Spirited (2022)

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.