a few years knows that such an occurrence is EXTREMELY rare. Edmonton winters are long, extremely cold, and usually very snowy.

The acting is atrocious. I have never seen such bad acting, especially from Cameron Bright, Carmen Electra, and Chris Kattan. Cameron Bright is by far the worst, as he sounds, literally, like he is a teacher with no emotion reading a book out loud to his class. Carmen Electra - destroyer of film quality - is not much better. Luckily she does not have much screen time.

Perhaps the worst moment of the film comes when the 'North Pole' is seen in the bowels of WEM. The CGI animation of the 'elves' is perhaps 1980s worthy. The animation is shockingly bad, leaving one to consider if it would of just been better not to include it.

The only redeeming quality is Tim Curry as a memory-challenged Scottish RCMP officer. He does this character rather well considering the awfulness of the overall film.

"Christmas in Wonderland" doesn't deserve the $689 it made in theatres.

Really a remarkably bad movie

[sakki-625-121695 · 1/10 · 6 March 2013]

My wife purchased the DVD, which from the cover looked promising as a family movie. Sadly, the experience did not live up to the expectation: This is no "Home alone", not by any means.

The storyline is implausible (even for an adventure) and the dialog is stiff. The actors seem to have had the same opinion, because the acting itself seems both unrehearsed and uninspired. To me the entire sequence felt more like an advertisement for the Edmonton Mall than an attempt to make a descent movie. It would not surprise me if that turns out to be the case.

I watch B-movies all the time, and usually I don't care if they turn out to be sub-par. From time to time I even prefer the lower quality story lines, because they are more relaxing to the mind. This movie does however not come close to meeting even that standard.

Home Alone at the Mall, that's what this one is, but very nice to have another Swayze film to treasure, even in a minor way

[inkblot11 · 7/10 · 9 June 2011]

Wayne Saunders (Patrick Swayze) moved his family from Los Angeles to Edmonton, Alberta, to take a new job. Unhappily, the company chose that moment to downsize and Wayne loses the post before he has a chance to even begin! Also, its near Christmas and his wife is back in California, tying up lose ends with her own job. Therefore, Wayne and the three kids, teenage Brian, middle schooler Danny and young daughter Mary have to get a tree and shop for all of the gifts. Needless to say, Wayne is not used to balancing the whole affair on his shoulders AND, since his job melted away and there were moving expenses, finances are extremely tight. Therefore, when the family heads to the enormous underground mall, Dad puts Brian in charge of the other two kids, so that he, Wayne, can shop for the children in private. But, Brian, downcast since the big move, likes the looks of the teen girls he sees at the mall and gives Danny money to take care of Mary, letting him, Brian, hang out with kids his age. Whoa, wait until Dad hears this! On their own, Sam and Mary stumble upon a bag of cash, which they believe is a gift from the mall's Santa. However, its really counterfeit bills that a trio of dumb thieves (including Carmen Electra) were going to use for their own brand of Xmas cheer. Now, the thieves are after the kids and the kids are out to avoid being caught and to trip up the robbers at the same time. Who will win out and will it turn into a merry season after all? This is a cute holiday film, sort of a Home Alone at the mall. The kids and the crooks are very entertaining, generating many giggles with their antics. Swayze, naturally, is nice as the harried dad, although the focus of the film is more on the young folks. Supporting actors like Electra, Tim Curry, and all of the others do fine work, too. In addition, the setting is very nice, as the mall looks gorgeous, festive, and quite, quite enormous. Those Canadians sure are lucky! The movie likewise has attractive costumes, a humorous script, and a lively direction. Therefore, although the title is easily confused with a host of others, look hard for this one at holiday time or, indeed, whenever the mood strikes you or the children. Its another fine addition to the growing number of holiday cinematic treats.

It was OK

[Gubby-Allen · 5/10 · 8 December 2017]

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.

cute but

[kda_h · 7/10 · 27 November 2010]

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.

For Children Who Have Never Seen Home Alone

[Christmas-Reviewer · 5/10 · 1 February 2017]

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.

A family man drags his kids unwillingly to the mall, where they find adventure and learn a lesson or two about family.

[sassygal1829 · 8/10 · 20 January 2010]

I am fully aware of the mortifying reviews most viewers have given this movie. I'm here to tell you that I found it fabulous and endearing. The themes of family and Christmas and magic are abundant, and it's an enjoyable film the whole clan can enjoy. The acting... could have been better. Patrick Swayze has definitely given better performances before, but he's such a sweet father that I managed to overlook the extreme cheesiness. Cameron Bright was a bit dull, but in all fairness, he was cast as the stereotypical "big brother who misses his life back in LA and can't stand his siblings," and I believe he played the part correctly. I have my own older brother, and he sounds just like that: a bored teenager. What more do you people expect? I found the constant switching between the actresses playing Mary a bit nauseating. Can we PLEASE pick ONE twin for the part and leave it at that? They're not Mary-Kate and Ashley; they don't look completely identical. Chris Kattan was hilarious, as always, as was Tim Curry. All in all, it was a delightful, bright comedy that teaches an important lesson about family. (For the sake of this review I won't comment on the horrid CGI North Pole fiasco. Let's just put that out of our minds, shall we? :)

I should-a listened to the other posters

[rockwell220 · 1/10 · 23 December 2008]

I DVR'd the movie, and before watching it I read the review comments posted . . . and then I foolishly watched the movie anyway. Saying this movie is BAD is giving it too much credit. The terrible writing is only accentuated by the terrible acting.

