There is a brand new Christmas Carol adaptation on Apple TV+. I'm really excited to talk about this one because it was a regal mystery film. This movie wasn't all that great though.
Today in a blog, I want to talk to you guys about the brand new Apple original film called Spirited. Spirited is directed by Sean Anders. The stars Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer are in the lead roles.
Spirited is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's classic novel 'A Christmas Carol' that everyone has read at some point in their lives and has seen some version of it in a televised form. This is another adaptation of it. I'm gonna be honest with you this movie was just so painfully average. This is going to be one of those Christmas movies that come out this year that a bunch of people enjoy from a wider range of audiences and that's exactly what this movie is trying to go for. It feels like it's just a checklist of things that the studio wants and it just feels so safe while doing this that I found this movie just to be extremely boring and an average movie.
I want to start with some of the positives of the movie. I do think that this movie has some pretty solid performances here from Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer as the main lead roles of the film. I think they are really putting a lot of effort into these characters. Everyone's kind of doing their typical performance you would expect from them. I think people are going to really enjoy their performances. I think they are pretty decent actors, in general, so just seeing them on screen together and having some great chemistry with one another was really solid here, especially with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy it.
One of the best aspects of this film is -- Cheesy Christmas message. That we have seen a hundred times before. If you're someone who is a sucker for these types of movies then you are going to love this one. It has the idea of the magic of Christmas and being with one another and how the family is everything and the people that you want to be around all the people that you need to care about. The decisions you make do affect other people in the real world and that is something we have seen from every other 'A Christmas Carol' adaptation.
I think it is pretty solid here as there are a few times where it is just straight-up annoying and very cheesy in the really bad third act. But there are a couple of moments here and there that I thought was actually pretty solid. I also found the costume design and production to be pretty solid in this movie. It's nothing amazing or anything and there are a couple times where you can tell they're just on a city street in Boston and they just put all these props up. I did feel like, I was in this Christmas Vibe and all the costumes are very colorful and vibrant and felt very modernized for what this movie is trying to tell.
I can give it a lot of appreciation for that unfortunately this movie does have quite a bit of negative here. We gotta start with the pacing. This movie clocks in around 2 hours and seven minutes which is absolutely insane especially because almost every adaptation of a Christmas Carol is really around an hour and 30 minutes so why did this movie need to be over half an hour longer. Just for the sake of it, because there are so many moments in this movie I could have easily cut out, especially the horrendous First Act that had 10 people walk out of my theater. I really thought the movie was going to be one of the worst movies of the year but it somehow surprisingly got better as it went along this movie just feels way too long. The story isn't all that complex how much can you dive into this movie in a modernized Christmas Carol like Scrooge which this movie directly references. For some reason like you're not that good compared to that movie.
One of the worst aspects about this film has got to be the humor as it has some of the most mediocre and safe jokes you could possibly see for a wide audience and for families to watch well there are a couple jokes here that were sort of funny but most of the jokes are very on the nose and you expect them coming and a lot of the delivery just didn't work for me. I think a lot of it's because the tone of this movie is so all over the place that it takes itself very seriously at times because you know A Christmas Carol is sort of dark in many aspects of it. But then this movie tries to be a parody or a satire of the modern-day world I do think a lot of people are going to find this movie to be pretty funny. If you do like that safe easy type of humor where it's not very offensive or doesn't really go for it it has a very typical studio movie type of humor you would come to expect.
Unfortunately, the Spirited movie is just so painfully average, and bland that nothing about this movie makes me want to go back and re-watch it, especially if they do a sequel in the future. I am giving Spirited movie a 5 out of 10.