“Tuneful, Fun and Redemptive, but Flawed”
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What You Need To Know:
SPIRITED is a lively musical comedy with great production numbers. Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds make a terrific combination. Both men deliver fun, tuneful performances. SPIRITED has multiple morally uplifting, redemptive messages. Overall, it tells a redemptive story in a Christmas setting, with echoes of the famous Charles Dickens tale. However, it’s marred by too much foul language and a few Non-Christian, worldly sentiments that dilute the story’s Christian, redemptive values and metaphors. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.
Content:
Strong Christian, redemptive, moral worldview in a Christmas setting about turning one’s life around, doing good, being kinder, supporting family, and causing positive ripples in the world and among other human beings, but there are some references in a song to celebrating Christmas in old fashioned ways and other irreverent jokes that smack of Romantic, politically correct attitudes about Christmas and society
About 28 obscenities (including five or “s” words and the initials FU are said in a comical comparison to people in Victorian England angrily telling other people “Good afternoon!”; a character claims that’s like saying “FU” to someone) and 16 light profanities
Slapstick violence includes woman hit on head with a dodge ball being used for an ice hockey game in a snowy suburban street, character hit by a bus, two characters slap one another, man falls from a distance and hits the ground but gets up, a couple punches are thrown in a boisterous musical number, and man accidentally walks into a pillar, plus there’s an implied suicide in a Christmas Yet-to-Come scene, and family visits a dying sister
It’s implied that one female character went to bed with another character, there’s a few jokes about that, and adult character sings euphemistically briefly about looking forward to experiencing open-mouthed kisses for the first time
Brief upper male nudity during a brawl that’s shown briefly
Alcohol use and children’s mother appears to be drunk in a scene from Christmas Past
One background character smokes a cigar, and another smokes a pipe, but no drugs or drug references; and,
Girl’s uncle gets her to show a photo of her rival student body president candidate in a bad light, the main Scrooge-like character has a misanthropic attitude of people and overtly enjoys spreading hate as a media/marketing consultant, and the Scrooge character has a mean mother.
More Detail:
The movie opens with the Ghost of Christmas Present explaining how every year they select one mean person to be reformed on Christmas by an appearance of three spirits. For a year, a whole team of people in the afterlife create the special effects and sets so the three spirits can show the person highlights from their past and present and reveal what the people around them in the present really think of them and how the person hurt them.
This year, Mr. Marley wants to pick a stingy hotel manager, but the Ghost of Christmas Present wants to pick Clint Briggs, after he sees Clint singing a mercenary song to the National Christmas Tree Growers in the hotel. Mr. Marley, however, shows everyone that Clint’s file has been marked “unredeemable.” Making an unredeemable person change is nearly impossible, he reminds the Ghost of Christmas Present. Maybe so, the spirit replies, but redeeming Clint Briggs would have a huge, positive impact.
Mr. Markey reluctantly agrees. However, when December rolls around and it’s time for the three spirits to do their “magic,” Clint turns the tables on the Ghost of Christmas Present. As a result, Christmas Present finds himself re-examining his own past, present and future. Meanwhile, he has to stop Clint’s niece from making a big mistake that will endanger the life of a classmate.
SPIRITED is a lively musical comedy with great production numbers. The music, sound and dancing create an enjoyable, toe-tapping spectacle. It’s too bad the movie isn’t getting a wider theatrical release before it starts streaming on Apple TV+, because the movie plays beautifully on the big screen with a good sound system.
Also, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds make a great combination. Both men deliver fun performances. One number they do together, titled “Good Afternoon,” which takes viewers back to the streets of Victorian London, is particularly spirited (pun intended) and may remind experienced moviegoers of the big production numbers in 1968’s OLIVER! and 1970’s SCROOGE with Albert Finney as the mean miser. Other songs in SPIRITED are heartfelt pleas for kindness and goodwill toward all men, such as “Do a Little Good,” “Ripple” and “That Christmas Morning Feelin’”.
SPIRITED has multiple morally uplifting, redemptive messages. Overall, it tells a redemptive story in a Christmas setting, with echoes of the famous Charles Dickens tale. However, it’s marred by too much foul language and a few Non-Christian, worldly sentiments that dilute the story’s Christian, redemptive values and metaphors. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises strong or extreme caution.
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