Stream It or Skip It: ‘Holiday in the Wild’ on Netflix Pairs Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe with Elephants

Netflix’s holiday lineup kicks off with Holiday In the Wild, a conventional Christmas romcom set in an unconventional location. But there are two things that this Netflix movie has over all the competition: Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe! 

HOLIDAY IN THE WILD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: What do you do when your husband asks for a divorce literally seconds after you send your kid away to college? If you’re Kate Conrad (Kristin Davis) you turn that preplanned second honeymoon into a solo trip to Africa, finding yourself as well as a rugged yet gentle pilot (Rob Lowe).

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Imagine Eat Pray Love or Under the Tuscan Sun with more holiday cheer and the Hallmark aesthetic.

Performance Worth Watching: How can I not talk about Kristin Davis and Rob Lowe here? Both of them are immensely and immediately charming in everything they do, and Holiday In the Wild is no exception. They not only have watchable chemistry with each other, they even have believable affection for elephants and, in Lowe’s case, an airplane named after Captain Kirk. Davis in particular is a delight, taking a role that could’ve very easily been a downer (her husband dusted their marriage with the coldness of a Wall Street Thanos!) and instead filled it with a sense of hope and openness.

Memorable Dialogue: Lowe’s pilot Derek says to Kate after they rescue an orphaned elephant whose mother was killed for her tusks: “The thing about elephants, they read your soul.”

Sex and Skin: You’re not getting any of that here. In true made-for-TV holiday movie tradition, you get a handful of chaste kisses between the leads.

Our Take: Both director Ernie Barbarash and screenwriting duo Neal and Tippi Dobrofsky have plenty of Hallmark Christmas movies on their resumes, and it shows. But Netflix has a big advantage over cable’s dime-a-dozen Christmas movies, in that they literally have a million dimes to throw at their seasonal offerings. That’s how you get A-list TV stars like Davis and Lowe as leads, and that’s how Netflix’s holiday movies get the jump on their competitors. Don’t get me wrong: I love a good, schmaltzy Hallmark holiday movie. That’s why I love seeing one where both the leads are absolute pros. When Rob Lowe self-seriously tells an elephant to “make something of yourself,” I relish the moment.

Solid leads are a big deal for a movie like this, because you aren’t watching Holiday In the Wild (or any other small screen Christmas movie) for the plot. The movie’s mostly conflict-free plot checks all the boxes. Female lead accidentally sees male lead shirtless? Check! A blonde nemesis? Check! A sudden need to fundraise lots of money? Check! You always know where a movie like this is going, and that’s why you need actors that are fun to watch in these roles.

On the other hand, I totally get why the premise of this one might raise some red flags for some viewers—and not festive Christmas ones, either. This is a movie about a wealthy white woman who goes on a jaunt to Africa, discovers the continents wonders, falls in love with a white man, and together they fight to save an elephant conservatory. There are optics problems there, for sure, but I will say that at least Davis’ character—a character so out of her element that she’s nicknamed “New York”—never once looks down on the culture she’s suddenly embedded in and the film never ventures into tired culture clash comedy. Davis acclimates to her temp gig as an elephant veterinarian in a foreign land with gusto and respect. That respect comes from a real place, too, as elephant conservation has long been Davis’ passion. That wonder in her eyes is real.

Our Call: If you’ve generally been all-in on Netflix’s holiday movies, then I say STREAM IT. Davis is a particular delight and all the elephants are adorable—and no other Christmas movie this year can claim to have Kristin Davis and elephants.

Stream Holiday In the Wild on Netflix