“Jingle Jangle” both delights, disappoints
Late October brought “Holidate,” a romantic comedy starring Emma Roberts and Luke Bracey.
And then came “Operation Christmas Drop,” a romp based on a real U. S. Air Force humanitarian mission and featuring Kat Graham and Alexander Ludwig.
And already this week we have “Dash & Lily,” a young- adult series built around a “whirlwind holiday romance.”
The holiday season is here. Netflix says so.
You know what? Fine. Halloween has passed. We give.
Regardless of whether you’re truly mentally prepared for the holiday stretch, given all that surrounds us, another seasonal Netflix offering is worth being the centerpiece of a night in with the family.
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” had been an idea rattling around the mind of playwright, stage director and filmmaker David E. Talbert for roughly two decades. And given his background, it’s not surprising to learn this musical originally was envisioned for live theater.
On the screen, it can feel a little, well, staged, with its relatively small setting and its peppering in of musical numbers. And with so many moving parts to its story, it’s a bit clunky — kind of, if you will, jingle- jangly.
On the other hand, it is warm and vibrant, a lovely movie bursting with holiday spirit.
And you can’t help but to appreciate the impetus that led to Talbert finally working it to completion.
Wanting to share with his son some of his favorite movies from childhood, including “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and the original “Doctor Doolittle,”
Madalen Mills as Journey and Forest Whitaker as Jeronicus in “Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey.”
he found himself disappointed by a lack of diversity in them.
As a result, the major roles in “Jingle Jangle” are filled by people of color, helping the movie to stand out from the holiday pack.
“As an artist and creator,” he says in the film’s production notes, “I want to make a film that inspires and entertains. I just want to have it be more representative of the world. Something that says people of color can exist in a magical world.”
Furthermore, the cast features well- known talents in Forest Whitaker, Keegan- Michael Key and Phylicia Rashad, as well as young newcomer Madalen Mills, whose smile lights up the frame.
Talbert’s story surrounds Jeronicus Jangle, who as a younger man ( Justin Cornwell) was an inventive toymaker in Victorian England, working out of his popular, lively shop in fictional Cobbleton. Life was good, until his apprentice, Gustafson ( Miles
Barrow), stole his latest invention — a sentient puppet, Don Juan Diego ( voiced by music star Ricky Martin) — and a book of other ideas.
( Jeronicus planned to mass produce the toy so every child could be delighted, but Don Juan didn’t like the idea of not being a one- of- a- kind and egged on the lad, frustrated he wasn’t further along in his career, to commit the theft.)
Decades later, having sent away his once- close, now- adult daughter, Jessica ( Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tatiana in
“The Princess and the Frog”), Jeronicus largely has given up inventing and has converted his store into a pawnshop.
Meanwhile, Gustafson ( Key) has piled up toymaking awards over the years by executing the visions of his old mentor.
To make matters worse, the bank — represented by Mr. Delacroix ( a criminally underused
Hugh Bonneville of “Downton Abbey” fame) — is getting closer to taking Jeronicus’ shop from him. He needs to pay the lenders back or, preferably, invent something spectacular and revolutionary that will convince them to stay in business with him.
His luck begins to change when he is visited by his granddaughter, Journey ( Mills), who seems to have inherited his imagination and understanding of complicated math. However, the grumpy Jeronicus — despite apparently having invited her — isn’t happy to see her and instructs her to stay out of his way.
The story that unfolds also involves his current apprentice, Edison ( Kieron Dyer), who takes a liking to Journey, and Ms. Johnson ( Lisa Davina Phillip), who consistently expresses a fondness for Jeronicus, whom, much to his annoyance, she calls “Jerry.”
Plus, Gustafson has used up all of the stolen ideas, and he and Don Juan reckon a fresh theft is the former’s best bet to stay relevant.
As “Jingle Jangle” journeys on, you get the sense Talbert tweaked his script too much — or not enough — over the years. The story rarely feels cohesive and simply has too many characters. For instance, the structure has Rashad’s character reading a magical book to two children, but the characters aren’t revisited often enough to make them impactful at the end. Relatedly, the book’s characters are sometimes represented via stop- motion animation, but it plays like a halfbaked concept.
In general, the cast is a strong point, even if, like Bonneville, the gifted Key (“Key & Peele,” “Toy Story 4”) deserves more screen time. We certainly expect to see more of Mills going forward.
That said, while Whitaker (“The Last King of Scotland,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) is an incredibly gifted performer, he struggles to find his footing as the initially curmudgeonly Jeronicus. Unfortunately, he seems wrong for the role.
And considering its momentum issues, “Jingle Jangle” feels a little long at roughly two hours. However, some of that is understandable given the need to include several musical numbers, and the songs — written, to varying degrees, by Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan, Michael Diskint and music star John Legend — are largely enjoyable.
In the looks department, from the cinematography ( Remi Adefarasin) to the costumes ( Michael Wilkonson) to the choreography ( Ashley Wallen), “Jingle Jangle” really shines.
No stranger to holiday movies, having made the 2016 dramady “Almost Christmas,” Talbert falls a little short of giving us a seasonal classic.
Hey, not all gifts are perfect, and, here the thought certainly counts.