em Jingle Jangle /em Is the Holiday Hallucination This Season Demands

In a year where Radio City is shuttered by the pandemic, Netflix's Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is the closest thing we have to a big Christmas spectacular. It's a cross between The Greatest Showman and Cats, bundled in shiny Christmas wrapping paper, with none other than John Legend as one of the minds behind the many songs packed into its two hours. At the center of that festive mishmash is an inventor named Jeronicus Jangle, a sentient doll, and a robot that, like Tinkerbell, is powered by belief. However, unlike Cats, David E. Talbert's movie is a coherent, compelling story that doesn't require booze or any other form of pre-gaming to be fully enjoyed. It's the filmic equivalent of the high that comes from eating way too many candy canes and drinking way too much hot chocolate.