Good ol' Eddie Murphy is back in Amazon Prime's jubilant, race-against-the-clock, holiday spree, Candy Cane Lane.
Written by Kelly (Muppets Haunted Mansion) Younger and directed by comic-book author, Reginald (Black Panther) Hudlin, Candy Cane Lane is not merely a tale of Christmas tradition, such as El Segundo, California's annual, decoration competition, but the significance of practicing sincerity. In this regard, it is the glaring antithesis of Daniel Wallace/Tim Burton's Big Fish, where fibs and exaggerations are ballyhooed as a means to get one through life. Candy Cane Lane, on the other hand, advocates being truthful to others by being truthful to oneself: a refreshing adage, if ever there was one in a jaded, modern world.
Murphy plays Chris Carver, a lover of Christmas who (per his name) carves wooden ornamentation for his home, as opposed to tiering it with store-bought products: a habit that leaves him out of the commercialized loop when winning El Segundo's yearly prize. However, when Carver loses his job, he's left to embellish his decorating finesse to win a substantial sum that will sustain his family until he lands another position.
Carver discovers the local, department store is depleted of decorations and goes on a journey with his youngest daughter, Holly, played by Madison Thomas, to visit an off-the-beaten-path establishment called Kringle's. There, the Carvers meet an eccentric "clerk" named Pepper (as in Peppermint), played with irascible, if not misleading charm by Jillian Bell, who sells the two a heap of old-time, mechanical wonderment, but when the elder Carver signs his credit-card bill, it comes with an overlooked, Faustian ploy.
Carver must participate in a golden-ring-seizing game, in sync with "The Twelve Days of Christmas," or else be reduced to a shiny, character ornament by Christmas and as such, become a permanent part of Pepper's Yuletide abode. Carver learns all this upon revisiting Pepper's establishment by those who've been transformed into such wee characters. They inform him that Pepper is, in fact, a disenchanted elf who fell from Santa's good graces in a Lucifer-ian turn.
Mayhem ensues as the clan does its best to locate the series of rings, while pieces of Pepper's decorations come to life to thwart the process, tossing catches and (of course) insincerity throughout the course. This leads the Carvers to look inside themselves to determine whether their motivations are good or bad, in what becomes an effective, character-developing, moral-based device.
The additional cast exudes comparable, contagious charm as Murphy, Thomas and Bell, with Tracee Ellis Ross as the Carver's hardworking mother, Carol; Genneya Walton as older, athletic daughter, Joy; Thaddeus J. Nixon as musical brother, Nick; Ken Mario as chiding neighbor, Bruce; Anjelah Johnson-Reyes as cheerful neighbor, Shelly; Timothy Simmons as news host, Emerson; Danielle Pinnock as news host, Kit; and David Alan Grier as special, guest star, Santa. As the accursed, Dickens-esque, wee ones, we get Nick Offerman as Pip; Robin Thede as Cordelia; Chris Redd as Lamplighter Gary; who are steeped in nuance and humor and accompanied by the miniature, Pentatonix chorus-carolers.
Though Candy Cane Lane's ambiance is warm (often in a Toy Story fashion), it isn't afraid to toss in a Norman Lear or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation bit to give the shenanigans some identifiable edge. Even so, none of its wry antics cause it to lose track of the kindness and mirth that characterizes the holiday. Like any decent, Christmas fable, Candy Cane Lane presents its audience with a worthy lesson, acting as a mirror to the world, while making one feel darn good in the process, and that's about as sincere an assessment as I can share.
Visit Candy Cane Lane on Amazon Prime.
No comments:
Post a Comment