Jingle Jangle Parent Review written by the Elf on 11/21/20
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Know Before You Watch Jingle Jangle
Movie: Jingle Jangle
Rating: PG
Age Suggestion: 5+
Running Time: 2 hours
Release Date: November 13th, 2020
Genre: Musical, Holiday, Fantasy
Themes: Christmas, Family, Loyalty, Greed, Imagination
Warnings: This movie is very family friendly but there are a couple of scenes that might scare younger viewers, and several longer, dramatic, ones that might bore them. If you want to avoid fantasy and magic- this film isn’t for you. I would also warn that there is parental death and fire in the movie that might be triggering for some.
Quick Jingle Jangle Summary:
What’s the square root of impossible?! A grandmother tells a Christmas story of magic, imagination and determination to her grandkids. In this story there’s a little girl, Journey, that goes on a musical adventure trying to find her place in the world. And in the process tries to reconcile her family and sees if she has what it takes to be an inventor.
Beautifully made, this new Christmas musical is bound to become a classic! The musical numbers are really wonderfully done. The story starts off a little slow but picks up and is really heartwarming. An inventive and inspiring new Christmas musical!
Jingle Jangle Discussion Questions:
1) What’s something that you’ve thought about inventing?
2) What was your favorite musical number?
3) Would you rather have a Don Juan Diego in your pocket or a Buddy 3000?
4) If you could have a magical ability, what would you want? The ability to calculate, invent, fly, sing or something else?
5) Who in your life has helped you learn to believe in yourself?
Jingle Jangle Parent Review
*Light Spoilers Included*
-Characters & Acting-
This movie is bursting with talent! From Disney Princess Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) all the way to Ricky Martin, it’s filled with great actors and actresses. But Journey, played by Madalen Mills absolutely steals the show! Not only being able to keep up with the incredibly talented adults around her, but by brilliantly shining in her musical numbers! Her song was SO wonderful, she sang it so powerfully and it’s still stuck in my head.
-Script & Story-
There were so many characters and the plot moved so quickly at first and then really dragged in the middle. But the second half, just like a stage play, really drew me in immediately. Overall, the story and lyrics were really heartwarming, creative, and magical.
-Costumes and Filming-
The steampunk, Victorian, but musically bright costumes were really amazing! They really added to the overall quality of the movie! There was so much to take in, I want to go back and watch it soon just to see what all I missed. Especially in the wonderfully shot musical numbers. There were some great moments with the background dancers that I barely caught. The movie was visually enchanting.
–Favorite Moments–
*Spoilers included*
*Journey’s song: Square Root of Possible! And the Make It Work were my two favorite musical numbers! Grab the soundtrack here.
*When Jeronicus and Jessica were reconciling and he showed her the cabinet full of letters.
*The director has been working on this for years! His goal was to have his family represented in a positive Christmas movie. Find out more from an interview here.
*Hugh Bonneville and Forest Whitaker’s scene at the end of the movie was delightful.
*This apparently started out as a stage play, and you can tell. And I absolutely loved that about it- the musical stage numbers were great!
Check These Out Next:
-Our Family Friendly Netflix Streaming Suggestions!
-Our other Christmas movie reviews: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, The (new animated) Grinch Movie, and The Star
–5 New Christmas Books + Our Favorite Christmas Read Alouds!
-10 Family Friendly Holiday Activities for 2020
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I really enjoyed reading your review. I hadn’t heard of this movie previously, but it sounds like one that would be interesting to watch. We do a 25-day long Christmas movie marathon each year so it’s nice to have some new movies to watch for it. Will have to add this one to our list.