Christmas In Wonderland Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Two kids, a mall, a million in cash, ...what could go wrong?
It's turning out to be a pretty rotten Christmas for the Saunders family. Having just moved to a new city from Los Angeles, they have no friends, no money and, with the exception of the bright-eyed Mary, no Christmas spirit. To make matters worse, their mother is stuck in L.A., stranded by airline overbookings. So, the Christmas shopping duties fall on Dad and the gloomy kids. Things start looking a bit more like Christmas when 12-year old Brian and 6-year old Mary find a satchel of money at the local mall and they launch a Yuletide shopping spree...that is, until the crooks who counterfeited the money chase them through the mall packed with holiday shoppers.
| Patrick Swayze | Wayne Saunders |
| Matthew Knight | Brian Saunders |
| Zoe Schlagel | Mary Saunders |
| Tim Curry | McLoosh |
| Carmen Electra | Ginger Peachum |
| Chris Kattan | Leonard Cardoza |
| Preston Lacy | Sheldon Cardoza |
| Cameron Bright | Danny Saunders |
| Matthew Walker | Santa |
| Marty Antonini | Elliot Block |
| Rick Ash | Bartender |
| Matt Bellefleur | Walter Crump |
| Doug Christian | Man at Mall |
| Mark Holik | Husband |
| James Orr |
4.60 out of 10 (156 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Worst Movie Ever
posted on 14 May 2009I got to see an advanced screening of this movie in Edmonton. Sadly while its good for a movie to be made in Edmonton, this is the worst movie i have ever seen. Worse than Police Academy Mission in Moscow. Worse than a Sylvestor Stalone or Hulk Hogan comedy. And those are bad movies. Im sure most direct to DVD movies are better than this. And this is sad as i do enjoy GOOD Christmas movies.The script is terrible and doesn't give the actors much to work with, but only a few actors seemed as though they are not just reading lines. The movie is full of product placement. Initially at their house with apple products and a PSP in center screen, then at the mall with the kids going on a shopping spree. The West Edmonton Mall had a terrible CGI makeover from the outside to make it seem 'magical' as it was painted in blue gold and pink. The first 5 minutes of mall footage was like a promo video for the mall. (Although it is a great mall and you should all visit it, this is meant to be a movie not an infomercial.)The love story in the movie is unbelievable. The older boy misses his girlfriend from LA. But luckily he finds an attractive girl with the same obscure name as his old girlfriend, who also just moved from LA, and who has the exact same catch phrase as the boy does. He says one line to her, and they are instantly dating. It must have been love at first sight.There were a couple of bright spots though. Tim Curry Played a Scottish Canadian Mountie. He forgot peoples names and i did laugh when he called one of his helpers 'Rico' when that was neither of their names. But this gag was used several times and grew tiresome by the end of the movie. Santa also made many appearances, making the whole family believe in him again.One part i cant get over though is the image of the north pole. One of the boys opens a door supposedly to the north pole. The next scene is very poor cgi animation. I think the whole audience was shocked by its lack of quality. They must have hired a computer graphics student who hadn't finished the course yet. As it was beginners level stuff.To conclude, while I got a free pass to this movie i still felt somewhat short changed by it all. I would have hated to have paid money to see it. Terrible.
To say this movie is awful is too kind...
posted on 25 Aug 2008As an Edmontonian, having a movie filmed in our city is always exciting as that is a very rare occurrence. To have the movie actually set in Edmonton is even better. "Christmas in Wonderland", however, is an embarrassment for Edmonton. It is that bad.Firstly, the writing is awful. It sounds like it was written by an elementary school student. The 'funny' lines are cringe-worthy. The story itself is ridiculous. Aside from the main storyline, the 'love' story involving the oldest brother and some girl he meets in the mall is absurd. She just happens to be the same age and also just moved from California to Edmonton. The police are also misrepresented. Why is it that the RCMP is the only law enforcement organization in Canada? Edmonton does have its own police force, which were even featured in the movie, yet were called the RCMP. Another ridiculous element of this movie is the fact that there is no snow on Christmas Eve. In fact the grass is nearly green. Anyone who has lived in Edmonton for a few years knows that such an occurrence is EXTREMELY rare. Edmonton winters are long, extremely cold, and usually very snowy.The acting is atrocious. I have never seen such bad acting, especially from Cameron Bright, Carmen Electra, and Chris Kattan. Cameron Bright is by far the worst, as he sounds, literally, like he is a teacher with no emotion reading a book out loud to his class. Carmen Electra - destroyer of film quality - is not much better. Luckily she does not have much screen time.Perhaps the worst moment of the film comes when the 'North Pole' is seen in the bowels of WEM. The CGI animation of the 'elves' is perhaps 1980s worthy. The animation is shockingly bad, leaving one to consider if it would of just been better not to include it.The only redeeming quality is Tim Curry as a memory-challenged Scottish RCMP officer. He does this character rather well considering the awfulness of the overall film."Christmas in Wonderland" doesn't deserve the $689 it made in theatres.
I should-a listened to the other posters
posted on 28 Jan 2008I DVR'd the movie, and before watching it I read the review comments posted . . . and then I foolishly watched the movie anyway. Saying this movie is BAD is giving it too much credit. The terrible writing is only accentuated by the terrible acting.The one redeeming thing was seeing the Edmonton Mall. I've heard lots about it but we've never made it up there. It's a shame some of the stores probably lost customers when they were shooting the movie. Hope they were well compensated for any loss.Final word . . . If you have an open two hours and are thinking of watching this movie, don't do it. Instead, read a book.
Christmas In Wonderland
posted on 09 Jun 2009Though this movie was very good. It was great seeing Patrick Swayze back on the screen again and also seeing Tim Curry back acting again I have always been a big Tim Curry fan. To me this was a very good Christmas movie and I hope it is played a lot at Christmas time from now on. Carman Electra played a great villaness. This was certainly not the Polar Express or White Christmas which I consider the two best Christmas movies ever made. But it was quite amusing and held our attention all the way through. I really think that more Christmmas movie should be made in the same style as this one. It is a film that the whole family can enjoy.