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Christmas movies are already upon us, and major streamer Apple TV hopes they have a new holiday classic in “Spirited,” a big-hearted-but-clumsy riff on Charles Dickens ’ A Christmas Carol with two of the most likable movie stars alive. “Spirited” is like a big goofy puppy in how much it wants you to like it, and that eagerness to entertain can be its greatest strength and biggest weakness at the same time. It’s overstuffed, cluttered, way too long, and ignores some basic tech elements like coherent editing and production design. But there are times when all of that can slip away under the sheer goodwill of the entire thing. It’s almost like a community theater production of an original musical—so very rough around the edges but also pretty easy to root for in the end.

Sean Anders (“Daddy’s Home”) co-wrote and directed this admittedly clever variation on a tale that’s been told by everyone from the Muppets to Bill Murray , but this is a different kind of Scrooge tale. What if the ghosts that haunted Ebenezer Scrooge on that fateful night did the same thing every year to a different troubled soul? “Spirited” imagines an entire spiritual industry built around redeeming one relentless jerk—and, yes, it does get into the idea that so much energy expended on one person in an era of social media hit jobs that manipulate thousands is like a drop in a bucket. Still, facilitator Jacob Marley ( Patrick Page ) believes there’s value in their process, and he leads a massive team that researches each year’s chosen miser.

The team thinks they have a perfect choice in a Vancouver hotel manager who yells at janitors, but the Ghost of Christmas Present ( Will Ferrell ) runs into a speaker at the hotel named Clint Briggs ( Ryan Reynolds ), realizing he is the white whale. Briggs is a social media manipulator, introduced singing a song—oh yeah, this is a full-throated musical—about weaponizing the war on Christmas for profit. He is the kind of businessman who doesn’t see moral lines as long as his client wins, even if the client is his niece Wren ( Marlow Barkley ), who he convinces to do opposition research and social media shaming on her rival for a position at school. Clint’s assistant Kimberly ( Octavia Spencer ) looks like she has been worn down by the moral failures of her boss, but Clint doesn’t see himself as a force for bad. He’s just one of those guys who believes that hitting first is the best strategy. (And it’s a minor flaw of the film that the writers seem unwilling to make Clint too “unredeemable” and risk alienating viewers against one of their lovable leads.)

Ferrell’s ghost becomes obsessed with redeeming Clint, even as the other spirits ( Sunita Mani plays Past and Tracy Morgan voices Yet to Come) get sidelined. Surprisingly, “Spirited” becomes as much The Ghost of Christmas Present’s tale as it is Clint’s, as Ferrell’s character wants to leave it all behind and become human again, especially after finding an unexpected reason to rejoin the mortal coil.

All of this is told through the hyperactive energy of what feels at times like a draft for a stage musical both in function and form. Musical numbers explode with choruses of backup singers/dancers playing to one side of a set as if they’re on a stage. The sense that you’re watching a filmed stage musical extends to the production design, which often looks like cheap sets or green screen backgrounds instead of actual physical spaces. And the writing has that Broadway tendency to hit a few of the same beats over and over again, especially in the final acts of the film, which push this overlong musical to over two hours.

Despite all of those flaws, “Spirited” is a hard movie to slam. There’s a “let’s put on a show” energy in the performances of Reynolds, Ferrell, and Spencer that’s easy to like. No one is phoning this thing in (even if Ferrell might have been served by another singing lesson or two) and that kind of energy can be infectious. Holiday movies don’t have to be perfect. We kind of like them when they’re a little rough around the edges, something that can boost the mood of an entire family over winter break as they’ve turned off their critical weapons and just want something that goes down easy. In that “spirit," this one works.

On Apple TV Plus today.

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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Film credits.

Spirited (2022)

Rated PG-13 for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.

127 minutes

Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs

Will Ferrell as Ghost of Christmas Present

Octavia Spencer as Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Sunita Mani as Ghost of Christmas Past

Aimee Carrero as Nora

Sean Anders
John Morris

Cinematographer

Kramer Morgenthau
Brad E. Wilhite
Dominic Lewis

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An Apple TV+ Christmas Carol Retelling

No one has ever said, “I want to watch another version of A Christmas Carol.” However, this classic tale is told with a twist. We hear from the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) as he examines the mistakes he made on earth. Currently, his project is Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), and the two of them go on an introspective journey. This Spirited Christian Movie Review will tell you what you need to know about the content of this movie before watching it with your family.

In the traditional Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol, the ghosts visit Scrooge on Christmas Eve and give him a chance to change his life. Furthermore, the movie explores the question, “Is long-term change possible?”

Spirited Christian Movie Review – Synopsis:

The Ghost of Christmas Present picks a person to be visited by the three spirits. While Ghost of Christmas Present tries to redeem Clint Briggs, he finds that he has met his match. When Briggs forces Christmas Present to examine his own life, he explores the question of whether people can really change. And will Christmas Present be able to have a new future?

Synopsis from Studio:

“Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future. For the first time, “A Christmas Carol” is told from the perspective of the ghosts in this hilarious musical twist on the classic Dickens tale. From Director Sean Anders (“Daddy’s Home,” “Instant Family”), written by Sean Anders and John Morris, with original songs by Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land”) and production numbers choreographed by Chloe Arnold (“The Late Late Show with James Corden”), this modern retelling is a sweet and spicy holiday treat.”

Spirited poster Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds

What Parents Want to Know – Spirited Christian Movie Review:

This movie has a PG-13 rating, and between Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, there is no shortage of foul language. In fact, the following language is just some of the items you will want to watch out for: several “oh my g-d,” h-ll, d-ck (male body part), b-tch, Bullsh-t, a-s, d-mnit, wh-re, prick, “diddled your wife,” “kiss my dickens,” crap, b-stard, more.

Additionally, there are other phrases, “holding hands was 3rd base,” “slap your head off,” “your accent blows,” “F-U,” “busting my balls,” and “god I miss drinking.

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell dancing in Spirited

There are numerous instances of violence, including a bar fight, a brawl in the street, people falling down steps, being pushed down steps, someone being hit in the head with a ball, another person being hit by a bus, and a man being thrown on the ceiling.

In the beginning scene, a woman is haunted by ghosts, and she is in a cemetery. Then the ground opens up and swallows her.

Adult Themes:

There is plenty of drinking throughout the movie.

Additionally, in one dance scene has some women dancing in skimpy outfits. While the dance is fast-paced ,you don’t see the outfits up close.

The finger is given.

Spiritual content:

A reference is made to a “virgin birth.”

Remember, this is A Christmas Carol spinoff. There are ghosts – Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas Yet-to-Come. One of them appears as the grim reaper, and all you see are bony fingers. When the Ghost is shown, it is very creepy and ugly.

There is talk about the “soul that we redeemed.”

A man walks through a ghost.

Cast from Spirited 2022 Apple TV+ streaming holiday movie

Viewing Recommendations for Spirited Christmas Movie Review:

First, the musical score in this movie is fantastic. However, due to the excessive language, this movie should not be viewed by children. The music is great, the script is A+, and it has a great message. Finally, if the language does not bother you, you will most likely enjoy this holiday movie.

Will Ferrell as Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs in Spirited

Will Ferrell is Ghost of Christmas Present

Ryan Reynolds is Clint Briggs

Octavia Spencer is Kimberly

Sunita Mani is Ghost of Christmas Past

Patrick Page is Marley

Loren G. Woods is Ghost of Yet to Come

Tracy Morgan (voice) Ghost of Yet-to-Come

Joe Tippett is Owen

Marlow Barkley is Wren

Aimee Carreras is Nora

Andre Anders is Carrier

Jen Tullock is Wendy

Adams Grupper is Mr. Bryan

Jimmy Fallon as himself

Director: Sean Anders

Writers: Sean Anders

Producers:

Sean Anders

George Dewey

Jessica Elbaum

Executive Producers:

Diana Pokorny

Justin Paul

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 2 hrs, 7 mins

Release Date: November 18, 2022

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds in Spirited on Apple TV+

Songs in Spirited:

That Christmas Morning Feelin

Present’s Lament

Bringin’ Back Christmas

The View from Here

The Story of Your Life (Marley’s Haunt)

Good Afternoon

The Story of Your Life (Clint’s Pitch)

Unredeemable

The View From Here (Riverwalk)

Do A Little Good

Finally, the last scene does a reprise: That Christmas Morning Feelin’ (Curtain Call)

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is good afternoon an insult was it ever an insult.

In the movie, “good afternoon” is considered an insult in the 1800s. Basically, it means “f- you.” However, in real life, it has never been considered an insult.

Where was Spirited filmed?

This modern musical based on “A Christmas Carol” was filmed entirely in Massachusetts from July through October 2021.

Where can I watch Spirited starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell?

Spirited is streaming on Apple TV+. It is an Apple Original. Apple TV+ offers a one-week free trial.

Read the history of A Christmas Carol

Reviewing movies for parents from a Christian perspective since 2005. Know Before You Go!

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Spirited Reviews

The chemistry that Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell share feels forced, making their friendship feel phony to the audience, for a film whose main attraction is the bromance.

