JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a Netflix Christmas fantasy directed by David E. Talbert (Almost Christmas). The movie took Talbert twenty years to complete. His original vision was to make a stage play musical but soon realized he wasn’t the target audience for the project, so he put his project up on the shelf. He credits his wife and the birth of his son for helping him create the Christmas fantasy that is the movie. He credits his wife Lynn as the brains of the project. He says, “I’m the sizzle and she’s the steak.”
The movie stars Forest Whitaker as Jeronicus Jangle, an inventor who loses everything he loves in his life and with it, his belief in the magical wonders of inventing. His apprentice leaves, taking with him Jeronicus’ little book of inventions. He also loses his wife and convinces his daughter she’d be better off living elsewhere.
It’s the love of his granddaughter Journey, played by Madalen Mills, who’s inherited his inventing abilities, that makes him believe in magic again. She comes for a visit at Christmas and has to thaw out the nasty disposition of her grandfather. When she finds one of Jeronicus’ forgotten inventions, a magic flying robot called Buddy 3000, he’s back in the game with a successful invention that can save his store.
The movie has an all-star cast including Phylicia Rashad as Grandmother Journey Jingle. The stellar cast also includes Anika Noni Rose, Keegan-Michael Key, and Ricky Martin as a puppet sized doll that Jeronicus invented (but his assistant Gustafson stole).
The movie also has plenty of wonderful music and dance choreography. The movie is a real joy that the entire family can enjoy with a message of family forgiveness as an overall theme to the movie. The movie is rated PG with a run time of 2 hours and 2 minutes. It’s the perfect movie for this holiday season.
On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey a JUMBO!
