By: Andrew Wing

Spirited is a 2022 American Christmas musical comedy film directed by Sean Anders (Daddy’s Home, Instant Family), and written and produced by Anders and John Morris (We’re the Millers). It is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol and a satire of the various adaptations since. The film stars Will Ferrell (Elf, Step Brothers), Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool, Free Guy), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water, Ma), Sunita Mani (G.L.O.W, Search Party), Patrick Page (In the Heights), Marlow Barkley (Slumberland), and Tracy Morgan (The Other Guys, Cop Out).

In the film, The Ghost of Christmas Present (Ferrell) is nearing retirement, which would mean a return to Earth. He sets his sights on an "unredeemable" man named Clint Briggs (Reynolds), who may end up helping the Ghost come to terms with his own past.

Spirited was released in select cinemas on November 11, 2022, before its streaming release on November 18, 2022, by Apple TV+.

THE GOOD

So it was Christmas Eve and my family and I were sitting down to try and find a Christmas movie to watch and we had no idea what to try. We didn’t feel like watching Home Alone for the hundredth time, and I couldn’t talk my mom into watching Die Hard because well, she doesn’t think it’s a Christmas movie. Yes, that’s right, she is one of those people. Anyways, we turned on Apple TV+, and right on the home screen was Spirited, a Christmas movie starring two of the funniest actors working today, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. Those two guys were too tough to pass on so we said screw it and hit play. But was it better than watching Home Alone for the 101st time? Keep reading to find out!

That’s tough. I don’t know if I ever get tired of Home Alone, but despite some of my problems with the film that I’ll discuss later, I was still happy to check this out. Hands down though the best part of the movie, in my opinion, was the performances we got from Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, and more than that, the chemistry they share. As he said while doing press for this film, Ferrell is no stranger when it comes to Christmas movies because he is Buddy the Elf at the end of the day. I thought Ferrell was the star of the show as he was just so damn funny throughout, and I’ll just never get tired of watching him on TV. As for Reynolds, he just plays the same character in all of his movies pretty much and while I know some people get tired of him from time to time, I thought he was perfect here as the “unredeemable” man named Clint Briggs. That said, these two’s performances carried the film and the chemistry they shared has me hoping that this isn’t the last we see of them together.

As previously mentioned, those two guys’ performances were worth the price of admission for me, but there were also some other things I enjoyed about Spirited. I always love me some Octavia Spencer because she is truly one of the best, and I also was really impressed by Sunita Mani’s small-yet-hilarious side performance as the Ghost of Christmas Past. And last but not least, with this film being a musical comedy, you get a bunch of original songs that are just a blast. My personal favorite original song was “Good Afternoon” which actually has an outside chance of tabbing an Oscar nomination, so fingers crossed there!

THE BAD

I feel bad being a Grinch during the holidays, but there are just a few problems with this movie that keep it from being a Christmas classic. The main problem with the film is that it is the same story we get what really feels like every holiday season. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a classic story that’s entertaining at times, but I was just frustrated with this film’s lack of improvement over previous adaptations of Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. And to tie that into my next problem with the movie, you would think if they were re-telling this story for the umpteenth time, it wouldn’t take so long! I am one who usually has no problem with longer movies, but this movie was just way too overstuffed at the end of the day.

THE VERDICT

Despite it being overstuffed and not too different from the previous adaptations of the famous Christmas carol, Spirited is still a film I would recommend because for one, it’s the holiday season, and two, it’s Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds together and their chemistry is pretty great to be honest.