Full Review | Jun 11, 2024

Given its 127-minute runtime, “Spirited” could have been even better if director Sean Anders had trimmed some of the self-referential humor and fully embraced the holiday spirit.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 9, 2023

While there’s no such thing as too many Christmas Carol adaptations, Apple TV’s Spirited falls a bit short in its emotional heart as it focuses more closely on the music and the comedic beats.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

Spirited is a missed opportunity, but it’s an enjoyable enough film nonetheless, and it’s still bound to give you “that Christmas morning feelin'” and put you in a good mood.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2023

Spirited is a fun and special film that feels both timely and classic. The humor is solid and the jokes are equal parts provocative, silly, and family friendly.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 14, 2023

Spirited is a brilliant holiday film meant for an adult audience, packed with some great jokes, lively performances, catchy musical numbers, and topped off with an emotional ending I wasn’t really prepared for.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 4, 2023

Octavia Spencer is giving me life as a romantic lead and singing her face off in this holiday musical comedy reminding audiences that a choice can always change your life and sometimes for the better

Full Review | Dec 29, 2022

All in all, this spiritual intervention, powered by silly antics and autotuned singing, ultimately delivers an entertaining – and at times, even interesting – take on the classic Christmas tale.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 28, 2022

A big-hearted albeit goofy reimagining of Charles Dickens's Christmas classic, filled with lively and entertaining musical numbers.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 26, 2022

Spirited revels in being a campy, musical reimagining of A Christmas Carol. The movie combines formulaic comedy with unexpected plot twists and catchy songs. The cast members also look like they're having fun, which brings some enjoyment to watching.

Full Review | Dec 24, 2022

All in all, this one is an uneven Christmas endeavor with amusing moments thanks to the two leads and the always lovely Octavia Spencer as Ferrell’s love interest.

A horrifically bloated 127 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 24, 2022

Elf scribe David Berenbaum puts a whimsical spin on a thoroughly enjoyable Charles Dickens holiday staple.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 23, 2022

It’s easy to see how Spirited could enter the Christmas circulation as a flawed but entertaining holiday favourite.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 20, 2022

The most consistent pleasures in this uneven movie are when Ferrell and Reynolds are onscreen together, comically insulting each other.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Dec 11, 2022

It is a bizarre and somewhat grotesque rewriting of the story’s moral... seen through the lens of bothsiderism.

Full Review | Dec 6, 2022

‘…Like it or not, Spirited is likely to join the pantheon of festive favourites; it may be overstuffed, but then again, overstuffed is partly what a holiday like this is all about….’

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 6, 2022

It’s big, obnoxious and has (shudder) a lot of musical numbers delivered with outrageously enthusiastic choreography.

Full Review | Dec 5, 2022

An early swing to the holiday season, "Spirited" is better than it has any right to be, even if the script does need a tad more fine-tuning.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 3, 2022

Just when you thought Dickens' story couldn’t endure another fresh take, along come Will Ferrell & Ryan Reynolds in “Spirited,” focusing not merely on a Scrooge figure but the behind-the-scenes operation of the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present & Future.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 2, 2022

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DVD & Streaming
Comedy , Musical , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

People singing and dancing - Spirited 2022

In Theaters

Will Ferrell as Christmas Present; Ryan Reynolds as Clint Briggs; Octavia Spencer as Kimberly; Sunita Mani as Christmas Past; Patrick Page as Jacob Marley; Tracy Morgan/Loren G. Woods as Christmas Yet-to-Come; Aimee Carrero as Nora; Joe Tippett as Owen; Andrea Anders as Carrie: Marlow Barkley as Wren/Young Carrie

Home Release Date

November 18, 2022
Sean Anders

Distributor

Movie review.

Sure, it’s a bummer to work every Christmas Eve. But when you’re a Dickensonian ghost of Christmas, holiday work is a given.

And it’s not like that’s the only evening they work, either. Getting someone to reform overnight is no easy feat. It takes a whole year of research and preperation, set design and costume construction to get ready for the big event. By the time Christmases Past, Present and Yet-to-Come are ready for action, Christmas Eve can feel a little rote. As the Ghost of Christmas Present says, “You haunt someone. You change them into a better person. And then we sing about it.”

Oh, yes. They sing. They dance. They may celebrate with a bit of Mexican food. And then when the calendar turns to a new year, the team picks a new “perp” and starts prepping for next Christmas Eve.

The Ghost of Christmas Present knows the grind well. And let’s be honest: He enjoys it. Why, he could’ve retired 46 years ago—turned the cornucopia and holly wreath over to a new undead firebrand—but he still likes turning lives around.

But sometimes, Christmas Present wonders if they couldn’t be doing a little more.

Sure, he and his ghostly cohorts can change a single life every Christmas Eve (if all goes well). And certainly, that changed life can ripple out and make life better for those around the perp.

But wouldn’t it be great to change someone who makes bigger ripples?

Christmas Present thinks he’s found just such a lost soul: Clint Briggs, a slimy PR consultant who specializes in take-no-prisoners, let’s-demonize-our-enemies work. “It’s not enough for folks to love you,” he tells a group of Christmas-tree growers. “They gotta hate your rivals more.” Soon, natural-Christmas-tree lovers are pelting their artificial-tree-buying neighbors with something other than Christmas cheer.

“He’s like the perfect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest,” Christmas Present marvels as he watches Clint talk.

Wouldn’t it be great to turn this guy around?

But there’s a catch. According to Clint’s file, the guy has been stamped as “unredeemable.” He’s more than just a first-class jerk. He’s built his career on the assumption that everyone else is kinda jerky, too. They spew insults online. They’ll swindle anyone if given a chance. And people, Clint knows, never, ever change.

Well, Christmas Present hopes to change a few minds about that. And he’ll start with Clint himself—unredeemable or no.

Positive Elements

Naturally, Spirited takes us—à la Dickens’ A Christmas Carol —into Christmases of Clint’s past. Raised by a single, distant and often intoxicated mother, we can see the seeds of how he became his cynical self. (It’s a good reminder how we’re shaped by our experiences.)

But we also see some good people in his life, too. His older sister, Carrie, tries to protect Clint when she can. His little brother, Owen, looks up to his big bro; even though Owen’s not particularly responsible, he’s as kindhearted as they come. Clint even had a nice girlfriend named Nora for a time, who did her best to try to change Clint before giving up.

And then there’s Kimberly, Clint’s once-kind, second-in-command whom Clint has molded into a cold-blooded smear artist. Even though she’s wrecked her share of careers and reputations, she just needs a gentle nudge to move in a better direction.

Clint needs more than a nudge, of course. He needs a full-force tackle—one that Christmas Present and the whole Christmas team are ready to give him.

But turns out, Spirited isn’t just about redeeming one more mortal, wayward soul: Christmas Present is in need of some help, too. He truly is a ghost, see: He was once a mortal, just like us. And no matter how hard he works now, he never feels it’s enough to make up for his past misdeeds. Clint proves to be an unlikely catalyst to help Christmas Present move on.

One final note: One of these characters makes a tremendous sacrifice for the other before the end.

Spiritual Elements

Let’s start with the ghosts. We see plenty of ’em. Not just the typical three ghosts from Dickens, but their entire support team (numbering, we’re told, in the hundreds). Good old Jacob Marley sits in the Christmas COO seat—sometimes donning chains and strongboxes to announce the ghosts’ annual visitations. The ghosts can also manipulate space. And the movie tells us—sometimes with surprising poignancy—that death is not the end.

But this is also a Christmas story, and we actually hear far more references to the original, biblical Christmas story than Dickens ever spelled out.

Not that these mentions are particularly reverent.

During a song to the Christmas-tree sellers, Clint tells them that they’re selling old-fashioned tradition: “Give me some peace on earth/A virgin birth/And Grandpa getting sauced!” He’s also all about “Nativities/and Sweet Baby Jeez … Feliz Navidad/And the birth of our God.”

Later, when Clint’s “Christmas Tree War” campaign reaches critical mass, he watches as Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon talks about how if you support artificial trees, “You’re an enemy of Santa Claus, Jesus and Mariah Carey.”

While Spirited does point to Christmas’s Christian cornerstone, a Christmas ghost announces that their efforts will soon be expanding to include, for instance, ghosts of “Ramadan Past and Chanukah to come.”

Ghosts can apparently return to the human world and become mortal again under certain conditions.

Sexual Content

The Ghost of Christmas Past is quite attracted to Clint. They flirt during the opening moments of her visitation. The next time we see her, she’s returning early to home base, looking a bit disheveled and muttering about how “one thing led to another.” She convinces Christmas Present to take over her shift, because returning now would just be awkward. (“Your haunt got off to a humpy start,” Present quips to Clint.) Christmas Past drops several other suggestive allusions, too, both before and after this encounter.

Two people smooch and hold hands. Christmas Present considers what it would be like to kiss someone with “one of those newfangled modern mouth kisses.”

Clint makes a joke that appears to reference masturbation and discusses getting a client out of a sexual scandal. A ghost asks if someone clears browser histories once someone dies. During a wedding, we hear that the pastor had an affair with the bride. We see a man in a shower (though nothing critical is shown). Someone says, “You can kiss my Dickens” in a song. A man wears makeup to a Christmas party; two men take a selfie together in a montage of couples.

Violent Content

Marley’s ghost is purposefully a bit terrifying. One character is grabbed by both shoulder and crotch and slammed down. Folks run into poles, fall down stairs and occasionally slap one another. Christmas Yet-to-Come fortells a suicide. Someone gets hit by a bus. A woman dies from cancer. People fall down while skating. Bombs blow up. Walls crash down. People wallop each other in the streets. Someone falls from a hot-air balloon but, improbably, survives.

Crude or Profane Language

It would be rare to start this section with what would seem to be an inoffensive greeting. But Christmas Present tells Clint that one such greeting—“Good afternoon”—was considered just about the equivalent of the f-word in his day. That unleashes a very strange musical number where people utter the phrase to each other with obvious hostility, sending the streets of Victorian-era London into utter chaos.

We hear several uses of the s-word (six completed, two abbreviated) and loads of other profanities, too, including “a–,” “b–ch,” “b–tard,” “d–n,” “h—,” “d-ck,” “p-ss,” “crap” and the British vulgarity “bloody.” God’s name is misused nearly 20 times, and Jesus’ name is abused once. We see a few obscene hand gestures.

Drug and Alcohol Content

As mentioned, Clint’s mom is/was a heavy drinker, and we see her in a state of inebriation a couple of times. (In one scene, she’s actively drinking.) We hear a reference to beer.

