Before you watch Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell sing their tone deaf hearts out (sorry 'bout it) in Apple TV's Spirited, travel back, back, back more...all the way back to 2020 and the steampunk-esque, flying robot infused, songapalooza Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.
From Humble Beginnings His Mind Never Stopped Spinning.
Jingle Jangle opens with revolutionary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) losing everything when his impulsive, impatient apprentice, Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key), makes off with his precious book of inventions. Decades later, Jangle, now a shriveled, old, depressed pawnbroker withering away and facing foreclosure when his estranged granddaughter, Journey (Madalen Mills), shows up—full of STEM-cultivated genius—eager to join forces with her once-extraordinary grandfather.
The journey that follows is one of heart, hope, and allll the cheesy Christmas goodness as we worry if poor Jangle can invent something amazing in time to save his shop from the evil banker (Hugh Bonneville). Or stop Will Gustafson and the living doll, Don Juan Diego (voiced by Ricky Martin), from stealing his last, best good idea. Or reconnect with his daughter, played by Princess Tiana sherself, THE Anika Noni Rose.
Being Different Sure is Tough.
Jingle Jangle’s pseudo-Victorian world depicts a thriving community in which all the entrepreneurs, the storytellers, and all the heroes are Black. (And all the shops are also named after black inventors 🙌🏾.) While you’ve no doubt seen holiday films with messages of self-belief and dance numbers in the snow before, you haven't seen a tender intergenerational portrait celebrating black ingenuity. And that's what makes Jingle Jangle so indispensable. (My baby, Bill-Nye-the-Science-Guy-obsessed self would've died!)
Final Thoughts.
4/5 ⭐: Slow to start, but definitely worth the watch.
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