(Note: Okay, I meant for this to come out before Christmas but that clearly didn’t happen. However, I thought I would then post a review of a Christmas movie on the 25th of each month – you know, to keep the spirit going. I hope you enjoy!)
Who doesn’t love a good Christmas movie? Clearly I do, given how many Hallmark movies I’ve seen over the years.
And let’s be real – 2020 has been awful for many reasons. We’ve tried to cram too much into twelve months and found out what will break when you do that. Right now, we all need the magic of the Christmas season.
Enter David E. Talbert and Netflix.
Talbert wrote and directed the Christmas movie he wanted to see, the movie he wanted his children to see. And he got some amazing musicians – Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan, Michael Diskint and John Legend – to craft a beautiful soundtrack that invigorates this entire movie.
And it was just what I needed.
So let’s take a look at this fantastical world of whimsy and SPOILERS!
We start around Christmas, in a beautiful room decorated with a big Christmas tree. It looks like the setting of many Christmas stories, even invoking the Victorian age we most associate with Christmas thanks to Charles Dickens. Two children, played by Ria Calvin and Kenyah Sandy, sit by a fire. She can see something dancing amongst the flames but he can’t and they get into something of a fight. Their grandmother, played by Phylicia Rashad, intercedes and offers to read them a Christmas story. They gather around her and she opens a pop-up book that is very elaborate and clearly magical.
We start in a quaint town with a very special shop owned by Jeronicus Jangle (Justin Cornwell). Magic reigns supreme there and it has a steady stream of customers, all eager to see what new creation Jeronicus has come up with. His biggest supporters are his wife Joanne (Sharon Rose) and daughter Jessica (Diaana Babnicova). Jeronicus also has an apprentice named Gustafson (Miles Barrow), who spends the opening number trying to show Jeronicus something but keeps getting shut down.
Jeronicus, though, is not doing it intentionally or trying to be cruel or feel superior. He’s just caught up with a new arrival, something that will change everything for him and his family. Using magic powered by equations, he creates a battery that brings a toy soldier to life. The Jangle family is ecstatic and go to celebrate while the toy, Don Juan Diego (Ricky Martin), is not pleased that Jeronicus wants to mass produce him. He’s pretty vain in that way. But he sees an opportunity and manipulates Gustafson into stealing him, Jeronicus’ book of creations and the special device that brought Don Juan to life.
When Jeronicus returns and finds his life work gone, he falls into despair and his magic seems to disappear. His shop soon falls on hard times and he ends up changing it from one of whimsy to just a pawnshop. He loses his wife to sickness and finally drives his daughter Jessica away as well. Jeronicus closes himself off from the world while Gustafson’s fame and fortunes grow until he’s running the Emerald City.
(No, really. It looks like the Emerald City. I like to believe that was a deliberate choice).
(I also would like Keegan-Michael Key to be in a revival of The Wiz too).
Older and more bitter, Jeronicus (Forest Whitaker) struggles to make ends meet and it’s likely that he will have to close his store. Mr. Delacroix (Hugh Bonneville), from the bank, hates having to do so but reveals he has no choice. And he may be trying to jolt his friend into doing something. But then Mrs. Johnston (Lisa Davina Phillips), the mail person, delivers an important parcel to him and he ignores her attempts to flirt with him as he believes that will help him restore his lost glory and change his fortunes again.
Across town, Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key) has hit a rough spot. He’s gone through all of Jeronicus’ creations and has found that his original works aren’t as good as his old master’s. He and Don Juan are desperate to keep up the success and decide that they need to spy on Jeronicus to see what else he may have hidden in his store.
We also meet an adult Jessica (Anika Noni Rose) and her daughter, Journey (Madalen Mills). Jessica and Journey also have Jeronicus’ talents for creating new things and Journey desperately wants to meet her grandfather. But Jessica won’t go until he sends for them. And this Christmas, it happens – Jessica receives a letter inviting Journey to come visit. Jessica sends Journey to Jeronicus’ shop and promises to come pick her up on Christmas Eve. Journey boards a carriage and arrives in the village, excited to meet her grandfather.
Boy, is she in for a surprise.
Indeed, Journey is disappointed to find a grandfather who won’t pay her any attention and doesn’t have the same spark she expected. He pretty much makes her do chores around his shop and keeps to himself, no matter how much she tries to get him to open to her.
That night, Journey meets the young boy who is trying to be Jeronicus’ apprentice, Edison (Kieron L. Dyer). They explore some of his old workshop and stumble upon a forgotten creation. Journey and Edison work together and bring Buddy 3000 (Tobias Poppe). Buddy takes them on a flight around the workshop before Jeronicus wakes up and sends them to bed, not believing them that Buddy worked. He yells at Journey and she runs off, crying.
Gustafson has a magical mirror and is able to spy on Jeronicus’ shop. He spots Buddy and decides he needs to have him. So he tries to trick Journey into letting him into the shop but Journey is not having any of it. No doubt her mother told her about Gustafson’s betrayal and how it destroyed her family. Journey insists her grandfather just has a pawn shop and she needs to go mark things down for the going-out-of-business sale. She runs off and Gustafson realizes he has his work cut out for him.