Other Negative Elements

Did I mention that Clint is a big ol’ jerk? We see just how jerky he can be way too many times to tabulate here. But here’s one prime example.

Clint’s sister died of cancer sometime before the movie begins. Her daughter, Wren, is now running for a spot on the middle-school student council against a boy named Josh—a kind, straight-A student whom everyone, including Wren, likes. Naturally, she asks her high-powered uncle for a little campaign help.

First, he suggests that Wren (also a straight-A student) tank a few classes and “bank a few detentions” so she can position herself as “one of the people,” not some elitist. Then Wren instructs Kimberly to dig up some dirt on Josh (an eighth grader), which she does. Turns out, Josh’s parents run a charity that feeds the homeless every Christmas; two years before, Josh posted a picture on TikTok that suggested spending Christmas Eve with the homeless was “gross.” He took it town within two minutes—but as we all know, the internet can be forever. Clint encourages Wren to repost Josh’s (ill-advised) post to garner votes.

A “perp” is described as a “walking plunger.” A former ghost has an opportunity to take a shower as a mortal—and experience the thrill of indoor plumbing. He announces that he plans to take a shower every month. Clint’s mother tells him, when he’s about 8 years old, that she bought him a dog for Christmas; but Clint left the back door open, and the dog ran away. (Clint says it was the best present he could’ve gotten: “The solid-gold lesson that people will believe anything if they want to believe it. … that lesson made me so rich, I could buy a million puppies.”)

“Want to know what mankind is?” Clint asks his guide, Christmas Present. “Read the comments below.”

Clint knows that in the comments sections of most blogs and social media feeds, people let out their “true” feelings—all their hatred, all their fear, all their apparently boundless vitriol.

Clint tells Christmas Present that people don’t change: They are as sadly predictable as litter, as relentless as entropy. They are lazy. They are desperate to feel good about themselves. And they are motivated more by hate than love.

And we know that, in part, he’s right.

The Bible tells us the same thing, after all: That we are sinful creatures, prone to go our own ways and to do bad things if we feel like we can get away with them.

But the Bible also takes Christmas Present’s side, too. Yes, we are vain and sinful. Yes, we can all be nasty sometimes. But we can change, too. We can foster and grow the good inside us—the good that God put there.

Clint’s file may have been stamped, “Unredeemable.” But Christmas Present believes even someone deemed unredeemable can be redeemed. He can be saved .

On one level, Spirited is just the sort of Christmas movie that would land on Plugged In’ s naughty list. It stars two really funny, but often crass actors in Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. And they both strain to stay true to the film’s PG-13 rating. The movie’s also sprinkled with glancing sexual asides and peppered with foul language. And this “Christmas” story, when it references Jesus’ birth at all, can feel pretty dismissive, if not even a wee bit demeaning.

And yet there’s that core message of change and redemption. And in a way, that’s a central theme of our faith.

“Even if you lost your way, you don’t have to stay a lost cause,” a fun little song in Spirited tells us. We can all choose to be better. That change rarely takes us full circle in a single night, as it does in Dickens’ original Christmas Carol . Be we can still change—deciding to make better decisions every day.

Will Ferrell has already appeared in one seasonal cinematic standard: I’m sure that Elf (which Spirited makes a brief, comical nod to) is on many of your must-watch-in-December lists.

Spirited isn’t as sweet or innocent as Elf . It puts a few lumps of coal into its own figgy pudding. But in a cynical age, Spirited offers some high-minded sincerity. And it reminds us that we are all capable of change, that we can all be redeemed.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Common Sense Says
Parents Say 34 Reviews
Kids Say 15 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Dickens musical comedy has sweet themes, cursing, slapstick.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 13+?

A vehicle strikes a person, but it's presented in a way that's more likely to in

Frequent use of strong language, including "ass," "balls," "bitch," "crap," "dam

Flirtation, kissing, innuendo.

Apple products. Product placement is winked at, with Sephora as the sponsor, alt

A negatively portrayed character is referred to as a drunk and is seen holding a

Any Positive Content?

No one is unredeemable: We all have goodness and decency inside of us somewhere.

Jacob Marley's operation uses teamwork to save one soul per year. The Ghost of C

The two stars are White men, but there's lots of racial and gender representatio

Violence & Scariness

A vehicle strikes a person, but it's presented in a way that's more likely to inspire laughs than alarm. Slapstick humor, including falls, being lifted by the crotch, and literal slaps across the face. Some creepy images, but they're quickly shown to be theatrics. It's implied that a teen dies by suicide, and there are sad scenes involving a character with a terminal illness (which leads to parent/child separation).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Frequent use of strong language, including "ass," "balls," "bitch," "crap," "dammit," "d--k," "diddle," "dumb," "piss," "pr--k," "screw it," "s--tty," "stupid," "suck it," and "what the hell." Middle-finger gesture. Lots of insults, like "dingus."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Apple products. Product placement is winked at, with Sephora as the sponsor, although the store and its products aren't actually highlighted.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

A negatively portrayed character is referred to as a drunk and is seen holding a glass, implying alcohol is in it. Jokes about a beer and an adult offering a child a Negroni.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

No one is unredeemable: We all have goodness and decency inside of us somewhere. Your choices make you who you are, and you can choose to do good/be better every day. One person's act of good can create a ripple effect. A subplot addresses the dangers of misusing social media.

Positive Role Models

Jacob Marley's operation uses teamwork to save one soul per year. The Ghost of Christmas Present is perseverant in trying to get through to Clint and help him become a better person. Clint is funny, successful, charismatic, and, initially, quite mean, but the entire story is about people's ability to change. Kimberly is kind, and Owen is a loyal brother and uncle.

Diverse Representations

The two stars are White men, but there's lots of racial and gender representation in supporting and background roles. The story's two romantic leads are middle-aged, reflect body diversity, and are from different racial backgrounds. A Black woman is a talented corporate executive.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that Spirited is a creative musical comedy based on Charles Dickens ' classic holiday story A Christmas Carol . This take on the redemption tale flips the script on Marley & Co. by coming at the story from the ghosts' perspective. Although most of the humor is aimed at adults, many kids love stars Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell , and there's a memorable subplot about a 12-year-old and the dangers of misusing social media. Other themes include teamwork and perseverance. Expect a few creepy moments with the ghosts (and the suggestion of a death by suicide), but given that it's all presented within the context that their appearance is an elaborate production, scares are quickly subdued. There's also plenty of slapstick humor, a bit of innuendo, and a wide assortment of saucy language and inventive insults, including "s--t," "diddling," "d--king," "dingus," and "pr--k") -- a 19th century putdown even gets its own hilarious song and dance number. A negatively portrayed character is referred to as a drunk and is seen holding a glass, with the implication that alcohol is in it. A romantic subplot involves kissing and flirting and features actors in their 50s, which automatically makes them nontraditional love interests. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (34)
Kids say (15)

Based on 34 parent reviews

Suicide, Bad Language but great music

Pg-13, but can be made appropriate for younger kids, what's the story.

In SPIRITED, Jacob Marley's sophisticated soul-saving operation has been successful, choosing one curmudgeon a year to turn around. When the Ghost of Christmas Present ( Will Ferrell ) boldly chooses "irredeemable" marketing consultant Clint Briggs ( Ryan Reynolds ), the Ghost is challenged to examine his own afterlife choices.

Is It Any Good?

For families looking to watch something together over the holidays, this musical comedy is a gift. Getting tweens and teens to watch ye olde A Christmas Carol (at least in its classic 1951 iteration) isn't always easy. But Charles Dickens knew what was what, and his story is one for the ages -- which is exactly why filmmakers try to reinvent it for modern audiences every few years. Spirited nails the 2020s, delivering on viewers' desire for fresh content with humor that skewers everything we hate about what we've become while giving us hope that we can be better. As Clint Briggs, Reynolds is delicious and vicious, embodying the way social media has molded many people into quippy, attractively filtered trolls slinging hot takes while watching the likes rack up. Ferrell's Ghost is, as ever, a goofy man-child whose vulnerability is always showing, allowing viewers to access their own self-doubts and acknowledge their own inner lives. And co-star Octavia Spencer represents the part of us that knows that, while our own road is paved with good intentions, perhaps we wander off of it sometimes, even if, if we're honest, we did know better.

Turning "a carol" into a musical makes good sense, at least for kids who expect a more literal payoff from the title. Of course, not everyone loves a musical, and those viewers are represented by boss Jacob Marley's (Patrick Page) recurring exasperation when the singing starts (it's not really productive, after all). But the lyrics in the original songs from Oscar- and Tony-winning tunesmiths Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ( La La Land , The Greatest Showman ) are funny, meaningful, and sometimes poignant. Even with a too-long run time, Spirited offers a fun family holiday offering that even includes a few references to the reason for the season.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Spirited changes the perspective of a literary classic. Think about some of your favorite stories: How might they be told differently from another character's perspective? Why is it important to see things from various points of view?

How is the Marley soul-saving operation an act of compassion? Do you think "bad actors" are deserving of our compassion? Why are stories of redemption important?

What is "spin"? How does Clint Briggs manipulate perceptions to gain public favor, often at the expense of his opponent? Why is it important to use critical thinking when it comes to the information that's presented to us?

What is the movie's take on (and message about) social media ?

How do characters demonstrate perseverance and teamwork ? Why are those important character strengths ?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 11, 2022
On DVD or streaming : November 18, 2022
Cast : Ryan Reynolds , Will Ferrell , Joe Tippett
Directors : Sean Anders , John Morris
Studio : Apple TV+
Genre : Musical
Topics : Holidays , Music and Sing-Along
Character Strengths : Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 127 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : language, some suggestive material and thematic elements
Award : Common Sense Selection
Last updated : November 11, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

A Christmas Carol (2020)

Want personalized picks for your kids' age and interests?

Disney's A Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Best holiday movies for kids, unconventional holiday movies, related topics.

