Wayne Saunders (Patrick Swayze) moved his family from Los Angeles to Edmonton, Alberta, to take a new job. Unhappily, the company chose that moment to downsize and Wayne loses the post before he has a chance to even begin! Also, its near Christmas and his wife is back in California, tying up lose ends with her own job. Therefore, Wayne and the three kids, teenage Brian, middle schooler Danny and young daughter Mary have to get a tree and shop for all of the gifts. Needless to say, Wayne is not used to balancing the whole affair on his shoulders AND, since his job melted away and there were moving expenses, finances are extremely tight. Therefore, when the family heads to the enormous underground mall, Dad puts Brian in charge of the other two kids, so that he, Wayne, can shop for the children in private. But, Brian, downcast since the big move, likes the looks of the teen girls he sees at the mall and gives Danny money to take care of Mary, letting him, Brian, hang out with kids his age. Whoa, wait until Dad hears this! On their own, Sam and Mary stumble upon a bag of cash, which they believe is a gift from the mall's Santa. However, its really counterfeit bills that a trio of dumb thieves (including Carmen Electra) were going to use for their own brand of Xmas cheer. Now, the thieves are after the kids and the kids are out to avoid being caught and to trip up the robbers at the same time. Who will win out and will it turn into a merry season after all? This is a cute holiday film, sort of a Home Alone at the mall. The kids and the crooks are very entertaining, generating many giggles with their antics. Swayze, naturally, is nice as the harried dad, although the focus of the film is more on the young folks. Supporting actors like Electra, Tim Curry, and all of the others do fine work, too. In addition, the setting is very nice, as the mall looks gorgeous, festive, and quite, quite enormous. Those Canadians sure are lucky! The movie likewise has attractive costumes, a humorous script, and a lively direction. Therefore, although the title is easily confused with a host of others, look hard for this one at holiday time or, indeed, whenever the mood strikes you or the children. Its another fine addition to the growing number of holiday cinematic treats.

When I saw this film, it was luckily for free and I watched it with my friends on a projector. Well, the DVD menu said it all. "Christmas in Wonderland" would be horrible. It had a typical order of events. The film was predictable at all parts. The acting was a shame to Hollywood. As for the script; that seemed like something a person on pot would write. "Christmas in Wonderland" had an absolutely horrid plot line. All of the twists and turns were the same as they are in other movies, with no originality; not to mention it was beyond far fetched. The suspense in the film, well there was none. Everything could be predicted from the start. And you never were on the edge of your seat. The script was a whole different issue. The dialogue was terrible and so were the actors. I felt like laughing the entire time at how horrible it was. If you plan on seeing this film, don't. It is NOT worth it.

Though 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.

As 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.