Spirited (2022) Subtitles

The two make for an awkward double act in a slick but grating song-and-dance spin on A Christmas Carol that will make grinches of us all
It’s been almost 20 years since Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau gifted us the unlikely yet enduring Christmas winner Elf
Spirited is an attempt to recapture that very difficult to capture magic
Plasticky piece of product with the puppyish insistence that it has the power to please us all, frantically trying to tick every box but failing to hit just one
All very slickly packaged, even if at points such slickness becomes a little too synthetic
Will probably find a record audience for Apple
While Elf manages to be genuinely funny while also being genuinely sweet, the tone here is far less even.
The decision to make the film a musical is a genuine head-scratcher, one that’s never justified or even mildly explained given that the two leads are not natural singers and so throughout the lunges into song feel awkward at best.