Perseverance
Music and Sing-Along

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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‘Spirited’ Review: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds Deliver an Instant Christmas Classic

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Spirited , the Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds musical coming to Apple TV+ next Friday, has achieved the near-impossible: a fresh, inventive take on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol .

The story of Ebenezer Scrooge has been adapted and retold so many times, most of us could recite the tale of the Christmas-hating miser who learns to love humanity in our sleep. But it’s been a minute since we’ve seen a Christmas Carol adaptation worthy of being added to your family’s annual December viewing rotation. I’m pleased to report that not only is Spirited a new holiday classic, but it’s the best Christmas Carol movie since Kermit the Frog played Bob Crachit in The Muppet Christmas Carol .

Directed by Sean Anders, who also co-wrote the script with John Morris, Spirited takes place in the modern day, in a world where the Dickens story already exists. But here’s the twist—that story really happened. In fact, in the world of Spirited , the Christmas Carol redemption story happens every year. Each year, a new unsuspecting perp that is widely agreed to be a terrible human being is selected for the program, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Present (Ferrell), and Yet to Come (Tracy Morgan) get to work on turning said terrible human into a decent one. A year’s worth of research goes into crafting the perfect simulation dream experience for this perp, all to be experienced on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning, the perp wakes up a completely changed person, and, because this is a musical, they sing about it. This year’s target? The ruthless Clint Briggs (Reynolds), a borderline sociopathic man who creates controversies for a living.

Right off the bat, the jokes are sharp, a little mean, and a lot self-aware. That’s the go-to tone for Ryan Reynolds movies these days, and it doesn’t always work, but in this instance, it very much does. The talented cast helps, including strong supporting roles, like a literal Karen played by Australia’s national treasure Rose Byrne and the relentlessly thirsty (and relentlessly hilarious) Ghost of Christmas Past played by scene-stealer Mani. Ferrell, who already has one beloved Christmas character under his belt, is more reserved and competent than Buddy from Elf . But he still brings that wide-eyed, Christmas-loving optimism, and he’s still very good at it. Reynolds is comfortable playing the quippy jerk, as usual, but finds more depth than some previous iterations. (His quips, also, are mercifully restrained, and often given to the side characters—a testament to Anders’ and Morris’ script.)

Perhaps the most delightful aspect of Spirited is that this is a Musical with a capital M. Ferrell, a known Eurovision fanatic, clearly loves a spectacle and knows how to do them right. The show-stopping numbers—composed by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Dominic Lewis—just keep coming. They are reminiscent of the golden age of movie musicals, with impressive choreography, creative staging, and a talented chorus. One particularly theatrical number features a dreamy dance sequence using flashlights, and it’s gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the leads are not known for their singing. While Reynolds manages to hold his own, Ferrell and Octavia Spencer (who is otherwise lovely in her role as Ferrell’s romantic interest) require liberal autotune to keep up with the musical caliber. The exception is Broadway star Patrick Page, who recently earned a Tony nomination for the critically-acclaimed Hadestown . He’s by far the best singer, and the film’s greatest shortcoming is not giving him more to do. (They even cut off Page’s big number before it’s finished. The audacity!)

But what really makes Spirited sing isn’t the singing at all—it’s the script. In addition to an entertaining story, believable characters, and several fun twists that I won’t spoil here, S pirited comes with a surprisingly nuanced social commentary. Clint’s job is, essentially, to create division. He makes people angry, whether it’s at the Big Fake Tree industry for ruining the sanctity of Christmas, or at the 11-year-old kid who once called homeless people “gross.” Clint knows that angry people are far easier to manipulate, to the benefit of his clients (like a Christmas tree farm and his niece who is running for student council, respectively). I admit, I wasn’t expecting the new Will Ferrell/Ryan Reynolds movie to double as a metaphor for deceitful politics, social media-driven cancel culture, and the current state of our divided society.

Anyone selling Spirited as merely a light, fun Christmas tale isn’t giving this adaptation nearly enough credit. Like the Dickens story that it’s based on, Spirited offers a sharp admonishment of the rich and powerful. It won’t make the waves that Dickens did, but maybe—as Ferrell’s character repeatedly hopes for—it will make a ripple. You never know who’s listening.

Spirited is now playing in select theaters and will begin streaming on Apple TV+ on November 18.

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Review: Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds bring holiday bromance to musical-comedy ‘Spirited’

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell hold hands in the movie "Spirited."

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“Spirited,” the umpteenth screen incarnation of Charles Dickens’ evergreen “A Christmas Carol,” is such an amusing, buoyant and good-natured entertainment that it’s not hard to forgive this flashy musical-comedy-fantasy’s missteps. Grinchy viewers, however, may sing a different tune.

The story’s meta, at times convoluted reimagining, in which rules are seemingly made to be broken (and gleefully so), finds a trio of ghosts representing Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Present (Will Ferrell) and Yet-to-Come (a shrouded Loren Woods, voiced by Tracy Morgan) tasked every Christmas Eve with rehabilitating one dastardly being for the good of humanity. As it is tidily explained: “We haunt someone, change them into a better person and then we sing about it.”

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It’s quite an expansive and corporatized operation, led by cranky, chain-rattling boss Jacob Marley (Patrick Page). He also oversees an army of “support ghosts” who research the potential “perps” (those ripe for transformation) and help plan the hauntings.

Present, a veteran ghost who “died before there was indoor plumbing,” is torn between finally retiring from the trade and living a “real” life back on Earth or continuing to do the noble work of saving souls. So when he finds someone who’s so far-reachingly problematic as to be considered “unredeemable” — glib, opportunistic marketing magnate Clint Briggs ( Ryan Reynolds ) — he knows he has at least one more rescue mission in him. “He’s like the perfect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest,” Present enthuses to a dubious Marley.

Against his boss’ better judgment, Present invades Clint’s unabashedly selfish life, turns it inside out and upside down — with all the bells and whistles at his supernatural (and the film’s budgetary) disposal — to try to make this Scrooge proxy face his past mistakes and admit the error of his ways. But in this deeply cynical and divisive day and age, is change even possible?

So many twists, turns, reveals and inversions to the action follow — some of which are hugely entertaining, others head-scratching — that too many specifics might edge into spoiler territory. Suffice to say, the road to redeemability is no cakewalk for Clint or Present as they eventually form an unlikely bromance of sorts, replete with a few rather Broadway-worthy musical numbers penned by dynamic duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land”) and choreographed by Chloe Arnold. The Victorian London-set “Good Afternoon” is a total showstopper, while “Do a Little Good,” “That Christmas Morning Feelin’” and the (literally) splashy “Ripple” stand out as well.

Octavia Spencer smiles while surrounded by other partygoers in the movie "Spirited."

The plot’s whirling mix also includes Kimberly (the always welcome Octavia Spencer), Clint’s conflicted, right-hand exec and opposition research pro, who will undergo her own emotional shift as she and Present find themselves romantically — and, to be honest, not that convincingly — drawn to each other. (That she can see the ghostly Present while other folks can’t is one of many just-go-with-it bits.)

Clint’s beloved late sister, Carrie (Andrea Anders), her young daughter, Wren (Marlow Barkley), and Clint and Carrie’s brother, Owen (Joe Tippett), also factor into both Clint’s past and present issues. A story strand involving his cavalier “media-savvy” advice to Wren about how to win a middle school election — and its potential backfiring — adds a timely if overly engineered touch. It’s just one of the movie’s handful of “teachable moments.”

Director Sean Anders, who co-wrote the busy, quippy, often digressive script with “Instant Family” and “Daddy’s Home” collaborator John Morris, largely keeps the film moving apace — though at more than two hours, some judicious cutting might have been a plus.

Performances by a nicely modulated Ferrell (back in Christmas-movie mode for the first time since 2003’s “Elf”), a sweetly earnest Spencer and an appealingly kinetic Reynolds are enjoyable, even if there may be no recording contracts in their futures. Possible “Dancing With the Stars” gigs are another story.

'Spirited'

Rated: PG-13, for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements. Running time: 2 hours, 7 minutes Playing: Starts Nov. 11, Regency Bruin Theatre, Westwood and Regal LA Live, downtown Los Angeles; available Nov. 18 on Apple TV+

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds in Spirited (2022)

A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey. A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey. A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey.

Sean Anders
John Morris
Charles Dickens
Will Ferrell
Ryan Reynolds
Octavia Spencer
467 User reviews
112 Critic reviews
55 Metascore
8 nominations

Top cast 99+

Clint Briggs

Yet-To-Come
(as Loren Woods)

Ms. Blansky

Neighbor Dad
Neighbor Mom
(as Ava Bernstine-Mitchell)
Neighbor Girl

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

Trivia When he's unable to remember Tiny Tim's name, Present suggests "Little Larry," which actually WAS one of the names Dickens considered for the character.
Goofs When Clint does his song in the Dickensian pub after finding out the ghost of Christmas Present was formerly Scrooge he references fish and chips. These weren't introduced in to Great Britain until about 1860 yet A Christmas Carol was written in 1843 and based even earlier.

Present : [to the guy in a Buddy the Elf costume] You look stupid.

Crazy credits A full (black & white) version of Present's "Ripple" song is shown over the second half of the credits, featuring a huge dance number and ending with a shot of the entire crew.
Connections Features A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Soundtracks Blansky's Redemption Written by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul

User reviews 467

nafnikufesin-913-9218
Nov 18, 2022
How long is Spirited? Powered by Alexa
November 18, 2022 (United States)
United States
Linh Hồn Ngày Giáng Sinh
Boston, Massachusetts, USA (street scenes)
Apple Original Films
Maximum Effort
Gloria Sanchez Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$200,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes

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‘Spirited’ Review: Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds Croon Through a Peppy Christmas Musical

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Though the sappy message in “ Spirited ” preaches that people can change, this spiffy musical comedy sure feels like an homage to tried-and-true Hollywood classics. An entertaining holiday jaunt for the whole family, “Spirited” is familiar and formulaic in the best of ways, like a loud sweater or syrupy fireside cocoa. Proudly wearing its adaptation status on its sleeve, “Spirited” turns Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” into a contemporary feel-good comedy — with flashy musical numbers to boot.

