Spirited

 

Score:  A

Directed by Sean Anders

Starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer

Running time: 127 minutes

Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  Funny guys Ferrell and Reynolds team up in one of the starriest Christmas movies in years, a new Christmas Carol adaptation.  It's a shame this was not produced as a wide theatrical release (I got lucky it was in my local theater), as it's a great cinematic experience.  The stars are on their game and, with a wildly creative script behind them, everything falls into place.  Highly recommended, even if (*sigh*) you have to stream it.

Not content with their work on Mr. Scrooge, Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-To-Come are still at work in the world, helping one "perp" at a time.  Christmas Present (Ferrell), who has worked well past retirement age, finds one last perp, named Clint (Reynolds), he wants to turn around, despite Marley's objections.  Clint soon turns out to be one of the most challenging cases yet, though, and the annual pattern of redemption soon falls apart.  The spirit world and the living world begin to intertwine, and more is changed than just one rotten soul.

Spirited is an excellent new holiday movie, its acting, humor, creativity, and themes coming together for one of the more truly magical experiences to come along in years.  The story is, of course, a variation on A Christmas Carol - but only the broadest elements (the Ghosts, tale of redemption) remain alongside a fresh, modernized plot.  Some adaptations/reboots just make a mess of things when they try to do that, but the creativity of Spirited's world and the quality of its development are top-notch.  Much of the film's considerable humor comes from its stars' talent, but a good part of it comes from winking at or poking fun of itself ("not another song!!").  While the songs and the dancing are not quite as spectacular as some other recent musicals, they are still very impressive, with both Ferrell and Reynolds performing well alongside plenty of professional background players.  Spirited also, in my view, makes better use of its musical scenes to further the narrative - and I found it much easier to understand what they were singing, too!

Along with the showy musical numbers, there is some neat effects work, particularly as the characters quickly move through time periods and locations.  However, it's the characters and acting that hold the most interest, as the best movies do.  Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are perfectly cast, to start, and have great chemistry.  It's been some time now since Ferrell's heyday, and this is a great transition role in his career.  He still gets the lead (he's 1A, Reynolds is 1B) which means he plays a bit more of the straightforward role, yet he's still got plenty of quirks, allowing his comedic sensibility to flourish; a little Elf here, a little Anchorman there.  But he also shows impressive dramatic range too, as he has in Stranger Than Fiction and others.  Reynolds, the star here who's in his prime, provides the wattage needed for his role - a big, confident, um, asshole.  Yes, Reynolds is an unusual star who can convincingly play an anti-hero but still be sympathetic.  Octavia Spencer gets the top supporting role, and good for the filmmakers to finally move her away from her typical characters; she's much more balanced here, though not a major presence.  And the rest of the cast is stuffed with good performances, especially Patrick Page's Marley, Sunita Mani's Christmas Past, and a few hilarious surprises (don't spoil them for yourself!).  The movie is well-paced, with plenty of "action" (simply meaning, "things happening") and great dialogue.  And while the themes and messages are similar to what you've seen before, of course, they are very well focused and developed, leading to a conclusion that earns its emotional pay off.

***

I'm glad that I got to see Spirited in theaters at all, since I thought that this would only be streaming.  Hopefully you'll have a chance to see it that way, too, as it's definitely worth the trip!  Rotten Tomatoes gave this, along with fellow holiday movie standout Violent Night, positive but underwhelming scores: don't listen to the critics!  These are very different approaches to the genre, of course, but both are very worthy additions to the Christmas canon (Spirited will have a broader audience thanks to its lack of bloody violence).  Well, this may be it for me for the holiday season at the movie theater, a much different one than usual.  First, I saw not one but two holiday genre movies (which is rare), but I also may not see any blockbuster movies (also rare; the one that is available this year is the Avatar sequel, but I thought the original was way overrated and I don't want to contribute my money to James Cameron's ego).  Hopefully movies with Oscar buzz will soon make their way to theaters as we get closer to awards season.

* By Apple TV+ - http://www.impawards.com/2022/posters/spirited_ver5_xxlg.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71831081