Kate was preparing for her son Luke to leave for college and he is just about the door when her husband Drew decides they should split up. Even after announcing she had booked a trip to Zambia in Africa.
*Christmas in the Wild* former title
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I must admit that even with the title having Holiday in it, I never really thought about this being Netflix getting their first original Christmas film out on the 1st of November. I was greeted by the trailer when logging in and I was sold with Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe in all honesty but the part that made me fully commit to watch and want to watch was the fact that the part of Africa she goes to is Zambia, a place that I have been lucky enough to visit and work in.
The best thing I can possibly say to begin with about this film for people that actually hate the soppy Christmas films is that this does not feel like one at all. While they do have a Christmas scene it is not based around that. It has so much more going for it and the main thing actually being elephants and helping them survive with so many poachers trying to attack.
Kate ends up meeting Derek who turns out to the pilot for the sightseeing tour she had booked. This becomes a friendship when she extends her African trip due to being attached to the orphaned elephants. In particular the one she finds with Derek. She just so happened to be a trained Vet, which comes in very handy to help out! Something she had given up to support her selfish husband who luckily we don't get to see very often as just not a nice character at all.
She has a good relationship with her son Luke who had just started college. But not doing something that he was actually passionate about. Little would she realise what impact her trip would have on his life choices. The film while raising awareness of what is happening to elephants in Africa, also raises plenty of other life issues. Love, friendship and family, trying to keep all of these things balanced out nicely just does not work very well at times.
I loved that it felt as though Kristin Davis was very close to her Sex and the City character Charlotte as Kate in this one as it made me instantly like her. Which I guess was essential considering she as the main character. Rob Lowe was nice and charming as Derek as well, you just knew that something would be between them from the first meeting but it was not forced as an amazing romance and over the top with it. The connection between the pair felt real, with neither of them really acting much out at all. This always makes me realise that less can really still be more in terms of love and quite frankly sex.
This was all more than that though and it certainly fit nicely together with the way they bonded over the animals and had a stand-off relationship at times as well. Kate had literally just split up with her husband before getting on the plane and something she wasn't really expecting.
I doubt Netflix can pull out anything else that is on level with this one in all honesty in terms for the trying to out Hallmark the Hallmark soppy Christmas films that I love, cannot even say it is a secret anymore!