Reprising some of the shenanigans of his lovable “Elf” character, reliable funnyman Will Ferrell plays a jovial ghost of Christmas present opposite a dastardly Ryan Reynolds as a modern day Scrooge. Bolstered by a stellar ensemble, both Ferrell and Reynolds make surprisingly charming showmen, impressing with confident crooning — and even some light choreo. It’s refreshing to see two stars who could have easily phoned it in for the rest of their careers push themselves to try new things.

Even more thrilling, they really can sing!

Being a Christmas story for 2022, “Spirited” takes us behind the scenes of the business of haunting people, turning the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future into a massive operation that runs like a singing startup. Tasked with refurbishing the most morally bankrupt souls, these ghosts and their throngs of helpers pore over cartoon files in search of the most entitled Karens to haunt into changing their ways. The movie opens with Ferrell’s character wondering: “Do people really change? I mean real, lasting, positive change.” The rest of the movie hammers home this vaguely altruistic moral compass, spilling a few too many words on this comfortably apolitical message.

Credited simply as “Present,” Ferrell’s character is aided by Past (the charming Sunita Mani), and a faceless grim reaper-like Future (voiced by Tracy Morgan). Ringleader Jake (Patrick Page) has final approval of the “perps,” as they call their targets for rehabilitation by haunting. Ideally they try to choose someone awful who also has power over others, so their turnaround will have a ripple effect and cause exponential good in the world. What with all the evil in the world, Present has become disillusioned with the system and doubtful that his work really makes a difference.

That all changes when he sees Clint Briggs (Reynolds), a ruthless media consultant for hire and expert manipulator. Wearing dastardly villain with his wry toothy smile, the rakish Briggs gets the catchiest numbers, such as the brash sales number “We’re Bringing Back Christmas.” Reynolds glides through the sets like a debonair devil, sowing seeds of greed and mistrust with ridiculous gimmicks, like the ability to switch into a spiffy new suit at the snap of his fingers. This slick character gives the ghosts their toughest challenge yet: Redeeming an “irredeemable.”

There is something undeniably fun about seeing behind the scenes at the haunting factory, which looks and feels like Santa’s workshop by way of the New York Stock Exchange. This bustling scene offers plenty of opportunity for diversions from funny supporting characters, including a delightful detour into Past falling hard for Briggs’ pearly whites.

Present gets his own sweet romance when he becomes enamored with Briggs’ right hand Kimberly (Octavia Spencer), a kindhearted go-getter who feels conflicted by her career choices. Showing off her considerable pipes, Spencer is a pleasant addition to the already stacked cast, and it’s so lovely to see her as a romantic lead, even in a movie as silly as this one.

Sean Anders directs the script he co-wrote with John Morris, the brains behind such illustrious comedies as “Hot Tub Time Machine” and “Daddy’s Home.” The duo’s more sophomoric tendencies are tempered by the earnestness of the original songs, written by “Dear Evan Hansen” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

As Briggs and Present wear each other down with their escalating tactics, all of the magic and music in “Spirited” eventually gives way to a good old-fashioned bromance. And even though it has the visual appeal of a Gap commercial shot in an Apple store, Anders shoots the well-choreographed numbers with a smooth confidence that suggests a love of old Hollywood musicals.

To borrow one of its sung sentiments, “Spirited” is sure to send out ripples of joy this holiday season. Though it may not make any waves, it’s enough to spread a little good cheer.

“Spirited” premieres in theaters on Friday, November 11 and will start streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, November 18.

Most Popular

Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell make a ‘Spirited’ attempt at retelling a Christmas classic

Apple tv+'s contemporary adaptation of "a christmas carol" is worth a watch despite its flaws..

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell in "Spirited."

By Kevin Slane

In the opening scene of “Spirited,” Apple TV+’s contemporary, PG-13, musical take on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) lays out exactly what audiences are about to see over the next two hours: “We haunt someone, change them into a better person, and then we sing about it.”

Moments after launching into the opening musical number, however, a group of ancillary characters have the following conversation:

“Why are they singing?”

“Because this is a musical.”

“What is?”

“All of this. The afterlife.”

“Aw, come on. Really?”

In making “Spirited,” Apple hired the brightest young musical songwriting duo in Benj Pasek and Justin Paul — the duo behind achingly earnest works like “Dear Evan Hansen” and “La La Land” — to compose its songs. And along with Ferrell, Apple hired Ryan Reynolds as its second lead, an A-lister whose comedy stylings involve snide asides, fourth-wall breaking, and generally playing the guy who is too cool for whatever movie he’s in.

It’s a really tough balance to strike, and “Spirited” gets away with it for portions of the film. There are genuinely heartfelt moments, and enough tweaks on the Dickensian formula that audiences won’t see coming. There are also many fully earned laughs — almost a given when Ferrell and Reynolds are your leads. But when “Spirited” veers too deeply into meta-humor, the Christmas magic dissipates.

In “Spirited,” the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani, “GLOW”), Present (Ferrell), and Future (voiced by Tracy Morgan, “30 Rock”) are part of a massive undead corporation. Led by CEO-like figure Jacob Marley (Patrick Page, “In the Heights”), the crew picks one Scrooge-like figure each year to redeem, compiling dossiers and building extravagant dream sequences to help them realize the error of their ways. After reforming a bratty housewife named Karen in the opening scene, the Ghosts begin scouting their next target: Clint Briggs (Reynolds), a public relations CEO living in New York City who fights dirty, fomenting negativity and tribalism to further his client’s goals. (Local audiences may recognize that the movie’s NYC is actually Boston, where “Spirited” was filmed in 2021 .)

Clint shows off his bonafides at a Christmas Tree Growers convention, singing a hilarious and catchy number about fighting the transition to fake trees by making the ownership of a real tree about preserving tradition and the American way of life. The only problem? Clint has been classified as “unredeemable,” someone who is too evil to be changed by the work of the Christmas spirits. But Ferrell’s ghost is pushy, and the mere threat of breaking into song to make his point convinces Marley that Clint is their guy. (Again, “Spirited” loves to roll its eyes and point out how weird and totally random it is that this is a musical.)

As the haunting of Clint begins, things predictably go awry. Clint is not only unwilling to face his past, but he begins to ask pointed questions of Ferrell’s ghost, wondering why he’s been putting off “retirement” (returning to Earth and living a normal life as a new man) after 200 years in the redemption business. Without revealing too much, this is when the film really gets interesting, as both Clint and Ferrell’s ghost begin facing their own inner demons step by step.

The supporting cast of “Spirited” adds a bit of spice with their limited screentime. As the Ghost of Christmas Past, Mani gets some chuckles as a spirit who is a bit too charmed by Clint’s persuasive nature. We don’t see enough of Octavia Spencer, who plays the Bob Cratchit role as Clint’s right-hand woman. Beyond conveying in song that she’s conflicted about working for this modern-day Scrooge, she’s a bit underutilized.

This is primarily the Will and Ryan show, and the duo does exactly what is asked of them. Ferrell’s ghost is a bit like a street-wise Buddy from “Elf,” full of holiday cheer but willing to transition into furious Ferrell mode when Clint’s B.S. gets to be too much (Ferrell’s “Get off the shed!” sketch from “Saturday Night Live” comes to mind.) As Clint, Reynolds is perfectly cast, stoking the fires of social media battles and telling his eighth-grade niece with a straight face the only way to win a class president election is to dig up opposition research on her opponent. When Clint finally begins to address his inner turmoil, Reynolds convincingly portrays a man who finally sees himself as the world views him.

From the performances to the genuinely fantastic musical numbers, “Spirited” has a lot going for it. It even manages to find something interesting to say about how contemporary discourse can fuel some Scrooge-ish tendencies. If you can forgive the film for occasionally getting in its own way, it’s worth checking out. But given its 127-minute runtime, “Spirited” could have been even better if director Sean Anders (“Daddy’s Home”) had trimmed some of the self-referential humor and fully embraced the holiday spirit.

Rating: 2 1/2 stars (out of 4)

How to watch: “Spirited” will be released in select theaters Nov. 11, and begins streaming on Apple TV+ on Nov. 18.

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‘spirited’ review: will ferrell and ryan reynolds turn ‘a christmas carol’ into a boisterous bro musical.

Octavia Spencer also stars in Sean Anders’ splashy holiday entry for Apple TV+, about spreading goodness in a world turned divisive and mean.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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‘Spirited’ Review: A Whole Lot of Humbug

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell star in this musical spin on “A Christmas Carol” from Apple TV+.

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A scene from “Spirited” with Ryan Reynolds on the left, sitting up in bed with Will Ferrell, who is holding his hands up in a startled fashion and making a surprised expression. They are both dressed in white.

By Maya Phillips

Weeks before rabid hordes of consumers descend upon department stores like the avian menace in a Hitchcock film, before neighborhood dogs daintily lift their legs to the stripped-down sidewalk pines left for dead in the cheerless days of January, I’ve had an early Christmas revelation: Scrooge was onto something. All his grinching doesn’t seem so far-fetched; ol’ Ebenezer probably lost out on a Black Friday sale or watched too many bad Christmas movies, because after viewing the Sean Anders film “Spirited,” I’m feeling plenty humbuggy myself.

It’s not just that this Apple TV+ film (now in theaters, streaming on Nov. 18) is the billionth adaptation of “A Christmas Carol”; Dickens was such an O.G. that we’ve been understandably obsessed with retelling his story ever since. The issue is that the apish film is reminiscent of all the worst qualities of the newest holiday-ready tech fresh from the foothills of Cupertino, Calif.: It looks expensive and attempts to do everything at once, but it’s more shine than substance — and about as funny as the market price of a new iPhone.