The one redeeming thing was seeing the Edmonton Mall. I've heard lots about it but we've never made it up there. It's a shame some of the stores probably lost customers when they were shooting the movie. Hope they were well compensated for any loss.

Final word . . . If you have an open two hours and are thinking of watching this movie, don't do it. Instead, read a book.

Passable Christmas Fodder

[neiljones1981 · 5/10 · 30 December 2015]

Having dug into the history of Christmas in Wonderful to find out who made it and where, it turns out to be an ABC Original Movie, a lot of which tend to be hit and miss at the best of times which is sadly a trend of TV movies in general.

Christmas in Wonderland is, as another reviewer stated, essentially Home Alone at the Mall. There is some potential here, but the presence of the late Patrick Swayze and the omni-present Tim Curry doesn't make up for a script full of clumsy dialogue, predictable setups/outcomes and stereotypically "thick" bad guys. There is a scene where a door is opened to reveal some really tacky CGI creation - it may shatter your suspension of disbelief.

Acting wise, pretty much up to TV movie standards really, even from the likes of Swayze and Curry. Cameron Bright also makes an appearance in Christmas in Wonderland but takes stereotypical moody 16 year old teenagers to an extreme. Matthew Knight, as the younger boy, does a wonderful job and is clearly steering this vehicle to the point where he was nominated for Best Performance in a DVD film - a nomination which says it all about the rest of the film.

Watchable, but needed more script work and is an example of something that could have benefited from a bigger budget.

One to miss.

[leannegrubb · 1/10 · 30 December 2018]

I gave this a go because of some familiar names in the cast; that was a mistake. Cringeworthy throughout.

A Horrible Excuse for a Film

[chefsausage · 1/10 · 17 December 2009]

When I saw this film, it was luckily for free and I watched it with my friends on a projector. Well, the DVD menu said it all. "Christmas in Wonderland" would be horrible. It had a typical order of events. The film was predictable at all parts. The acting was a shame to Hollywood. As for the script; that seemed like something a person on pot would write. "Christmas in Wonderland" had an absolutely horrid plot line. All of the twists and turns were the same as they are in other movies, with no originality; not to mention it was beyond far fetched. The suspense in the film, well there was none. Everything could be predicted from the start. And you never were on the edge of your seat. The script was a whole different issue. The dialogue was terrible and so were the actors. I felt like laughing the entire time at how horrible it was. If you plan on seeing this film, don't. It is NOT worth it.

Christmas In Wonderland

[gremlin1947 · 8/10 · 24 December 2008]

Though this movie was very good. It was great seeing Patrick Swayze back on the screen again and also seeing Tim Curry back acting again I have always been a big Tim Curry fan. To me this was a very good Christmas movie and I hope it is played a lot at Christmas time from now on. Carman Electra played a great villaness. This was certainly not the Polar Express or White Christmas which I consider the two best Christmas movies ever made. But it was quite amusing and held our attention all the way through. I really think that more Christmmas movie should be made in the same style as this one. It is a film that the whole family can enjoy.

Good Christmas fun!

[blessingstoall · 10/10 · 10 June 2011]

If you read this far in the reviews, don't give up on this one. We have so few movies made by Patrick and this was made during his fight with cancer. I believe he made one other, Powder Blue. I watched Christmas in Wonderland for that reason. But was really happy that I did. I thought he was great. As a fan I remembered having read about them making it, and worried that he would be sick and unable to finish the movie. It is a good family Christmas movie. And there are not enough of them. And it is a sweet way to say goodbye to the memory of a great actor that is truly missed. Maybe because I like the other actor, I disagree with other reviews also, about Tim Curry. And think he is really funny doing the Scottish accent. This movie was a treat. It's fun for kids. If you start to watch it for those reasons, instead of being critical, you will have been blessed. Do not miss it. Peace out.

Great movie

[ruthannbowman · 10/10 · 14 November 2019]

I loved this movie it was a great Christmas movie had Patrick swayzie in it and Tim curry in it and it was a great movie how dear you people give it a bad rating you knock down the movie you knock down the mall you people that have it a bad rating a bunch of hipacrits it was a wonderful holiday movie you knock the movie your putting the actors down and that's crap how dare you shame on you they made the movie to entertain us love you Patrick and Tim miss you Patrick you were a great actor and a great person with a kind loving soul