'Candy Cane Lane' A Review

Candy Cane Lane is a family Christmas comedy about Chris(Eddie Murphy) who is focused on his neighborhood house decoration competition after he is laid off. When he encounters a mysterious Christmas decoration shop and makes a deal with Pepper(Jillian Bell) the cheerful but ominous proprietor things start to go awry.

Its always good to see Murphy and here he's great as the affable and loving dad with screwed up priorities that need to be straightened out by this holiday adventure. He's an old school star, he lights up and holds the screen. He's funny but also able to navigate the heart of it without falling into cliché or saccharine-ness. The chemistry with his family- Tracee Ellis Ross as Carol his wife and Genneya Walton, Thaddeus J. Mixson, and Madison Thomas as the three kids- is great. Bell is wonderful as the villain of the piece and there are some great supporting actors/cameos(David Allen Greer shows up in a great way). There's not a lot of depth to the movie, its not that kind, but the cast are all good actors having a good time and the comedy, emotion, and adventure elements all play.

The production design is all solid with relatively minimal CGI which helps. There is some on location shooting and a lot of sets. That kind of approach increasingly bears more fruit as, like it or not, audiences can tell when CGI is used and it unequivocally detracts from the quality of the watch. The story feels a bit like a 90's throwback in a great way- family oriented holiday comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously and executes well. A solid, if not destined to be classic, holiday offering.

Fun, funny, feel-good.

Currently streaming on Prime.

Rent It.