“Spirited” attempts to invert Dickens’s story, making the ghosts into the heroes. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) is feeling disillusioned with his haunting job alongside his colleagues Jacob Marley (Patrick Page), the Ghost of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Loren Woods, and voiced by Tracy Morgan). He’s started to wonder whether their hauntings make any real difference in the world.

For his next redemption project, Present chooses Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a cynical, self-serving marketing executive who spins lies and manufactures conflicts on social media for a living. He’s a willful Scrooge, a charismatic combination of, as Present says, Mussolini and Ryan Seacrest. As Present helps guide Clint through his Dickensian journey, each step of the way Clint turns the tables, unpacking Present’s existential crisis and the past he himself has tried to avoid.

And did I mention it’s a musical? Yes, “Spirited” makes the bold choice to be a movie musical starring two actors who can’t sing. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (“La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”) are among the songwriting team, combining pat lyrics with the forgettable melodies of the composer Dominic Lewis. There’s Chloé Arnold’s showstopping choreography at least, a dazzling combination of tap, hip-hop and jazz performed by a massive ensemble of background singers and dancers. But the combination of this fine-tuned spectacle with the ineffectual vocals of the main duo — and distractingly uncanny visuals and special effects — transforms “Spirited” into a disjointed movie musical with all the superficial trappings of a Broadway flop.

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'Spirited' Review: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell Find New Cheer in 'A Christmas Carol'

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'Oddity' Review: A Supernatural Horror That Will Tear You To Pieces

'strange darling' review: willa fitzgerald and kyle gallner romance becomes a spectacular survival horror, 'greedy people' review: joseph gordon-levitt and himesh patel solve a coen-coded caper.

Clint Briggs ( Ryan Reynolds ) is not a good guy. When we first meet Clint in Spirited , he’s starting an internet war in an attempt to drum up business, and is soon called the “perfect combination of Mussolini & Seacrest.” As it’s Christmas, we all know what’s coming: a change of heart brought on by three ghosts, straight from the mind of Charles Dickens . But as a chained Jacob Marley ( Patrick Page ) lets Clint know what he’s in for on Christmas Eve, Clint stops him, asking if this is like the Dickens story, and the Bill Murray - Bobcat Goldthwait movie Scrooged , to which Marley replies that yes, it’s like all those, “and every other adaptation no one asked for.”

But here’s the thing about Christmas tales: they’re often tired, based on tropes and themes that we’ve heard countless times, and bursting with cheesiness and sweetness that another film likely wouldn’t get away with any other time of the year. Spirited knows and acknowledges that we’ve heard this story before and attempts to do something new with this tried-and-true story. This approach doesn’t always work, but when it does, Spirited is a charming twist on a story we’ve all heard so many times before.

In the world of Spirited , the events of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” are an annual tradition. Marley and his team find a soul who needs saving and attempts to turn them around on Christmas Eve. Marley’s most trusted worker in the Ghost of Christmas Present ( Will Ferrell ), who has been doing this job for so long, he was eligible for retirement 46 seasons ago. When Present comes across Clint Briggs and discovers that his file lists him as “unredeemable,” he attempts his biggest challenge yet, as he tries to turn this Scrooge around.

RELATED: The Best Movies to Watch on Christmas

Director/co-writer Sean Anders ( Daddy’s Home , Instant Family ) and co-writer John Morris craft an interesting world where Marley’s team works year-round to recreate the past and attempt to get to the core of a person in order to make them change. Alongside Present is of course the Ghost of Christmas Past ( Sunita Mani ) and Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come (voiced by Tracy Morgan and played by Loren Woods ), who are each fun updates on these characters we’ve seen in so many other adaptations. But in Spirited , Anders and Morris also question the legitimacy of Dickens’ original story: can lasting change really be made in one night?

But the key to what makes this newest retelling work is the combination of Ferrell and Reynolds, both of whom are able to play to their comedic strengths, while also having the opportunity to do some solid dramatic work as well. This duo is delightful, and as they work together on Christmas Eve, it’s wonderful to watch how this relationship shifts. It doesn’t take long for Clint to investigate Present’s past, who he was when he was alive, and why he’s so dedicated to this position. It’s in this search for answers that Spirited comes up with its most interesting modification of Dickens’ story. But it’s also just fun watching these two work together and make each other better in the process, and Ferrell and Reynolds’ dynamic makes this story gratifying.

Yet Spirited isn’t without its problems. Anders and Morris’ screenplay often feels like its attempting too much, whether through exploring the many different threads and familial problems of Clint’s past that might lead to why he’s unredeemable, or shifting the Present-Clint relationship depending on what any specific scene needs, as opposed to giving them any sort of consistency. But despite its weaknesses, it’s the strengths that win over, as Anders and Morris are hitting on some quite lovely and surprisingly touching moments throughout the film that counterbalance the odd decisions.

spirited-ryan-reynolds-will-ferrell-social

Also odd is the choice to make this adaptation a musical. The songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul ( La La Land , The Greatest Showman , Dear Evan Hansen ) aren’t the duo's best, as they often exist only to pause the movie to a standstill and heighten the emotions that we’re already feeling. The entire cast holds their own, even though they aren’t professional singers, and Octavia Spencer , who plays Kimberly—Clint’s employee and Present’s potential love interest—absolutely kills it in her own songs. But the songs in Spirited sort of ruin the flow of the story for the most part. They’re not terrible additions, but they wouldn’t necessarily be missed either.

There’s also a sense of falseness throughout Spirited , which is somewhat understandable, considering much of this story centers around recreations of Clint’s past. But even when the film is trying to exist in the “real world,” it doesn’t feel “real.” For example, when Kimberly and Present go for a walk on Christmas Eve, the CGI backgrounds are noticeable and distracting, and the more realistic they’re supposed to be, the faker they feel. Similarly, when the film does break into song, the musical numbers almost feel reined in by the limitations of the seemingly-small sets. Again, these aren’t choices that ruin the film, but they are questionable decisions that can take the viewer out of the movie.

spirited poster ryan reynolds will ferrel social featured

But even with some of its stranger choices, Spirited is predominantly an endearing film that has its heart in the right place. It’s easy to be cynical with new holiday films, especially with ones like Spirited that attempt yet another retelling of a story that has been told over and over. But there’s a—for lack of a better word—spirit to Spirited that is easy to get wrapped up in that lets you focus on what works and mostly ignore what doesn’t. Spirited knows they’re telling you a story you’ve heard countless times before, yet at least it imbues its version with enough heart and unique ideas to make this one worthwhile.

Spirited opens in theaters on November 11 and will be streaming on Apple TV+ starting on November 18.

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Spirited Parent Guide

Overstuffed with faux holiday cheer and far too many musical numbers, this is not the sunny family-friendly adaptation most parents will expect..

Apple TV+: Based on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a miserly businessman is taken on a journey through the past, present, and future.

Release date November 18, 2022

Run Time: 127 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by keith hawkes.

Every year, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) chooses some malicious soul on Earth to be subjected to three ghostly visits, hoping to reform the person’s character and improve the world for everyone. With the help of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani) and Christmas Yet-To-Come (Tracy Morgan), Present has managed to reform a lot of people in his 200-plus years on the job. But this year, he wants to make a bigger splash: He wants to try and save a man so unpleasant, his file has been marked “Unredeemable”. Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), the man in question, works as a PR consultant, manufacturing scandal, sowing division, and generally making the world as unpleasant as possible, just to make a buck. If the three spirits can turn his life around, Briggs could have a positive impact on the lives of millions – if the spirits can put up with him long enough to fix him.

Despite being thoroughly overstuffed with Christmas cheer, the only emotion this film left me with was unbridled hostility. For starters, just because it’s a musical is no excuse to cram three irritating musical numbers into the first fifteen minutes. Second, there’s even less excuse to make a Christmas musical that’s over two hours long – especially since this movie could have been thoroughly wrapped up in 90 minutes without losing anything of value. Frankly, I think it could have been wrapped up in zero minutes without losing anything of value, but I’m not sure that was an option. And it’s a slow two hours, to boot.

I suppose the upside of all this is that, if some enterprising individual were to attach some conductors to Charles Dickens’ rapidly spinning corpse, you could probably provide free energy to a large city. The original Christmas Carol is a work focused primarily on the evils of child poverty and reckless greed – issues which this film is not particularly interested in, preferring instead to focus on interpersonal behaviour. Sure, it would be great if we could all be a little kinder to one another here. But I’m not about to give the obscenely rich PR rep a break because he decided to stop ignoring his niece without addressing his hideous corporate record. And neither would Dickens, for that matter.

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Keith hawkes, watch the trailer for spirited.

Spirited Rating & Content Info

Why is Spirited rated PG-13? Spirited is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements.

Violence: Several characters are slapped. A man falls from a great height but survives. A man is set on fire. A character is hit by a bus and killed. There is a reference to child suicide. Sexual Content: There are references to sexual behaviour which happens off-screen. A man is seen from the shoulders up in the shower. Profanity: There are five uses of scatological profanity, and frequent uses of mild curses and terms of deity. Alcohol / Drug Use: Adult characters are seen drinking socially.

Page last updated January 20, 2024

Spirited Parents' Guide

What kinds of issues concerned Charles Dickens in his writing? How did he explore those ideas? Does this film interact with any of them? How do other adaptations of this story handle Dickens’ cutting social critique? How are issues in industrial Victorian England still relevant today?

Loved this movie? Try these books…

You can read the original A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for free online here:

Project Gutenberg: A Christmas Carol

In her YA novel, The Afterlife of Holly Chase, author Cynthia Hand provides a family-friendly spin on the traditional tale. The titular heroine is the new Ghost of Christmas Past who unexpectedly falls in love with a teenage boy who needs to be reformed.

