Walt Disney Pictures, Mandeville Films, Kyra Productions

Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Adam LaVorgna, Gary Cole, Eve Gordon, Lauren Maltby, Andrew Lauer, Sean O’Bryan, Lesley Boone

Jake (Johathan Taylor Thomas) is attending college in California with his girlfriend Allie (Jessica Biel). Jake has plans to change the plane ticket his father sent him for 2 tickets to Cabo San Lucas for Christmas. But Dad has other plans and wants him home. Allie doesn’t want to go either. Dad makes Jake a deal that he can’t refuse. If he is home by the time the family sits down to dinner on Christmas Eve at 6PM, he gets a Porsche. But Jake is a bit of a wise guy, and some other kids dump him off in the desert out in the middle of nowhere dressed as Santa. Jake has to use everything in his power to try to get home or lose the Porsche. That will not be easy, as everything that can go wrong does. Jake does have to grow up a lot on this journey.

This film was made during the run of “Home Improvement” on TV. Jonathan was very popular with the teens, and this was an attempt to bring him onto the big screen. One odd thing in this film is that Jonathan is paired with Jessica Biel as his girlfriend. Actually Jessica is a year younger than Jonathan, but he looks so young, and she looks so mature, that she could almost pass as his mother. It’s weird that the two are paired together. It’s probably because there’s no way Jonathan looks like a college kid. But putting that aside, the journey from California is wrought with a ton of problems that have to be resolved. Like “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” this is a journey where there are a lot of obstacles, but in this case most of the setbacks are learning experiences for Jake who grows a lot during the trip. This is a funny movie, and very light and enjoyable, especially for the younger crowd. I bet many young people today have never seen this film, and will enjoy it if they get a chance to see it. I’m glad Disney decided to bring this film back as part of ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas. It’s a funny Christmas distraction, and I enjoyed it very much. I had forgotten a lot of the gags, and it was nice to see it again after all these years.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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