स्पिरिटेड

I was a little skeptical of it being a musical, but I'm going to say after watching "Spirited" (and I thought that required watching it with spirits, so in full disclosure, I obliged), Will Ferrell is the king of Christmas movies. I dare say I wouldn't need the alcohol to enjoy it, the best thing about the movie is that it knows what it is and actively makes fun of it. Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are both very charismatic and have the ability to carry a movie on its own, and together their magic is additive. And while I expected this to simply be a retelling of "A Christmas Carol", it's actually much more, more of an extension of the story. Is it perfect or without flaws? Of course not, it could have been half an hour shorter, easily, as most movies these days. But it's an enjoyable watch.

First things first-it's Will Ferrel and Ryan Reynolds. Why are so many self-proclaimed movie experts (and Ferrel and zReynolds "super fans") expecting an Oscar-winning movie?! The script was uneven, the singing in many cases not great, the songs were cheesy, and-shockingly-the plot was predictable. Jeez...the original story is going on 200 years old. What so many seem to forget is that the story is about redemption and they did a great job making a campy, happy, silly version. It is fun. I'm very glad I watched it. Time well spent for a classic theme, and I'll probably tech it again this week. And yes, Octavia Spencer is awesome.

The script was actually a clever take on the Scrooge story, and Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell both did a good job. Sunita Mani was probably the best supporting character (very funny). However, the musical numbers were really difficult to watch. Something about the music and lyrics was really off. In parts where they tried to sound sincere, it sounded corny; in parts where they tried to sound funny, it wasn't working. At just over 2 hours, it felt like an eternity. This shouldn't have been a musical. It would have worked better as a comedy. I recommend you skip it. Or just re-watch any of the great Christmas comedies already out there.

I don't like Christmas movies, I don't like musicals, and guess what was the Monday mystery movie... yup, a Christmas musical. So clearly I'm not the target audience, but I try to watch everything so here we are. So many people walked out as this was the Monday mystery movie, it was actually disrespectful. I saw a leak post earlier saying it was going to be spirited so I was a little mentally prepared and actually tried to enjoy it.

Pretty upbeat just like any other Christmas movie. It starts out as a kid's movie, guess most musicals are, but still has some 'dirty' jokes as it goes on. Runtime's way longer than the actual plot was due to the singing. It got a couple good laughs; at times felt more of a comedy than musical. A good blend of Reynolds and Farrells humor, if you're a fan of either you might enjoy it.

Actually could have been more bearable for me if it wasn't a musical, every time I was about to forget it is someone started singing; after a while there's longer periods between the songs, and other moments when songs are squeezed together, mostly at the beginning of the movie and at the end. So there actually wasn't as much singing, you almost forget it's a musical in the middle.

I think the camerawork and production set felt like it was set up on stage so it felt like a theatre play. Songs aren't as catchy, I only recall if two that had me.

The story is pretty predictable on how it's going to end, it's just the journey of getting there. My favorite parts were when the singing was abruptly cut, singing aside its a decent movie. I just want to say you don't have to make a Christmas movie every year, it's almost impressive how they keep churning them out. I don't think this is a terrible addition, but Love, Actually is still the only Christmas movie I actually love.

Not perfect but highly entertaining - I could watch Ryan and Will banter all day. Background dancers were amazing and the singing from the leads was decent, particularly Octavia and Ryan. Will struggled with the singing the most and had the most solos but it was easy to give him a pass because he embraces his character so well. The singing is still less annoying than the live singing in Cats. This doesn't have the memorable music of The Greatest Showman but the first big number will stick in your head. Definitely a feel good Christmas movie with an original take on the classic story.

Music C+ Dancing A+ Sets A+ Story B+