Candy Cane Lane

Released on December 1, 2023

Stream on Amazon Prime

Runtime: 2 Hours 1 Minute

Rated PG

Chris Carver gets a little too caught up in his town’s Christmas decorations competition. His desire to win leads him on a goose chase all over town trying to find more lawn decor, but after finding nothing left he stumbles upon an odd place called Kringles. It is here that he unknowingly signs a contract with a rogue elf that could have dire consequences for him and his family. After coming home with the ultimate lawn decoration, the next morning sets Chris and his family on a mission to recover golden rings from the literal characters from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Themes:

Family, Christmas, decorating, going over board, competition, going all out, lay offs, Christmas magic, rogue elves, winning, secrets, losing your job, college scouts, what’s on the inside vs the outside, contracts, fien print, supporting your family and children, Santa, the Twelve Days of Christmas, self centeredness, and mistaking what you want for what your family needs.

Language:

This one had a little more language than I had expected. D-mn crops up about three times, Hell about six times, A-s about seven times, and about twenty two religious exclamations. The words crap and piss crop up once or twice. There are also a few sexual jokes, see the “stuff to be aware of” section.

Stuff to be aware of:

There are a few sexual jokes and puns that will likely go over kid’s heads. At the beginning of the movie there are some sexual puns about wooden Christmas decor and “blowup” Christmas inflatables. There are two or three quick jokes about “wood” and “blowup dolls.” The main character’s wife mentioned that she will “give him some of the good stuff later.”

Overall:

The language in this movie surprised me a bit, but maybe it shouldn’t have with Eddie Murphy. The story itself is a fun one, and something I don’t recall ever really seeing in a Christmas movie. It has a good sense of humor and wit about it and feels very much like an Eddie Murphy movie.

I enjoyed it. It is worth a watch if you have Prime, but likely won’t be one I watch every year.