The holiday season is upon us and that means Christmas movies galore. Of course, most Christmas films are notoriously bad and unoriginal.
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is one of this year’s exceptions as it is full of wonder, a great concept and fantastic musical numbers.
Phylicia Rashad reads the story of Jeronicus Jangle (Justin Cornwall to start) to her grandchildren. Jeronicus is the best inventor, but one of his creations Don Juan Diego (Ricky Martin) wants to remain one of a kind and convinces Jeronicus’ apprentice Gustafson (Miles Barrow to start) to steal Jeronicus’ book of inventions and sell them as his own.
The theft brings Gustafson (now Keegan Michael-Key) success, but ruins Jeronicus in many ways. Years later Jeronicus (now Forest Whitaker) has lost his wife, is estranged from his daughter Jessica (Anika Noni Rose) and has no relationship with his granddaughter. His granddaughter Journey (Madalen Mills) finally gets to meet him one Christmas season as he’s ready to close up shop for good as he’s bankrupt and has no way to pay off his debts.
You can probably guess the ending, but that doesn’t mean it’s a mediocre film by any means. The film is full of cheer and the setting is different from most Christmas films so it’s also visually cool. The music is also phenomenal.
Journey is smart and proudly so and her intelligence is rewarded. She never feels like she has to dumb herself down for anyone and it’s one of my favorite aspects. The film is currently streaming on Netflix and due to its great message and contagious holiday cheer, I say it’s definitely one everyone should check out.
No comments:
Post a Comment