‘Spirited’ Will Destroy Your Holiday Spirit and Hope for Humanity

LUMP OF COAL

Charles Dickens is rolling in his grave because of this joyless Christmas mess, courtesy of Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Apple TV+.

Coleman Spilde

Entertainment Critic

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Apple TV+

At this point, children are born into this world with the story of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol encoded within their DNA. I would wager that there is not one person in this world who doesn’t know the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the three ghosts, and Tiny Tim and his equally teeny wooden crutch, who has been in desperate need of a Halls honey-lemon cough drop since 1843.

Dickens’ novella has been adapted roughly seven billion times, with each year bringing us two-to-20 more iterations . A Christmas Carol is in the public domain, which means anyone can adapt it freely—as faithfully or loosely as desired—without any of those pesky copyright restrictions.

One of the year’s newest (and certainly its most obnoxious) is Spirited , a flashy, big-budget holiday musical that kindly offers a newer take on a story as old as mold. In case you couldn’t tell it was a musical, the film’s stars, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds , pose on the poster in a way that can only be described as “ menacingly Broadway. ” Judging by the art alone, the two look like a couple of demented Newsies that were cut from the cast and are stomping their way into your home for a dose of singsong-y revenge. Unfortunately, my friends, Spirited is a fate worse than that.

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell in Spirited .

Claire Folger/Apple TV+

The film stars Ferrell as Present (as in “Ghost of Christmas Present”), a spirit who has been heading up the hauntings in the afterlife for countless Christmas seasons. This year, he’s tasked himself with an “Unredeemable,” a scoundrel so wicked that even the hierarchy of the hereafter has no faith in him: Ryan Reynolds. Here, Reynolds takes on the daunting task of playing his millionth smarmy huckster, a public relations shit-stirrer named Clint Briggs. Clint is as determined to charm his way around Present’s Christmas Eve haunting as Present is to successfully haunt Clint into changing his ways. This strife, of course, results in song.

While Spirited is an admirably ambitious new take on a familiar story, it fails to use all of the money and star power thrown into it to elevate itself beyond the recycled adaptations dumped on us every year. While their performances are stunningly filmed, the songs themselves are largely unmemorable. Outside of its musical hook, Spirited is consumed by its desire to thrust Dickens’ story into the modern day, to become an instant classic. So consumed, in fact, that the film forgets to make its painfully watered-down take on cancel culture and technological saturation funny at all. The result is an unpleasant and bloated two-hour holiday musical that squanders its potential right out the gate.

Spirited wants us to know from its start that this isn’t your grandpa’s (or great grandpa’s…or great-great grandpa’s) Christmas Carol . And what better way to illustrate the fact that this is a modern adaptation than opening on a reductive Karen joke that stopped being funny the minute the internet got ahold of it over two years ago? Yes, these are the types of people that Present has to work to redeem these days: online trolls and public nuisances. But at least he’s good at it! All of Present’s time haunting humans to change them for the better has made him eligible for retirement, which is another shot at life on Earth as a human himself. With that tantalizing offer, Spirited takes both a firm stance on reincarnation and asks the question that lingers through its runtime: Why is Present so afraid of getting his humanity back?

To buy some time from his boss’ insistence on accepting the retirement package, Present takes on Clint, who has been busy waging a war between those who buy fake Christmas trees and those who spring for the real thing as a tactic to boost sales for tree farmers. Clint is very good at his job, as we learn in a dazzling number where he sings about all of the ways he can manipulate good, honest people into throat-lunging nastiness. Working alongside him is his faithful assistant Kimberly ( Octavia Spencer ), who is in charge of digging up all of the dirt for Clint to hurl at anyone his clients pay him enough money to.

But this Christmas, Kimberly is finally having a crisis of conscience, which is compounded by Clint’s request for her to find information that will cancel an eighth grader running against his niece for class president. With his most loyal employee in flux, and his malevolence finally coming to bite him in the ass, it’s the perfect time for the spirits of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), Present, and Future (Loren G. Woods, voiced by Tracy Morgan ) to pay him a visit. The Spirits have been doing this for centuries, but even the powers of the afterlife are no match for the Olivia Pope of Canadian scandal-making.

From there on out, things fall into place as they do in most Dickens adaptations, with a few detours. Spirited seems keen on resting on its “twist” that comes halfway through the film, despite being blatantly obvious within the first five minutes. The twist sets up some interesting ideas about the questionable nature of humanity’s “inherent” goodness; sadly, they’re tossed into the slushy brown snow by the film’s conclusion.

Whenever the film gets close to becoming an interesting dissection of Dickens’ view of morality through a modern lens, it abandons any true meaning for lame, outdated punchlines. Spoiling who plays the Karen at the beginning of the film would ruin one of Spirited ’s rare moments of fun, but I will say that whoever made it happen deserves coal for Christmas. Spirited is filled with inane cameos and cultural Easter Eggs, put in place to try to distract audiences with shiny pop culture asides to make them forget that what they’re watching is ultimately drivelous nonsense.

The film’s musical numbers act as the same kind of distraction. They’re loud, turbulent, and contemptible—the kind of fare you shuffle your parents off to during a trip to New York that will blow their eyebrows off with sheer spectacle and nothing else. And in case you were just hoping for some Christmas musical escapism, prepare to tear your hair out when you hear a lyric about the pandemic. For what it’s worth, Ferrell and Reynolds are both up to the task and do a great job of holding attention in their numbers, especially when they’re singing together. None of these tunes, however, are destined to be holiday classics.

But the best takeaway is Octavia Spencer’s lovely song and its couple of small reprises. It’s the one song that manages to actually be affecting, thanks to another committed performance from one of our most gifted actresses . It sure is unfortunate how many times Octavia Spencer has had to hold an entire production on her back —can we crowdfund a Christmas gift certificate to Miraval for her or something?

If only Spirited could be as dedicated to itself as its actors are. Some practical effects and expansive sets would make the film feel less like a poorly adapted stage-to-screen production. There are green screens about as convincing as those in And Just Like That… —which is to say, not at all. It’s hard to escape the notion that Spirited would like to be as instantly iconic of a holiday film as Ferrell’s Elf (we don’t talk about Daddy’s Home 2 !), but Buddy the Elf stomped through the goddamn Lincoln Tunnel. There’s no reason for every scene here to look like it was filmed in a room with nothing but green blankets hanging from the walls.

By the end of Spirited ’s whopping 127-minute runtime, I was absolutely exhausted. As a lover of holiday films good and bad, I never say no to a Christmas movie. But Spirited has broken my spirit. At one point, Ferrell has a big number where he wonders if he’s unredeemable, and I’d have to say that making me detest a Christmas movie—a nearly impossible task for a flamer as festive as me—answers that question with a resounding yes.

The film gets some points for acknowledging its own uselessness in the script, referring to itself as “another adaptation nobody asked for.” But the desperation bleeding from every frame of Spirited reeks like old, hardened fruitcake. Somehow, it manages to take an original spin on the single most adapted public domain story and flush it down the toilet, singing a solemn tune the whole way down.

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Copyright, Affirm Films, a division of Sony Pictures

Reviewed by: Samuel A. Torcasio CONTRIBUTOR

Check back later for review coming from contributor Samuel A. Torcasio by August 27


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Story of a 19 year old boy who lives for basketball and video games

A year out of high school, he still has no job, no plans, and no idea how to be a man.

A mother futilely tries to call out THE MAN in her son

How does a boy become a man, especially when his father has abandoned him?

Learning to make better life decisions

The importance of becoming a true follower of Jesus Christ

Christian DISCIPLESHIP MATTERS / mentoring

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit , and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” — Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

We all need someone who believes in us.

Importance of giving up our selfishness and foolish pride

For a follower of Christ, what is love —a feeling, an emotion, or an action?

When we follow Jesus , He bears fruit through us.

What advice do you have for new and growing Christians ?

Importance of prayer support

Are you willing to go the extra mile?

What are goodness and righteousness ?

What are good works and what is their reward?

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him (Lam. 3:25)

What is holiness and why are we to pursue it? Answer

Featuring	Priscilla C. Shirer … Cynthia Wright and Elizabeth Jordan T.C. Stallings … Tony Jordan Karen Abercrombie … Miss Clara Williams Cameron Arnett … Joshua Moore BJ Arnett … Janelle Moore, Joshua’s wife Selah Avery … Keisha Ken Bevel … James Joseph Curtis Callender … Mr. Watson Dylan Cruz … Carlos Jonathan Evans … Jonathan Brendan Goshay … Curtis Marianne Haaland … Wanda Bobby Hardin Jr. … Andre Michelle L. King … Cody’s Mother Stephen C. Lewis … Emmett McKalin … Keenan Willie Mellina … Todd William Oliver … Jamal Michael J. Patterson … Darren (Driver) Brian Porzio … Diego Jerry Shirer … Vaughn Justin Sterner … Cody Ben VanderMey … Wyatt Tommy Woodard … Bobby Brad Worch II … Greyson Lance
Director
Producer	Jim McBride Trey Reynolds Shari Rigby Justin Tolley
Distributor	, a division of Sony Pictures

“Whoever wants the next generation the most will get them”

Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “Isaiah Wright has some growing up to do. A year out of high school with no plans for his future, Isaiah is challenged by his single mom and a successful businessman to start charting a better course for his life. Through the prayers of his mother and biblical discipleship from his new mentor, Isaiah begins to discover God’s purpose for his life is so much more than he could hope for or imagine. From the Kendrick Brothers, the creators of the No. 1 hit WAR ROOM, comes THE FORGE, a faith-filled new movie with old friends and inspiring new twists.”

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers .

PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.

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The Forge Movie Review: Authentic Community And Prayer

The faith journey is not for the faint of heart, especially in relationships. Walking in faith requires community and Biblical wisdom in marriage, parenting, and establishing lasting relationships with your extended family or friendship. In this article, I will share my thoughts on The Forge, a movie review.

