‘Holiday in the Wild’: A silly Christmas romance

Starring Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe, ‘Holiday in the Wild’ set in Zambia is another Netflix romance that fails to rise above mediocrity <b></b>

‘Holiday in the Wild’: A silly Christmas romance
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Biswadeep Ghosh

Christmas is a few weeks away. But, guess what? Celebrations have already begun at Netflix, which is streaming several Christmas films and TV series on its platform. These are mainly meant for their viewers in the West, who are all set to enjoy their annual break at the end of the year.

One such Christmas release is Ernie Barbarash's Holiday in the Wild, a Kristin Davis-Rob Lowe film. Davis plays a vet from New York named Kate. A Brad Pitt lookalike, Lowe is Derek, a pilot living in an elephant sanctuary in Zambia.

Kate is on a visit to Zambia on her ‘second honeymoon’ all alone after separating from her husband. Derek, whose wife has passed away, paints (horribly), cares for elephants and enjoys his job.

A small part of the film focuses on the sanctuary where orphaned elephants are taken care of before being released back into the wild. Most of it is about Kate, who falls in love with Manu, an ailing orphan who is rescued and brought to the sanctuary.

Like all baby animals, Manu is incredibly cute. Kate decides to extend her stay to look after the little one, who toddles inside a small enclosure and drinks milk from a huge bottle. Her college freshman son pays a surprise visit during Christmas and goes back. Kate would return later, but we know she will be back soon. The story also has Derek, the maverick hero, remember?

Holiday in the Wild, in other words, is a predictable romance whose somewhat unusual quality is that it is set in Africa. While some of the sequences showing life in the sanctuary are quite appealing, Derek and Kate’s blooming romance is a hurriedly developed part of the plot.


Let down by poor writing, the film packages too many half-baked sequences. Kate and her husband separate without a single meaningful interaction a few seconds after their son leaves home for college at the film’s outset. It happens so fast that the viewer is made to wonder what went wrong between the two of them, a question left unanswered.

The viewer is informed about Kate’s African destination with the help of a travel guide that has the name of the country on its cover. Sitting in a sanctuary in distant Africa, Kate interacts with her son and friends in the United States, thanks to a Wi-fi hotspot offering uninterrupted service. Such shortcuts check the viewer’s appetite for daftness as they take the story forward.

Holiday in the Wild doesn’t require great acting from its protagonists. Not surprisingly, both Davis and Lowe are rather mediocre. Other supporting actors don’t have much to do, and it is the adorable Manu who lives on in our minds after the film ends.

With Netflix offering many new options, which includes the Martin Scorsese-helmed gangster drama masterpiece The Irishman, will Holiday in the Wild find viewers? This reviewer suspects it will. Too many people love stupid romances when Christmas is in the air. That's why, dear reader.

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