Spirited (2022)

Spirited (2022)

6/10

Starring

Will Ferrell

Ryan Reynolds

Octavia Spencer

 

Directed by Sean Anders

 

I think this movie would have had higher ratings overall if it were shorter and didn’t have so much singing and unnecessary things happening. I did like the idea of the movie, though, and I enjoyed seeing a different take on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. This modern take uses current trends well, making the movie more impactful and easier to watch. It’s not as predictable as you’d think, which is a good thing, and the way things turn out in the end isn’t what you’d expect. The problem with this otherwise nice movie is all the fluff in between that didn’t really matter. The travel between worlds dragged on for too long, and there were conversations you’d be happy to skip through.

I loved the chemistry between Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. The way this movie ended also left room for more ideas about what could happen next.

The plot introduces us to a world where some ghosts are part of a group that helps people change and become better. They have a whole team that works behind the scenes to ensure that the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come reach their targets and inspire positive change, causing a ripple effect of good things. The current target is Clint (Ryan Reynolds), a person deemed unredeemable, and the person the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) wanted to take on.

Present was feeling a bit down and wanted a challenge, and Clint seemed like the perfect challenge. He thought he was up for the job, but then he learned that Clint wasn’t the type of person you can change.

Clint was stuck in his ways and didn’t play by the rules. He flipped the tables on the Ghosts so many times that they couldn’t keep up.

It wasn’t that Clint had a better plan than they did—it was just that they were used to people being freaked out by their presence. But Clint kept believing it was all a dream and never took anything seriously.

Clint was a PR person with his own company, and his job was to turn bad situations into PR masterpieces. So, when the Ghosts showed up trying to change him, he used his PR skills to flip the tables on them.

You can catch this Christmas musical comedy on Apple+, and I hope if they plan another take, they make it with less fluff.