Spirited on Apple TV Plus

Watched this tonight and I thought it was just about as overstuffed as your average Christmas dinner. Reynolds and Ferrell are just so unlikable, and the plot went all over the place if you ask me. The saving graces are the pleasant-enough Pasek and Paul tunes (gussied up beautifully by Ian Eisendrath and Dave Metzger) — though nothing requires repeated listening — and the self-aware humor Alex referenced above. The "Elf" reference cracked me up for a solid minute. Patrick Page and Octavia Spencer are underutilized in forgettable roles.

Floparoony.

Updated On: 11/19/22 at 02:29 AM

I believe I and EDSOSLO858 watch two different movies. I enjoy this very much. A few moments had me laughing. But overall a very nice and modern telling of A Christmas Carol. One song at the beginning sung by Patrick Page gave me Hadestown vibes. Anyone else think this? ( this song )

Updated On: 11/19/22 at 11:10 AM

perfectpenguin said: "I believe I and EDSOSLO858 watchtwo different movies. Ienjoy this very much. A few moments had me laughing. But overall a very nice and modern telling of A Christmas Carol. One song at the beginning sung by Patrick Page gave me Hadestown vibes. Anyone else think this? ( this song )"

No, this person watched the exact same movie you did and didn't care for it. They're called opinions and are just that.

This new modern-day musical of Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol,'' now on Apple TV and screening in limited theaters, left me dis-''Spirited.'' Will Ferrell plays the Ghost of Christmas Present who sets out to redeem Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a selfish, amoral media consultant. Ferrell and Reynolds try to give their all, and the cast includes ''Hadestown's'' Patrick Page as Marley. But the plot is so contrived and convoluted, and easily wears out its welcome at 2 hours and 7 minutes. (''Spirited'' gets a 68% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.)

''Spirited'' boasts new songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (whose lyrics I loved in their Oscar-winning ''La La Land'' ). Usually, there's at least a couple of tunes that stand out for me in most any Pasek and Paul score. Even in ''Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,'' for which they also wrote new songs and are credited as executive producers. I really enjoyed their ''Top of the World'' and ''Carried Away,'' a wonderful ballad that deserves Oscar attention. But there's not a single holiday tune in ''Spirited'' that I'd give a jingle about. They're bouncy but bland. What a blah humbug.

Updated On: 11/23/22 at 03:18 PM

It started strong for me and I really dug what it was doing. And then it kind of falls apart about halfway through, and at times you wish a more serious actor was playing the Ferrell part. Enjoyable, but ultimately not great. But I have to applaud it for at least being more interesting than a straight adaptation of A Christmas Carol. And some nice P&P tunes.

This was really good! Costumes look great and Chloé Arnold's choreography looks good on both the real dancers, and the less trained (I love tap). I liked the choreographed lights in "Unredeemable". I think the first time I saw that done was a group number on SYTYCD, but I don't recall if that was Arnold's season(?)

Could Ryan Reynolds possibly be more handsome? The only quibble I have is a bad wig he wears when he's portrayed as a younger man. Unfortunately his wig makes him look older, rather than younger.

I liked the twists on the plot. The re-purposing of "Good Afternoon" as a sick burn was lots of fun.

I watched this twice this weekend. I agree that some editing would improve it (yup... it's too long). Still, I'm sure I'll stream it every year.

This was also a mixed bag for me, but mostly trending positive. I liked the story (or at least the idea of it), and I enjoyed how it played out. Specific lines seemed a little hokey, like I think they leaned a little too much into the breaking the fourth wall and "isn't it cool we're all singing?" *wink*, which I could've done without. I think part of it also comes down to that it takes a certain kind of director to make a musical work on screen and I don't think this movie had that.

Weirdly at times it felt like they originally wrote this for a stage show and then decided to make it a movie instead (or maybe it's just the aforementioned director issues). Like with Ryan Reynolds's first song, I could totally see that being an amazing production number on stage, but the way it worked on screen just seemed to fall a little flat, especially the way they transitioned into it. And there was just SO MUCH dancing going on in the background of the songs that I thought was unnecessary, especially for The View From Here, that it felt like they had choreographed full numbers without as much thought to the purpose of the choreography.

Good Afternoon was definitely the highlight of the show, but I thought Patrick Page in Marley's Haunt was also an underrated bit. It was nice to actually hear a musical number from a trained singer and I think the way the song was framed worked quite well. It was a bit of a bold move to cast so many non-singers in a musical and I haven't listened to the soundtrack separately yet, but I couldn't say any of the songs stayed with me except maybe Good Afternoon, but I do wonder if they'd be more memorable if they'd had better singers (which is something I've experienced in the past).

All in all, a fun watch and I'm glad it exists, but I just really wish we had more directors who knew how to film musicals (or at least more chances given to the ones who do).

I agree! I laughed so many times! This movie is definitely something that will be on my watchlist for next Christmas!