The Difficult Reality Of Being A Christian Parent

The Forge shows the ups and downs of a single mom trying to launch her young adult son into the world. It also shows the importance of mentorship, friendship, prayer, and discipleship.

You will leave this movie wanting more for your life, faith, marriage, church, and community.

The beginning of The Forge tugged at this mama’s heart. As a mom of three young adults, I could relate to the dialogue. Cynthia Wright is a single mom to 19-year-old Isaiah Wright. In one of the beginning scenes, Cynthia is talking to Isaiah, and her frustration is palpable. I think we can all relate to this when it comes to dealing with the stage of launching your young adult into the world.

Having faith and parenting young adults is a whole new ballgame. I have never prayed more in my life and I have entered a new level of surrender in my walk with Jesus. The Forge portrays the struggle of being a Christian mother to a young adult so well. There is also a lot of guidance on what to do when you don’t know what to do in this highly complex season of life.

It is evident that being a Christian parent to a young adult requires:

Faith and trust that God has good plans for your child and your family.
Surrendering your will and control over the life of your child who has the same free will you have.
Lots of prayer and prayer support from those around you.

God Has Good Plans For You And Me

God is the perfect Father, and his plans might not be ours. In The Forge, Cynthia quickly learns that she doesn’t have to parent her son alone and calls on her prayer partners. Cynthia is surrounded by friends and believers who want what is best for her and her son.

Being surrounded by people who pray for and believe in the best for your family is a blessing.

The Forge shows the viewer that to be a good friend , you need to pray for your friends, believe in your friends, and bless your friends with your words. It is so easy to get lost in the pain of this world, your life, and what you don’t have. However, The Forge shows us the value of wanting more for your life.

Growing Up Is Hard To Do If You Don’t Have Someone To Invest In You

In The Forge, we can see how to make time for mentorship despite life’s demands. Additionally, we see the fruit the investment of time into someone else’s life will bring—not only in the mentee’s life but also in the mentor’s life.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. – John 15:16 (ESV)

As a Christian, your most extraordinary mission is to share the gospel and be fruitful. Every action you take, and word you speak will bear fruit. Understanding the seeds you are planting and the fruit you will bear from them is essential in determining your next steps in life.

In The Forge , Isaiah has difficulty growing up because he does not have a male role model to whom he can look up. However, as the story unfolds, we can see God working in his life and helping him become the man God created him to be. This is not done through one person or one prayer but through many prayers and many people planting seeds in his life that will bear good fruit.

Overcoming Excuses

The Forge is a movie with many lessons told in a two-hour time frame. One of the biggest lessons that stood out to me was to overcome the excuses in your life.

Overcome the excuses that are:

Holding you back from serving God with your whole heart.
Keeping you in a place that you don’t want to be.
Preventing you from finding the relationships that are good for you.
Building relationships and authentic community.
Investing in and serving other people.

Life is undoubtedly busy and difficult, and there are many obstacles and trials to overcome. But the key is to find the purpose in the journey. The Forge shows us Isaiah’s journey to overcoming his excuses. He makes the effort to get rid of all that is holding him back from God’s best for him.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. Everyone who watches The Forge will gain new insight and ideas on living a fruitful life and building an authentic community.

The story was relatable, although there were moments that seemed unrealistic. While I believe in the power of mentorship and the need for discipleship, the viewer needs to keep an open mind on how that may play out in real life. I loved the idea of everyone in The Forge getting a sword; however, I think we can all lower our expectations and realize discipleship can be done in a small group hosted by our church. However, I appreciate the symbolism and the honor the writers of The Forge gave to the beauty of being in an authentic community of believers.

Like most movies, The Forge had drama and action built into every scene, making some of the events unrelatable. However, that does not take away from the fact that discipleship is important and necessary and will help us all become who God created us to be. It is essential to believe in yourself and others. Overall, the story of The Forge encouraged my heart, which will determine the next steps in my faith walk.

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IMAGES

Spirited Christian Movie Review (2022)
Spirited Christian Movie Review (2022)
Spirited Christian Movie Review (2022)
Spirited Christian Movie Review (2022)
SPIRITED (2022) MOVIE REVIEW
Movie Review: ‘Spirited’

COMMENTS

SPIRITED
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.
Spirited movie review & film summary (2022)
Christmas movies are already upon us, and major streamer Apple TV hopes they have a new holiday classic in "Spirited," a big-hearted-but-clumsy riff on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with two of the most likable movie stars alive. "Spirited" is like a big goofy puppy in how much it wants you to like it, and that eagerness to entertain can be its greatest strength and biggest ...
Spirited Christian Movie Review (2022)
Spirited Christian Movie Review - Synopsis: The Ghost of Christmas Present picks a person to be visited by the three spirits. While Ghost of Christmas Present tries to redeem Clint Briggs, he finds that he has met his match. When Briggs forces Christmas Present to examine his own life, he explores the question of whether people can really change.
Spirited
Rated: 2/5 • Nov 18, 2022. The chemistry that Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell share feels forced, making their friendship feel phony to the audience, for a film whose main attraction is the ...
Spirited
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 23, 2023. Spirited is a fun and special film that feels both timely and classic. The humor is solid and the jokes are equal parts provocative, silly, and ...
Spirited
Clint's sister died of cancer sometime before the movie begins. Her daughter, Wren, is now running for a spot on the middle-school student council against a boy named Josh—a kind, straight-A student whom everyone, including Wren, likes. Naturally, she asks her high-powered uncle for a little campaign help.
Spirited Movie Review
Based on 34 parent reviews. BiscuitNGravy Adult. November 19, 2022. age 14+. Suicide, Bad Language but great music. DO NOT WATCH Spirited w your kids. I read reviews and I thought it would be ok as in similar to a superhero movie. It was not. Although my kids know and hear cuss words, this was BAD and excessive.
Spirited
Nov 9, 2022. The teaming of Will Ferrell (making his return to Christmas movies nearly two decades after "Elf") and Ryan Reynolds delivers the banter you'd expect and the singing and dancing you might not, and their energetic interplay goes a long way to making Spirited a movie that might become a holiday go-to in certain households.
'Spirited' Review: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds Deliver an Instant
Spirited, the Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds musical coming to Apple TV+ next Friday, has achieved the near-impossible: a fresh, inventive take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.. The story ...
'Spirited' review: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds form holiday bromance
Ryan Reynolds, left, and Will Ferrell in the movie "Spirited.". "Spirited," the umpteenth screen incarnation of Charles Dickens' evergreen "A Christmas Carol," is such an amusing ...
Spirited (2022)
Spirited: Directed by Sean Anders. With Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page. A musical version of Charles Dickens's story of a miserly misanthrope who is taken on a magical journey.
'Spirited' Review: Will Ferrell & Ryan Reynolds Christmas ...
November 9, 2022 9:00 am. "Spirited". Courtesy of AppleTV+. Though the sappy message in " Spirited " preaches that people can change, this spiffy musical comedy sure feels like an homage to ...
'Spirited' review: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds take on 'A Christmas Carol'
In the opening scene of "Spirited," Apple TV+'s contemporary, PG-13, musical take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) lays out ...
'Spirited' Review: Will Ferrell & Ryan Reynolds in Apple TV+ Musical
November 9, 2022 6:00am. 'Spirited' Courtesy of Apple TV+. Will Ferrell 's signature comedy style is halfway between obnoxious and endearing, a naïve man-child whose excitable energy is matched ...
'Spirited' Review: A Whole Lot of Humbug
True — this "Christmas Carol" wasn't on anyone's wish list for the holiday. When it comes down to Dickens's 19th-century classic, Bill Murray and the muppets already wore it best ...
Spirited Review: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell Update a ...
'Spirited' Review: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell Find New Cheer in 'A Christmas Carol' Movie Reviews. By Ross Bonaime. Published Nov 9, 2022. Your changes have been saved. Email is sent.
Spirited Movie Review for Parents
Spirited is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for language, some suggestive material and thematic elements. Violence: Several characters are slapped. A man falls from a great height but survives. A man is set on fire. A character is hit by a bus and killed. There is a reference to child suicide. Sexual Content: There are references to sexual behaviour ...
Spirited (2022) review: a Christmas miracle
Spirited (2022) review: a Christmas miracle. Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell team up for Spirited, a new Christmas movie that could well become a part of your annual festive viewing. ... That said, the fact this movie goes for the musical route does add a certain fantastical element to proceedings. The dance choreography by Chloe Arnold is ...
Spirited Review
Spirited utterly ignores A Christmas Carol's message about generosity in favor of a far vaguer moral about being less of a jerk. The Best Christmas Movies and TV Episodes of the 2000s 24 Images
'Spirited' Review
By the end of Spirited's whopping 127-minute runtime, I was absolutely exhausted. As a lover of holiday films good and bad, I never say no to a Christmas movie. But Spirited has broken my spirit ...
'The Forge' Review: If You Want Young Men to Leave Christianity, Have
(REVIEW) While "The Forge" deserves credit for wanting to address the real problems of struggling men and boys, it fails to speak to the very people it says it wants to help. Christian parents of such boys would be better off passing on this movie and following other sources for their boys, and following the example of the movie's Cynthia ...
The Forge (2024)
Through the prayers of his mother and biblical discipleship from his new mentor, Isaiah begins to discover God's purpose for his life is so much more than he could hope for or imagine. From the Kendrick Brothers, the creators of the No. 1 hit WAR ROOM, comes THE FORGE, a faith-filled new movie with old friends and inspiring new twists."
The Forge Movie Review: Authentic Community And Prayer
You will leave this movie wanting more for your life, faith, marriage, church, and community. The beginning of The Forge tugged at this mama's heart. As a mom of three young adults, I could ...