JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY | FILM REVIEW
Dir: David E Talbert (PG, 124 mins)
Netflix continues its attempts to churn out new beloved Christmas films, following the success of last year’s animated Claus: they have gone into feel good musical territory, which works or doesn’t depending on your cynicism levels. Beloved toy store impresario and inventor Jeronicus Jangle, played by Forest Whittaker, creates incredible steampunk-esque toys that come to life. He has everything – a perfect life, a saccharine family – but all this changes when his struggling apprentice Gustafson steals his toy blueprints and subsequently ruins his boss, swiftly followed by the death of his wife.
Flash forward 30 years and Jeronicus is a broken man who no longer invents anything. Gustafson has become Keegan-Michael Key, inheriting the riches and fame he stole from Jangle, whilst Hugh Bonneville pops up as a banker who wants his money back from Jangle, bringing ruin. However, when his granddaughter Journey (played by the perma-sunny Madalen Miller) comes to spend Christmas with him, sent by his estranged daughter, she sets his inventive fires burning once more and warms his heart. Beautifully realized stop-motion animation moments power the storytelling, and songs pop up with alarming regularity from the likes of John Legend in a superbly designed Afrocentric Victoriana world.
Reclaiming the Christmas film from its white cinematic forebearers, Jingle Jangle revels in its cultural world but never makes it its focus. A stereotypical Dickensian street scene may suddenly be home to an African dance, making the film truly refreshing and subtly powerful. Where the film falls down is in some sluggish pacing, not fully capitalizing on some key elements like cute robot Buddy 3000; what it does do, however, is empower by its mere existence, reflecting a diverse world without pontificating. Some tunes are catchy, others cloying and Ricky Martin gives us the voice of a clockwork matador, but it’s certainly a breath of fresh festive air.
Streaming on Netflix now
words KEIRON SELF