{"id":10515,"date":"2020-11-13T12:02:16","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T17:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=10515"},"modified":"2020-11-19T10:02:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T15:02:28","slug":"christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html","title":{"rendered":"Christmas film reviews: &#8220;Jingle Jangle&#8221; on Netflix + &#8220;The Farmer and the Belle&#8221; on VOD\/DVD"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 11\/13\/20<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><iframe title=\"Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey | Everything is Possible | Official Trailer | Netflix\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aYPUYVgwLWY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div><strong><em>Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey<\/em>, starring Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Madalen Mills, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Justin Cornwell, Lisa Davina Phillip, Kieron L. Dyer and (the voice of) Ricky Martin drops today on Netflix on November 5.\u00a0 <\/strong>The film is written and directed by David E. Talbert and counts singer\/songwriter John Legend among its producers. The musical score is provided by Legend and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Philip_Lawrence_(songwriter)\">Philip Lawrence<\/a>. <strong>Rated PG. Running Time: 2hr. 2min.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"yiv1504372333x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_x_xmsonormal\"><b>Synopsis:<\/b><em> Set in the gloriously vibrant town of Cobbleton, the film follows the story of legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle (Whitaker) whose fanciful inventions burst with whimsy and wonder. When his trusted apprentice (Key) steals his most prized creation, it\u2019s up to his equally bright and inventive granddaughter (newcomer Madalen Mills) \u2014 and a long-forgotten invention \u2014 to heal old wounds and reawaken the magic within.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>IMHO: <\/strong><em>Jingle Jangle<\/em> takes me back to my childhood in New York City &#8211; when the live Radio City Music Hall stage shows would be accompanied by big, colorful, family-oriented films like <em>Mary Poppins<\/em> (1964). It seems probable that were it not for COVID, this lush and spectacular movie musical &#8211; filled with awesome special effects (including stop-motion and CGI animation) would have debuted in theaters. And, while that would have been great, it works well on TV screens as well &#8211; where it seems destined to join the ranks of such annual yuletide treats as <em>It&#8217;s a Wonderful Life, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin&#8217; to Town<\/em> and <em>Mr. Magoo&#8217;s Christmas Carol<\/em>. The musical numbers are so well done that beyond the soundtrack album, it&#8217;s not hard to imagine a live Broadway stage version some time in the future. A lyric from one of those songs goes &#8220;Just because you fell down, don&#8217;t believe you can&#8217;t pick yourself up again.&#8221; That&#8217;s a sentiment most of us could stand to hear more than once in our lives &#8211; and one which our culture could well absorb today.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, one thing that makes <em>Jingle Jangle<\/em> stand out from the classics of yore is its diverse, largely African-American cast -that includes terrific performances by Forest Whitaker and Keegan-Michael Key as, the respectively, the film&#8217;s primary hero and villain. It&#8217;s also refreshing that it&#8217;s not just another reboot of a mostly white movie with a mostly black cast. Reboots of classic films, whether with white actors or black actors, rarely compare favorably with the originals. Writer-director David E. Talbert has pulled off something gloriously old-fashioned yet completely new. <em>Jingle Jangle<\/em> is reminiscent (in a good way) of vintage Disney or<em> E.T<\/em>. era Spielberg with Talbert bringing his own deft and original touch to the proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>If I were to quibble a bit with the plotting, I&#8217;d say the robot character of Buddy (a sort of E.T. for a new generation) could have been fleshed-out (so to speak) a bit more. But that, as I noted, is quibbling. Perhaps that will happen in a sequel. In any event, at any moment now I expect to see some Buddy toys being sold online.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>BTW, the movie ends with a plot twist that I genuinely didn&#8217;t see coming (and that&#8217;s saying something). I, of course, won&#8217;t reveal what it is &#8211; but it is clever.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, I believe Netflix has a holiday winner on its hands with a fantastic story that unabashedly proclaims the values of faith, hard work and perseverance.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey <\/em>is Highly Recommended.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Farmer and the Belle: Saving Santaland - Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-WJmjnou5Rs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div align=\"left\">\n<p><strong><em>The Farmer and the Belle: Saving Santaland<\/em> starring Jenn Gotzon (<em>My Daddy is in Heaven<\/em>), Jim E. Chandler (<em>Stranger Things<\/em>), Corbin Bernsen (<em>Psych<\/em>), John Schneider (<em>Smallville<\/em>), Natasha Bure (<em>Fuller House<\/em>), Robert Amaya (<em>October Baby<\/em>) and nationally-syndicated radio host Delilah debuts on all major VOD and DVD platforms on Tuesday (11\/17).