Spirited

Starring: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren G. Woods, Tracy Morgan (voice), Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Rose Byrne, Judi Dench (cameo)
Directed by: Sean Anders
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Musical
2022

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: The Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) decides to haunt a man (Ryan Reynolds) deemed "unredeemable" and soon realizes he has his work cut out for him.

Review:

Tim: I suppose doing a modern retelling of "A Christmas Carol" isn't the worst idea, but it's one that has been done before. The exciting thing about this version is the absolutely brilliant pairing of Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. That makes the movie seeing right there. As far as the film itself, I tried to like it. It was always mildly entertaining. However, it feels a bit derivative and never as funny as it should have been. I'm sure a lot of people will love this and claim to be a new Christmas classic. That's fine, I see the appeal. For me, though, the movie needed to be better.

I do want to start with the cast. I can't describe how much I loved seeing Ferrell and Reynolds together. These are two of the funniest actors working today and their approaches to comedy are different. Giving them so many opportunities to play off each other was brilliant. It's the number one reason to see this movie. Ferrell and Reynolds don't disappoint- their comedic timing is pitch perfect and they are great fun to watch together. Each brings so much energy to their respective roles and they bring all their comedic strengths to the mix. Ferrell is goofy and fun, Reynolds is cutting and abrasive, but always with a twinkle in his eye to make you think it's okay. Ferrell is earnest, Reynolds sarcastic. That combines into a hilarious comedy duo. I sincerely hope these two make more movies together, I'd watch them all.

The supporting cast is decent. Octavia Spencer adds in a worthwhile supporting performance. I thought she worked well. Patrick Page has some nice moments throughout the film. Sunita Mani's performance was a bit forced, but she generates some genuine laughter with her performance. I loved seeing Rose Byrne at the beginning, but I wish she had more to do. Judi Dench shows up for a funny but pointless cameo. Everyone else is more or less fine.

So, what's the problem? It's a little hard to say. The whole film felt just a bit sanitized. It's a PG-13 film, so it will inevitably need to pull some punches. I was impressed that the film was a full musical. The singing and dancing numbers are well choreographed, but I didn't get the impression that any of the songs were especially memorable or worth revisiting. Everything felt fine, but few things really stood out. The movie's a bit too long at 2 hours, 7 minutes. It really gets bogged down in the middle. Everything is set up well- we get the characters and the broad strokes of the story. It's a story we are familiar with, so we know how it'll end. But, it just takes so long to get there. The movie's middle is soggy and wastes far too much time. I really struggled to stay focused. The story does eventually get pulled together and it ends on a strong note. It takes a lot of time to get to that conclusion, but it's perhaps the strongest part of the entire film. It almost made me rethink my rating and go .5 higher. In the end, I kept my original impression. It's a movie that delivers a certain amount of entertainment, but it takes far too long to get where it's going. That hurts the repeatability factor. I can't really see myself wanting to sit down and see this film again. Once was enough.

Spirited should have been a better movie. Sean Anders is a solid director. They had a strong source material and two of the funniest actors in Hollywood. It's unfortunately the script that lets the movie down. There's too many characters who are spread too thin. That forces the movie to be overly long. The songs are fine- the choreography is outstanding and Ferrell and Reynolds are superb, but the songs themselves needed to be stronger. There needed to be at least one really great tune (and ideally, several). This all results in a movie that will be a crowd pleaser to some- and that's totally fine. I get it. But, I think to look dispassionately at the quality of the film (past the glitz and glamor that's thrown at us), I believe you'll see a predictable film that plays it a little too safe. The film does have one big surprising moment, but it's wrapped up a little too conveniently. This is a movie I'd never fault anyone for liking, but Spirited just didn't do it for me.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Elf, A Christmas Carol