Revisiting Netflix’s ‘Jingle Jangle’ For Christmas 2022

When Netflix
NFLX
initially launched the culturally savvy, deliciously decadent David E. Talbert musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, in 2020, your common film goer [See: me] was prepared for a little bit of respite from navigating and interested by Covid-19. Issues have been nonetheless a wee bit scary and tiresome, particularly for folks and different caregivers. College was nonetheless being performed remotely. Many actions for the littles have been at a standstill. A serious vacation was upon us and plenty of conventional accoutrements of the time needed to be recalibrated to accommodate our new viral actuality.

That’s why my kids wanted a enjoyable Christmas film desperately. One thing trendy. One thing that includes a various array of youngsters who each seem like my children and in addition don’t look them. One thing showcasing all these issues that my very own children love and exhibit: surprise, colours, toys, thriller, magic, glee, pleasure and love for household.

Enter Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, the story of grasp toymaker Jeronicus Jangle, an excellent inventor performed by none aside from Forest Whitaker. Jangle has a well-known toy retailer however in some way he loses a bit little bit of his mild and creativity. In the meantime, Journey Jangle – Jeronicus’s granddaughter – comes to go to for some time. Portrayed by Madalen Mills, the character of Journey finds out one thing was stolen – a robotic! – from her granddad and he or she units out to get well it and so doing, she is ready to restore her grandfather’s misplaced spirit.

It’s a well-known, acquainted trope with regards to the Christmas movie story line, but it surely works fairly nicely – each then and now. Plus, components of the film are shocking – particularly the standard of the singing and the sheer fantastic thing about the costuming. Everybody clothes like they’re in a brightly-colored sweet store.

It’s a well-done musical with nods to Afrobeats, R&B, black barbershop quartets and gospel. We watched this movie in 2020 and instantly my children heads have been bopping and the kids have been singing the hopeful songs of an uplifting vacation film that includes sensible little children with a great deal of pure hair coiffed to perfection, dressed up within the brightest colours possible, virtually flying with pleasure — similar to them.

One key track is called “The Square Root of Possible,” a pleasant nod to STEM lovers and anybody who believes {that a} optimistic perspective (and math abilities) can overcome almost any impediment. It’s additionally cool that the lead characters do psychological math (coded as magic) that energy super-fantasmic toys.

For 2022, I feel it’s time to revisit Jingle Jangle and push it solidly towards Christmas traditional standing. It’s a fantasy musical with the essential components of timelessness, excellent music, a heart-warming household story, the grumpy father determine, the brilliant and joyful child, and a nasty man (who’s expertly portrayed by Keegan Michael Key.) Key’s Gustafson is a deceptively pleasant type of antagonist, who stops at nothing to steal what he needs. The star-studded forged is rounded out by Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and Ricky Martin (as an adorable- and passionate!- puppet). John Legend and Mike Jackson additionally signed on as producers.

The movie is visually enjoyable to look at too. The clockworks spinning, the golds and silvers, the nod to steampunk style. Plus the movie took house two NAACP Picture Awards in 2021 for Rashad’s character and for Mills, for whom this roll was a breakout efficiency. The movie led to 2 books, which launched in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

Jingle Jangle streams on Netflix.