Holiday in the Wild

I know it's only the first week of November. I know that Halloween was just days ago and there are many weeks until Christmas. I am usually stubborn about waiting until after Thanksgiving to start in on the Christmas season. But I just got too excited to start my Christmas rom com movies this year. I have a few on my Netflix watchlist that will be coming out later this month but the first one I saw previews for this year was Holiday in the Wild. I was intrigued immediately. It has two very big names attached- Rob Lowe and Kristin Davis- both of whom are more seasond actors than your typical leads in this genre. I was, of course, expecting it to be cheesy and predictable, one of those movies you love to hate. Man! Did this one surprise me!

It starts out as these usually do- New York City, husband/significant other who is a jerk, life crisis forces main character out of her usual habitat, ruggedly handsome fellow comes to her aid. But what I wasn't expecting was the additional stoyline that would balance out the romance and leave me crying in the end. When was the last time a holiday rom com left you crying and not in an I-just-wasted-how-many-hours-of-my-life way?

We begin wtih Kate (Kristin Davis), a wealthy stay at home mom whose only son is about to leave for college making her an empty nester along with her workaholic husband. No more than two minutes after her son closes the door of their gorgeous 5th Avenue apartment, her husband announces that he is moving out and wants a divorce. Unfortuanately, Kate has booked an African safari as a second honeymoon for the two. Frustrated and hurt, she tosses all her husbands belingings on the curb and decides to go to Africa on her own.

As she is served a depressing dinner-for-two for one, Derek (Rob Lowe) walks into the picture. He's a pilot tasked with flying Kate to the next stage of her vacation- a remote luxury resort and safari. As they borad and take off in his tiny airplae named Kirk (after Captain Kirk from Start Trek- love it!) Derek spots a baby elephant in distress. It's mother has been poached for ivory and the little guy won't survive on his own. Derek and Kate help to rescue the orphaned elephant and Kate instantly falls in love with him. The elephant, not Derek. You see, she was once a veterinarian but left the field to raise her son. Turns out Derek works for an elephant conservation that rescues and rehabilitates elephants and you can sort of see where this is going, right?

Kate decides to forgo her planned trip and stay at the conservation area where she can flex her veterinary skills and help nurture her little orphan and other elephants back to health. I love that this is the backdrop for Kate and Derek's relationship. It gives the film more depth and interest and those elephants are so dang cute!

Are there some plot holes? Yes. Is there a random girl that Derek may or may not have been seeing in order to secure more money for the conservation area? Also, yes. How is Kate able to get enough service on her cell phone to FaceTime her son back home? Who knows! Does any of that even matter? No, because, baby elephants! Rob Lowe with a scruffy beard! You can't lose here folks, this one has it all!

Holiday in the Wild definitely set a high bar for all other holiday movies I will watch this year. It is so hard to find something unique and not completely predictable in this genre but somehow this one managed to do it and do it well. I would highly recommend taking some time to watch this one. Just beware that you may shed a poigniant tear or two by the end.