Start your holidays on a high note.
Spirited is a 2022 Christmas musical fantasy comedy film directed by Sean Anders, written by Sean Anders and John Morris, produced by Apple Original Films, Gloria Sanchez Productions, Maximum Effort, Mosaic, and Two Grown Men, and distributed by Apple Studios. It is inspired by Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. The film stars Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.
"Good afternoon!" - The Ghost of Christmas Present
Plot
Every year, the ghosts of Christmas haunt a person and change them for the better. This year, they encounter the biggest challenge yet as they try to redeem an unredeemable person by the name of Clint Briggs.
Spirited: Quick Review
Spirited sounds amazing. A Christmas comedy with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds? How can that be bad?
Apparently, in many, many ways.
Spirited is way too long. It clocks in at two hours and seven minutes, which doesn't sound that long, but when you're talking about a Christmas comedy musical, that is way too long. The story drags on and on and on and on. It gets to the point where you think the story is coming to a close...and there's forty minutes left. It's awful.
Speaking of awful...the musical numbers are atrocious. As talented as they are, neither Ferrell or Reynolds are very good singers. That already makes the musical numbers feel weak. Beyond that, the numbers are staged like it's a TV musical. Out of nowhere, big spotlights and fog machines come in. It makes the film feel lower quality than it already is.
It's also really clunky. The film starts off with an interesting concept burdened by tons of exposition, but it just plays out in this rocky, uneven way. Will Ferrell's character is set up relatively quickly, and it's insanely predictable as to where he's going. They also can't balance all of the revolving plotlines and characters well, so it makes it feel very uneven and unbalanced. For example, Ferrell's character arc basically finishes up with about a half an hour left in the movie, which just becomes problematic, because once his character arc is done, the movie should be over. But they don't finish off Reynolds's character arc, so the movie has to continue for thirty more minutes.
There are things to enjoy here. Obviously it is funny because Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are funny, likable actors. But Spirited is a bad movie.
Final Thoughts and Score
I don't know how they did it, but they made a Christmas comedy with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds kind of suck.
I will go Sour here. Age range is 6+.
SWEET N' SOUR SCALE
Sweet (Great) Savory (Good) Sour (Bad)
Moldy (Terrible)
"Spirited"
Fun Factor: 5.5/10
Acting: 6.5/10
Story: 3.5/10 Characters: 4.5/10
Quality: 4/10
Directed by Sean Anders
Rated PG-13 for language, disturbing themes and images, suggestive material, thematic elements
Released on November 18, 2022
2 hours and 7 minutes
Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present / Ebenezer Scrooge
Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs
Octavia Spencer as Kimberly
Sunita Mani as the Ghost of Christmas Past
Patrick Page as Jacob Marley
Loren G. Woods as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Tracy Morgan as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come
Aimee Carrero as Nora
Joe Tippett as Owen Briggs
Andrea Anders as Carrie Briggs
Marlow Barkley as Wren / Young Carrie Briggs
Rose Byrne as Ms. Blansky