\u00a0 <\/strong>The film is distributed by Vision Films and Mill Creek Entertainment and produced by Idealist-Gotzon Films in association with 2 Actors Productions. Directed by Les Llewelyn. <strong>No Rating (but feel safe watching it with your family). Running Time: 1hr 31min<\/strong><\/p>\n<div align=\"left\"><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong> <em>Sparks fly between a famous model and a farmer with a young daughter when she visits her childhood home. The town is in danger of losing their beloved Santaland festival, but miracles can happen with a little love, family and faith.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><strong>IMHO: <\/strong><em>The Farmer and the Belle<\/em> tells a humorous, kindhearted, faith and family-friendly story that hits the sweet spot of light entertainment comfort food many of us are in the mood for as we enter the holiday season of what has been a challenging year for just about everyone. Produced by and starring Jenn Gotzon and Jim E. Chandler, the real-life married couple have a chemistry that carries onto the screen.<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">The overall plot is a sort of American twist on the classic Julia Robert-Hugh Grant romcom <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Notting_Hill_(film)\"><em>Notting Hill<\/em><\/a> but instead of a Hollywood movie star meeting and falling in love with London bookseller we are presented with a famous model reunited with a childhood sweetheart who is now farmer, reverend and widowed father. And it works.<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\">Wrapped within the satisfying romance is the age-old truth that true beauty is within everyone and it doesn&#8217;t fade with age.<\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><\/div>\n<div align=\"left\"><strong><em>The Farmer and Belle: Saving Santaland<\/em> is Recommended.<\/strong><\/div>\n<p><strong><em><span class=\"st\">Encourage one another and build each other up &#8211; <\/span><\/em><span class=\"st\">1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 11\/13\/20 Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, starring Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Madalen Mills, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Justin Cornwell, Lisa Davina Phillip, Kieron L. Dyer and (the voice of) Ricky Martin drops today on Netflix on November 5.\u00a0 The film is&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3632,13,1257,16,24,31,1],"tags":[10095,4822,10104,10422,2248,10416,10089,10098,10101,10374,10425,2702,10437,10377,10434,10413,10431,10107,4607,10419,10428,734,3472,10083,10092],"class_list":["post-10515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-family-matters","category-feminism","category-humor","category-movies","category-television","category-uncategorized","tag-2-actors-productions","tag-anika-noni-rose","tag-corbin-bernsen-psych","tag-david-e-talbert","tag-forest-whitaker","tag-hugh-bonneville","tag-idealist-gotzon-films","tag-jenn-gotzon-my-daddy-is-in-heaven","tag-jim-e-chandler-stranger-things","tag-jingle-jangle-a-christmas-journey","tag-john-legend","tag-john-schneider-smallville","tag-justin-cornwell","tag-keegan-michael-key","tag-les-llewelyn","tag-madelen-mills","tag-mill-creek-entertainment","tag-natasha-bure-fuller-house","tag-netflix","tag-phylicia-rashad","tag-radio-host-delilah","tag-ricky-martin","tag-robert-amaya-october-baby","tag-the-farmer-and-the-belle-saving-santaland","tag-vision-films"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Christmas film reviews: &quot;Jingle Jangle&quot; on Netflix + &quot;The Farmer and the Belle&quot; on VOD\/DVD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas film reviews: &quot;Jingle Jangle&quot; on Netflix + &quot;The Farmer and the Belle&quot; on VOD\/DVD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here&#8217;s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media &amp; culture: 11\/13\/20 Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, starring Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Madalen Mills, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Justin Cornwell, Lisa Davina Phillip, Kieron L. 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Dyer and (the voice of) Ricky Martin drops today on Netflix on November 5.\u00a0 The film is&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2020-11-13T17:02:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-11-19T15:02:28+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html","name":"Christmas film reviews: \"Jingle Jangle\" on Netflix + \"The Farmer and the Belle\" on VOD\/DVD","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-13T17:02:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-11-19T15:02:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2020\/11\/christmas-film-reviews-jingle-jangle-on-netflix-the-farmer-and-the-belle-on-vod-dvd.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Christmas film reviews: &#8220;Jingle Jangle&#8221; on Netflix + &#8220;The Farmer and the Belle&#8221; on VOD\/DVD"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10515"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10743,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515\/revisions\/10743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}