7/10

I watched the new musical comedy Spirited today on Apple tv+. The film stars Will Ferrell as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Ryan Reynolds as his latest assignment, a manipulative businessman who is considered unreedemable. I really liked the music in the film. The song and dance numbers elevate the film and for me are the best parts. I thought Ferrell did a decent job in his role, not his best performance, but not one of his worst. Ryan Reynolds performance didn't really work for me though. It felt like he was playing a version of a character he has played before and it wasn't completely convincing. Octavia Spencer does a nice job as one of Reynolds's conflicted employees and Sunita Mani gets some laughs as the horny ghost of Christmas Past. The story goes in some interesting directions and there are some twists along the way. I did feel that the film was too long though. It didn't need to be 2 hours and 7 minutes. There was a lot going on at times and it felt a bit messy. Still there were enough laughs and effective moments to make this worthwhile. If you like Christmas musicals, this is worth checking out. My rating is a 7/10.