Journey tries to bring joy back to her grandfather and even gets him to participate in a snowball fight that ultimately features almost the entire town. But it only lifts his spirit for a little while before he returns to his more dour outlook and insisting he needs to close the store. There’s another flicker when he realizes that Journey has the same gift as him but he still can’t bring himself to trust anyone with his creations after what Gustafson did to him. So he continues to shut her out until she reveals that she faked a letter from him so she could finally meet him. And she’s not going to give up on him.
At one point, Gustafson comes across Edison alone in Jeronicus’ shop. We all know that this can’t bode well and I wonder if he’s going to lure Edison away…
Nope. He just tied the poor kid up and stole Buddy 3000.
Boo.
(Not at the story twist. At Gustafson’s actions).
Jeronicus is clearly upset and takes it out on Journey and Edison. So they decide to go get Buddy back from Gustafson while Jeronicus gets ready to close his shop for good.
Gustafson moves quickly to unveil Buddy to the world. Except that he doesn’t get the secret behind Buddy’s magic and so it appears to be a dud. He decides to go back to the drawing board and send Buddy to an incinerator, meaning Journey and Edison have to race against time.
Jeronicus figures out what the children are up to and races to help them. He enlists Mrs. Johnson’s help and she is thrilled to do anything with him – even break into Gustafson’s and rescue the children.
Journey and Edison find Buddy and their belief activates him. They are able to rescue him from the incinerator but still need to escape as Gustafson sends his guards after them. Journey uses her magical equations and encourages her grandfather to do the same. They figure out the best escape path for them and they slide through the ventilation system with Buddy, approaching a fan. But they come in too fast, so Buddy does his best to slow them down so they can pass through the fan blades unharmed.
They quickly celebrate before realizing that they need to leave to avoid Gustafson and his guards. Jeronicus feels reinvigorated again – both by his collaboration with his granddaughter and his realization that Buddy does work. But he’s been damaged in the escape and Journey pleads with her grandfather to fix him. He sends her to bed and prepares to spend Christmas Eve night repairing Buddy for her.
Meanwhile, Jessica begins her trek back to her father’s shop to pick up her daughter – nervous about reuniting with him.
Father and daughter have their reunion and she is a bit surprised to find him at work. They have a tense but necessary conversation about what happened between them, especially about Jessica felt like her father abandoned her and didn’t want her. He apologizes and opens a cabinet to reveal hundreds of letters. Jeronicus wrote to her every day – he just didn’t have the courage to send them, didn’t know how to make the first move. They reconcile and start to take steps to rebuild their relationship by working together to fix Buddy.
In the morning, Journey is thrilled to see her grandfather and mother working together. Edison joins them and they bring Buddy to life. All seems to be going well.
But then Mr. Delacroix, Gustafson and the police show up. Gustafson insists that Buddy 3000 is his and that Jeronicus stole him. But Journey signed plans for Buddy in invisible ink. She holds it up and reveals that it really belongs to her grandfather. Gustafson’s lies unravel and everyone realizes that all his amazing creations were made by Jeronicus. Don Juan Diego turns on Gustafson and Jeronicus removes his battery, determined to make a less vain version. Gustafson is arrested and the magic returns to Jeronicus’ shop, allowing him to save it.
The story ends and the grandchildren ask if it really happened. Grandmother pushes back her hair to reveal the gears in it and they realize she is Journey. She takes them to the window and shows that Jeronicus took over Gustafson’s factory. Buddy comes to life and flies them all to the factory for some Christmas fun.
I absolutely loved this movie. It was fun and magical – just perfect for the Christmas season. I have a feeling I am one of many who will make this a must-watch every holiday.
The story was both magical and timeless. It was a story about family, love, forgiveness and persistence. And it was about how with even just a little belief, we can do amazing things. It’s just so quintessentially Christmas yet told in a way that feels very refreshing.
Everyone was well casted in this movie. Forest Whitaker really showed how broken Jeronicus was after losing everything – his ideas, his magic, his wife, his daughter and soon his shop. And he showed how Jeronicus slowly started to believe again, realizing that maybe he could fix everything again. Keegan-Michael Key excelled as the ambitious but deceitful Gustafson. He imbued the role with charm and charisma so that you could understand why people believed he was an upstanding and brilliant inventor. But he could also play Gustafson’s dark side perfectly. And Anika Noni Rose may have had a rather small part as Jessica but she shined in every scene.
However the true star of the movie was Madalen Mills as Journey. She shone in every scene she was in and brought such a sense of wonder to the role and could balance sweet and sassy. Mills is a talented actress, singer and dancer. I hope we see a lot more of her in the future.
All the music in this was amazing. If you can, give it a listen. You can find it on Spotify. Every song grabbed you and drew you in while advancing the story. And the choreography was absolutely brilliant. I’m sure some people tried to learn some of it after watching the movie.
In conclusion, if you didn’t get a chance to watch this movie during the holiday season, give it a watch now. It’s timeless in that way, even with the Christmas setting.
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