‘Holiday in the Wild:’ Are Netflix Christmas Movies the New Hallmark Christmas Movies?

Netflix’s new Christmas movie, Holiday in the Wild is, by all accounts, ridiculous. There’s the part where Kristin Davis—playing an older, less timid version of Charlotte from Sex and the City—sees her son off to college by waving him out the front door of their New York City penthouse with nothing but a suitcase. There’s the part where her on-screen husband (Colin Moss) dumps her literally the second said son steps out the door. There’s the part where her love interest, played by Rob Lowe, has a job that is part- luxury “African safari” pilot, part- elephant wrangler, and part- park ranger. In other words, he’s the Indiana Jones of elephants, and yes, we are supposed to take him seriously.

So, no, Holiday in the Wild is not good. But it is cute, fun, and surprisingly harmless, given the fact that “the wild” where Davis and Lowe fall in love is Zambia, Africa. And it’s just one of many holiday-themed movies Netflix has in its lineup this month. Every week in November, as part of the streaming service’s “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Netflix 2019” celebration, Netflix will debut a new original film. You’ve got Let It Snow on November 8, Klaus on November 15, The Knight Before Christmas on November 21, Holiday Rush on November 28, and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby on December 5. That’s a lot of original Christmas movies, and once upon a time, the original Christmas movie market belonged to the Hallmark Channel. So should Hallmark be shaking in its boots?

Perhaps. There’s certainly no lack of options for Christmas-loving cord-cutters. Netflix’s first big hit was, of course, 2017’s A Christmas Prince. That was followed by the sequel last year, A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (the third one will close out Netflix’s slate this year, with A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby on December 5th). Since then, the streaming service has been churning them out: The Princess Switch, The Holiday Calendar, Christmas Inheritance, The Chrismas Chronicles and so many more.

Still, Netflix Christmas movies aren’t quite hitting the same boxes as Hallmark. Yes, Hallmark Christmas movies are beloved for their low production value, ridiculous concepts, and cheesy romances—all things that certainly apply to at least most of the Netflix holiday films. But there are differences. Hallmark movies often come with a Jesus-centric moral lesson; Christmas is a Christian holiday, after all. Considering the title of Holiday in the Wild was secularized from its original title, Christmas in the Wild, Netflix would rather appeal to a broader audience.

The same can be said for Netflix vs. Hallmark’s target demographics: Netflix has titles for a range of ages, including an upcoming animated Christmas film for kids, Klaus, from the director of the Minions and a teen Christmas film, Let It Snow, based on a YA novel from John Green. Hallmark movies, meanwhile, seem content to stick 30-something adults falling in love.  Netflix is also much more willing to drop the big bucks on actors you’ve heard of, like Rob Lowe and Vanessa Hudgens, whereas I’d be hard-pressed to recognize a single name on one of those Hallmark posters. As a result, Netflix films are generally better quality than Hallmark’s—but also, therefore, sometimes less entertaining.

That said, though Netflix is putting in a valiant effort when it comes to quantity, it still can’t top Hallmark’s jaw-dropping volume of titles, which clocks in at 37 new Christmas movies in 2019. For those hanging onto cable subscriptions purely to get their Hallmark Christmas movie fix, only you can decide whether the Netflix Christmas movies could fill that void. But just know you won’t be getting quite as many hours of festive mediocrity.

Watch Holiday in the Wild on Netflix