Spirited features one of the worst movie decisions of the year
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide.
Spirited might be a cynical and musical take on A Christmas Carol, but it's not so bold as to ignore the structure of the Charles Dickens classic.
As in that story (and every A Christmas Carol adaptation), we watch as a generally awful human – this time around, PR executive Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) – is visited over Christmas Eve by three spirits who attempt to reform their target.
The Christmas Past section will feature some major events that the target definitely regrets, the Christmas Present section will show them what people really think of them and the Christmas Yet-To-Come bit will have a dark moment that properly shocks them into changing.
Spirited does all of these, but when it comes to the Yet-To-Come section, it delivers a twist that is so distasteful as to be one of the worst movie decisions of the year.
But to explain just why, we need to go into some major spoilers so look away now if you haven't seen the movie yet.
Clint's whole thing as a PR executive is to create (often fake) outrage online to benefit his clients. When his niece Wren (Marlow Barkley) comes to him for help for the student council president election, Clint decides to use this tactic to help her win.
He asks Kimberly (Octavia Spencer) to do opposition research on Wren's competition Josh (Maximillian Piazza). She discovers a deleted TikTok post he made two years ago when he was in sixth grade, mocking the fact he volunteers at a homeless shelter with his parents at Christmas.
Clint tells Wren that once Josh posts something about this year's volunteering shift, she should post the deleted video and it'll help her win the election. During the Christmas Present section, we see Wren do just this and Josh gets an instant backlash online.
When it comes to the Yet-To-Come section, Clint watches on as Wren leads the student council; he then finds himself at a memorial – and it's revealed that Josh has died, implying that he died by suicide as a result of the online bullying.
It's not so much that Spirited decided to go down this dark route, but it's the way that the movie does it. For one, it comes out of nowhere – without any trigger warnings at the start of the movie, it's likely to affect some viewers.
But it's also because it's a prevalent real-world issue with a recent US study finding a rise in the number of children who are seen in emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts. Cyberbullying has also increasingly become a problem as children and teenagers spend more time online than ever before.
Covering such topics in a festive movie isn't a no-go, but it needs to be dealt with more depth and care than Spirited does.
Clint obviously realises the severity of the situation, but insists he wasn't to know and before he deals with that, he runs into the next Yet-To-Come scenario where he sees himself dying at his desk many years later. When he ends up in a graveyard (A Christmas Carol staple), he sees his age and jokes, "93, not bad".
Spirited goes from covering an implied child's suicide to a glib joke about old age in around a minute. It's this muddled tone that makes it so distasteful: if you're going to include such a serious subject for emotional effect, you need to give it the careful attention it deserves.
What also doesn't help the situation is that it doesn't even really seem to impact Clint that much. Yes, he rushes to stop Wren from posting the video, but when he gets there, she's already decided not to post it because she's a good person.
The implications of what could happen as a result of Clint's approach to PR don't seem to last on him. As Spirited wants to be more of a cynical take on the idea that a person can be reformed overnight, he claims not to have been changed by the experience and insists he'll carry on doing what he does.
(Yes, Clint soon sacrifices himself to save Present from being hit by a truck, but it's more due to their friendship, rather than Clint having a change of heart.)
As a result, the Yet-To-Come reveal feels even cheaper and more throwaway than it already appeared. There were countless other approaches they could have taken for that moment, and the decision to use a child dying by suicide is just about the worst decision they could make.
Spirited is available to watch now on Apple TV+.
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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