Spirited

PG-13

11/10/20222h 7m

Theatrical (limited) Release (US)

~ Start your holidays on a high note. ~

Overview:

Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future.

Director:

Sean Anders

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$75,000,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

depression
sibling relationship
based on novel or book
holiday
greed
redemption
musical
terminal illness
lost love
ghost
uncle niece relationship
buddy comedy
executive
guilty conscience
christmas
alcoholic mother
brother sister relationship
unfinished business

Cast

Will Ferrell

~ as ~

Present

Ryan Reynolds

~ as ~

Clint Briggs

Octavia Spencer

~ as ~

Kimberly

Patrick Page

~ as ~

Marley

Sunita Mani

~ as ~

Past

Loren G. Woods

~ as ~

Yet-To-Come

Tracy Morgan

~ as ~

Yet-To-Come (voice)

Joe Tippett

~ as ~

Owen

Marlow Barkley

~ as ~

Wren / Young Carrie

Aimee Carrero

~ as ~

Nora

View full cast & crew

Reviews (2)

CinemaSerf
Written 2 year(s) ago
6
Wow, but this is all over the place. Based very loosely on the Dickens' character from his "A Christmas Carol" story, Will Ferrell is the Ghost of Christmas Present who now works for "Jacob Marley" (Patrick Page) trying to save irredeemable souls from purgatory. This is where Ryan Reynolds comes in. He is "Clint" - a successful influencer who is about as ruthless for his clients as it possible to be. "Present" concludes that if he can save him, then he can make a real difference to the future (despite the fact that he appears, already, to have rescued Dolly Parton!). Anyway, this is where the story gets a little more interesting. Rather than cowering in fear at his apparitions, "Clint" decides to turn the tables a bit and before we know it, he is challenging his protagonist to justify what he is doing and why. Unfortunately, though - and despite the presence of the usually reliable Octavia Spencer - the whole thing just peters out all too quickly with some predictably slapstick humour and a few rather dull piano/guitar ballads from an out-of-sorts Messrs. Pasek and Paul that have some potent lyrics now and again, but those are largely overwhelmed by the fact that Reynolds cannot sing and Ferrell fares only slightly better on that front too. It also has no idea how to end, so it has three or four goes by which time I was a bit bored by it all. It's been quite a while since I noticed people leaving a cinema screening, but quite a few abandoned this. Nothing beats the Albert Finney/Leslie Bricusse "Scrooge" (1970) for me, and though this iteration of the timeless story might work better on stage - much of it is very theatrically stylised in nature (especially the dance numbers) - I am just going to stick with that.
MS
Manuel São Bento
Written 2 year(s) ago
6
MORE SPOILER-FREE MINI-REVIEWS @ https://www.msbreviews.com/movie-reviews/mini-reviews-2022-edition/

"Spirited efficiently applies a Christmas formula. Harnessing the undeniable, palpable chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell, along with original holiday tunes filled with the typical humor from the actors, Sean Anders delivers a musical entertaining enough to entertain the average spectator.

Not all the songs succeed, nor their timing in the story is always the right one, and the generic narrative doesn't exactly help with the surprise factor. Still, I'm happy enough with the essential message that people can, in fact, change for the better."

Rating: B-