Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel, “A Christmas Carol,” has long been one of the most adapted stories in cinema history. From traditional screen adaptations to re-imaginings with popular characters to contemporary spin-offs, the holiday classic has endured the test of time while continuing to inspire new generations of storytellers. The latest addition to the long collection is Sean Anders’ Spirited, which puts a high-concept twist on the tale, while telling it as an irreverent musical comedy.
Every year, the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) is tasked with finding a soul to redeem by means of a Christmas Eve “haunt.” Supported by the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Future (Sunita Mani and Tracey Morgan), and their big boss, Marley (Patrick Page), the spirit team spends the 364-day off-season in preparation for the big night. This year, Present discovers a prime candidate in the supposedly “unredeemable” consultant Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), whose cunning social media savagery has no moral boundaries as long as his clients come out on top. His current project is to guarantee his niece Wren (Marlow Barkley) wins her school election, misplacing an attempt to absolve the guilt he ignores from his late sister’s death by using his resources to dig up something cancellable about Wren’s competition. Clint’s haunt initially proves challenging for the trio of ghosts and only grows more complicated as he probes into Present’s past, which is filled with great secrets and unrealized possibility.
Spirited makes no attempt to justify why it needs to be a musical, but it almost doesn’t have to, as it’s embedded into the mode of the story world from the very first frame. This combination of comedy and song builds off of the notion that comedies are already presenting a heightened version of everyday life; people and situations are oftentimes exaggerated or manipulated in order to be funny. A history of comedy storytelling has already negotiated our willingness to laugh at the ridiculous, regardless of whether the style abandons its sense of realism. While slightly overbearing at first, the musical world of Spirited becomes easier to drop into as it goes along, even if the writers sometimes make the lazy and frustrating choice to have characters voice their disapproval when they hear the first twinkle of a new song. There’s an odd disparity within the varying awareness of the musical world, as it sometimes comes across as irreverent or even self-deprecating, but is otherwise very often sincere. It also feels like a missed opportunity to use the conventions of the form to further specify the rules of this musical vocabulary; it’s unnatural when Clint, as our Scrooge stand-in, is introduced through a song-and-dance number. It gives him the same stasis as every other character, when the convention of a musical could have instead been used as a stylistic expression of his character change.
The songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, of The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen fame, play to varying degrees of success, but the musical theatre songwriters do instill a certain commitment to traditional musical theatre structure with their uses of reprises, a big ensemble opening and finale, and an 11 o’clock number. Perhaps the most moving song, “The View From Here,” sung by Clint’s assistant Kimberly (Octavia Spencer), takes the literal meaning of having an office with a view of the New York City skyline and pairs it with the metaphor of having climbed the corporate ladder, but compromising on personal morals to do so. However, the songs are arguably too catchy for their own good, with a style that might become redundant for people who are less tolerant of their existence in the first place.
The inclusion of so many songs does over-stuff and complicate the plot, especially when what feels like the “11 o’clock number” — a late-show solo from the protagonist that serves as a climactic discovery or turning point — is followed here by multiple endings to tie up loose threads, while also finding a way to include as many songs as possible; the credit roll has two musical numbers. Even so, the numbers are very joyously staged with surprise spotlights and an ensemble of strong dancers that are utilized in a very theatrical manner as they portray many different groups of characters. While Reynolds’ voice is surprisingly impressive, it’s Ferrell who’s always possessed this charismatic sort of goofy charm that makes it as easy to empathize with him as it is to laugh at him, which translates wonderfully into his musical performance. There’s a certain cheer that arises from the pairing of Will Ferrell and Christmas, and it’s nice to see him continue to push himself as a performer who’s earned a sense of timelessness in his specific comedic voice.
With so many versions of “A Christmas Carol” to have made it to the screen, and another musical adaptation coming to Netflix shortly, it’s hard to stand out as one that holiday audiences will embrace as a yearly tradition. For fans of musicals or high-concept comedies, Spirited offers plenty to sing about as it encourages us to go into the world just a little bit kinder than we were the day before. Change may not happen overnight, but it’s something we can continue to work toward as long as we make the effort each morning. In lieu of cynicism, the musical charm of Spirited cuts through the humbug with enough unbridled joy to warm even the coldest of hearts.
