Opinion: Spirited (2022) is Wholesome but Not "Holiday Classic" Material

By Larin Matti

February 2023

With every season comes a holiday buzz and during the winter time it’s typically followed by a flurry of setting up decorations, holiday music blasting around as you shop, family time, peppermint mochas, hot cocoa by the fireplace, ugly sweaters paired with fuzzy socks, and Christmas movies.

One Christmas movie that I was personally looking forward to watching over the break was Spirited which was a recently released musical comedy starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds that placed a modern twist to the classic Christmas story A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. 

The Cast: 

*Minor Spoilers Ahead*

Unlike the original A Christmas Carol, this story follows Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) instead of Ebenezer Scrooge. Every year the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-to-Come spend a year preparing to haunt a single person on Christmas Eve with their team, in the hopes of redeeming them so that they may leave a positive impact on the world. Clint Briggs is the CEO of a Social Media company that creates problems to benefit its clients. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) wants the next person that they will be redeemed, Clint. However Christmas Present ends up running into a problem - Clint Briggs is considered unredeemable - and none of the others think it possible. This does not stop Christmas Present as he wishes to redeem him regardless and believes it possible regardless of his status as an unredeemable. On the day of the haunt, the Ghost of Christmas Past and Yet-to-Come call it quits leaving Christmas Present to haunt him on his own and taking Clint through his past along with his present. Throughout the film, we see moments of a blooming friendship between Clint and Christmas Present. We also see that Clint may not be the only one with a redemption due soon. After incurring new friends and reigniting old relationships everything eventually works out for the pair in an unexpected ending.

This movie was fun and lighthearted although, at certain points throughout, it felt as though the plot was nonexistent and confusing. The cast for this movie was well chosen and Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell were fun to watch together. My final thoughts are that it was a fun musical to watch at some point and would definitely recommend watching to anyone looking for a wholesome movie to watch but given its two-hour run time and overall plot, not one that I would rewatch with my family every Christmas nor one meant to someday become a holiday classic. 

Bibliography:

Octavia Spencer on Why She Will Cherish Her Experience Making “Spirited.”” The Nerds of Color, 10 Nov. 2022, thenerdsofcolor.org/2022/11/10/octavia-spencer-on-why-she-will-cherish-her-experience-making-spirited/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

‌Sergey. Apple IPhone Smartphone of Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs in Spirited (2022). productplacementblog.com/movies/apple-iphone-smartphone-of-ryan-reynolds-as-clint-briggs-in-spirited-2022/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

‌Asay, Paul. “Don’t Say “Bah, Humbug” to a Christmas Carol: The Timeless Message of Ebenezer Scrooge.” Plugged In, 29 Nov. 2022, www.pluggedin.com/blog/dont-say-bah-humbug-to-a-christmas-carol-the-timeless-message-of-ebenezer-scrooge/. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

‌ Major, Michael. “Interview: Sunita Mani Talks Filming the SPIRITED Musical Numbers.” BroadwayWorld.com, www.broadwayworld.com/article/Interview-Sunita-Mani-Talks-Filming-the-SPIRITED-Musical-Numbers-20221220. Accessed 10 Jan. 2023.

‌“Tracy Morgan Is a Survivor. And “a Better Man Now.”” The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/14/arts/television/tracy-morgan-the-last-og.html.