''Holiday in the Wild'' is a 2019 American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Ernie Barbarash Ernie Barbarash is a film director, screenwriter and producer, perhaps best known as co-producer of the films ''American Psycho 2'', ''Cube 2: Hypercube'', ''Prisoner of Love'', ''The First 9½ Weeks'' and ''The Cat's Meow''. Barbarash also wrote ...

from a screenplay by Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky. It stars

Rob Lowe Robert Hepler Lowe (born March 17, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker, and podcast host. He made his acting debut at the age of 15 with ABC's short-lived sitcom ''A New Kind of Family'' (1979–1980). Following numerous television roles in ...

and

Kristin Davis Kristin Landen Davis (also listed as Kristin Lee Davis; born February 23, 1965) is an American actress and producer. She is known for playing Charlotte York Goldenblatt in the HBO romantic comedy series ''Sex and the City'' (1998–2004). Sh ...

. The film was released on November 1, 2019, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Plot

After their son Luke leaves for college, Kate Conrad, a former veterinarian, surprises her husband Drew with a second honeymoon to

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. Drew confesses that he is no longer in love with her and was waiting for their son to go to college before ending the marriage. Kate decides to go on the trip alone. At dinner that evening, a man at the hotel bar, Derek, notices her and strikes up a conversation with her. Kate irritably confesses her situation and then leaves in a huff. The next day, Kate arrives for a chartered flight to her next resort, only to find Derek is the pilot. During the flight, Derek unexpectedly lands the plane in the wild. They discover a traumatized baby elephant whose mother has been killed by

poachers Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

. Kate is intrigued by the elephant and when the rescue team arrives, Kate (who years earlier had trained as a veterinarian, but no longer practices) offers her services. At the sanctuary, Kate meets Derek's

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n girlfriend, Leslie, who is part of the foundation that funds the sanctuary. Kate forms a special bond with the elephant she and Derek found, and Derek's friend Jonathan suggests the name “Manu”, which means “second son”. Kate extends her stay, even celebrating the Christmas season at the sanctuary. Her relationship with Derek deepens as they talk about their previous lives. But Kate is upset when she receives divorce papers from Drew at the Sanctuary. Luke comes to the sanctuary for Christmas and confesses he is unhappy in his business course; he wants to be a musician. Kate discourages him from this. Leslie is angered when she discovers a portrait of Kate that Derek drew. Leslie asks Derek to go away with her, but he refuses and breaks up with her. She retorts that the board will cut funding for the sanctuary. Kate finally returns to New York, where she takes a job as a vet. She convinces her son to continue in college, but to study music. On New Year's Eve, Kate calls Jonathan, and he relays that the sanctuary cannot continue operating much longer due to the cut in funding. Kate begins a fundraising campaign by asking for help from her friends and ex-husband, and also sells her jewelry and other things. The fundraising is successful and the sanctuary stays afloat. After visits from pampered pets, Kate realizes her job as a vet in New York is not fulfilling her, so she sells her apartment then buys a one-way ticket to Zambia to be with Derek and the elephants. Kate and Derek get married. When the day comes to release Manu back to the wild with other elephants, Derek and Kate tearfully say goodbye.

Cast

as Kate Conrad *

as Derek Hollistan * Fezile Mpela as Jonathan * John Owen Lowe as Luke Conrad * Colin Moss as Drew Conrad * Chanelys Garcia Nyapisi as Nia * Hayley Owen as Leslie Van De Mere-Jones *

Faniswa Yisa Faniswa Yisa is a South African actress and director. An alumnus of University of Cape Town drama school (1998-00), Yisa has stated that she draws energy in the art from fellow women. Her film credits includes: ''Ingoma'', ''What Remains'', ''DA ...

as Aaliyah * Kgahliso Solomon as Lulu * Thandi Puren as Trish * Renate Stuurman as Tabitha * Keeno Lee Hector as Doorman

Production

In May 2018, it was reported that

would direct ''Christmas in the Wild'' for

from a screenplay by Neal Dobrofsky and Tippi Dobrofsky. Filming was to take place in

Hoedspruit Hoedspruit (Afrikaans for ''Hat Creek'') is a town situated at the foot of the Klein Drakensberg (Afrikaans for "Small Dragon Mountains" range), in the Limpopo province of South Africa, on the railway line from Tzaneen to Kaapmuiden. Economy The ...

and

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...

, and on sets in and around

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. Principal photography commenced June 2018. The elephant scenes were filmed at a sanctuary in South Africa, and a
Game Rangers International
Elephant Orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia. Huge efforts and systems were in place to safeguard the elephants, including a focused behavior study, personnel and distance restrictions, and international animal welfare inspectors. Due to GRI's strict elephant management protocols and minimal impact policies, and in alignment with Netflix's high animal welfare standards, it became apparent that a body double would be required for the majority of filming, and Netflix invested hugely in ensuring that the puppets required were the spitting image of the real-life orphaned elephan
Mkaliva
⁣⁣ Mkaliva was rescued by GRI and th
Department of National Parks & Wildlife
in

in August 2017. Her story closely aligns with that portrayed in the film, as both elephants experienced the same physical and emotional traumas when losing their mothers and herd. In the film, Rob Lowe's son, John Owen Lowe, played the son of Kristin Davis. Rob Lowe said of working together, "It was great. It was really fun."

Release

''Holiday in the Wild'' was released on November 1, 2019 by Netflix.

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the film 3 out of 5 stars. Emma Specter wrote sarcastically about the film for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

.''

References

External links

*
Holiday in the Wild
' at

* * *
Holiday in the Wild
' at The Numbers {{Netflix Christmas films American Christmas films English-language Netflix original films American romantic comedy films Christmas adventure films Films about elephants Films directed by Ernie Barbarash Films set in Africa Films set in Zambia Films shot in Africa Films shot in South Africa 2010s Christmas films 2019 romantic comedy films 2019 films Films scored by Alan Lazar 2010s English-language films 2010s American films