Film / Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

"Tell me why, why?
Tell me what all this was for!
My life should've been so much more!
Oh, when did I leave?
The me who used to believe..."

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey is a family fantasy/musical film released in 2020 by Netflix. It was written and directed by David E. Talbert. Among the producers is John Legend, who also co-created songs in the movie.

Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker, Justin Cornwell) is an inventor with a bustling toy shop where he sells his inventions, happily married with a wife, Joanne (Sharon Rose), and a daughter, Jessica (Anika Noni Rose, Diaana Babnicova). However, after his apprentice, Gustafson (Keegan-Michael Key, Miles Barrow), steals his big book of blueprints for inventions, he is unable to continue inventing without his assistant. After his wife dies, he loses the optimism that made him such a prolific inventor and sends Jessica away, vowing never to invent again. He turns his toy shop into a pawn shop, while Gustafson becomes a toy tycoon with the stolen schematics. However, everything changes one winter's day, when Jeronicus is joined by Jessica's daughter, Journey (Madalen Mills), already a promising, bright mind, and finds inspiration again as Journey gets to know her grandfather.

This movie provides examples of:

• Advertised Extra: Buddy figures very prominently in the posters and trailers, but only shows up midway through the film, and only sporadically after that.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Don Juan Diego, Jeronicus's own creation, a toy granted a mind of its own, becomes enraged at the idea of being mass produced since he considers himself to be one of a kind. He is the one to convince Gustafson to steal the book of inventions in order to preserve his own uniqueness. He continues to serve as Gustafson's advisor.
• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Jessica's clearly a single mother, but whether Journey's father has died or is just not in the picture is unclear.
• An Aesop: No matter what, never stop believing in yourself. No matter what you lose, never stop believing in what you still have.
• Arc Words: "Believe". Belief is even what Buddy runs on.
• Allegorical Character: Since it was Don Juan who suggested to Gustafson that he steals Jeronicus' book of inventions along with Buddy instead of suggesting Gustafson improves on his own skills on top of his narcissistic personality, one could say Don Juan represents Gustafson's lack of faith in his own talents and desire for attention.
• Alliterative Family: Jeronicus, Joanne, Jessica, and Journey Jangle.
• …And That Little Girl Was Me: The grandmother telling the story is Journey.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Gustafson was Jeronicus' apprentice, before he decided to steal his mentor's book of inventions and pass them off as his own. By the time we see him again, Gustafson is the type of man to worry more about his reputation and products than the person his toy has mutilated.
• Calling the Old Man Out: An adult Jessica calls Jeronicus out for his emotional abandonment of her after her mother died, saying he made her feel like he blamed her. He's genuinely contrite, and acknowledges he messed up, big time, and says he doesn't want to repeat history with Journey.
• Child Prodigy: Journey, like her grandfather, is a natural inventor and mathematician.
• Chekhov's Gun: The ink of the pen that Jeronicus gives Journey to sign a contract with at the beginning of her stay appears completely invisible, until held to the light in his shop. Journey uses this to secretly mark all of the plans for Buddy 3000 as property of her grandfather, suspecting that Gustafson would try to steal them and claim them as his own, which saves the day for the Jangles and reveals Gustafson as a thief.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: The robot toy Buddy runs on belief, and will completely stop functioning if anybody in the room lacks belief.
• Clock Punk: The clockwork robot Don Juan Diego, and the general nature of Jeronicus's inventions (both stolen and claimed) follow this theme.
• Color-Coded Characters: Gustafson's motif is green, symbolizing his envy towards Jeronicus and the greed Don Juan instilled in him throughout the years. In contrast, Jeronicus' colors are warm shades of brown and orange, which grayed throughout his depressed years and became vibrant after he starts writing in the air with his amber magic again towards the end of the film. When the factory's ownership goes to Jeronicus, it's also a warm bronze.
• The Corruptor: Don Juan Diego, who's undoubtedly responsible for turning Gustafson into the man he is today.
• Costume Porn: Lots of colorful, Victorian-style costumes, with subtle African details (like cowrie shells in young Jessica's hair and patterns that look like plaids at first that are actually based on Kente cloth) worked throughout.
• Cowardly Lion: Edison, despite being easily scared throughout the movie, still comes along with Journey when she goes off to take back the Buddy 3000 from Gustafson and turns out to be a quick enough thinker to tie a rope to the trolley they use to escape to make it easier to steer, which plays a part in getting them out alive.
• Creative Closing Credits: The credits show sculptures of the characters and what they're up to after the movie ends.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check:
  • Gustafon and Don Juan built an absolute empire over the course of thirty years, using the stolen inventions. However, Gustafon did have a good idea with the Twirly-Whirly—he just needed to be patient and get some help to make it work. Had he been more honest and not betrayed Jeronicus, he could've devloped his skills and become a great inventor in his own right, and with his obvious showmanship, he could've easily delighted audiences on his own merits.
  • For that matter, by the time of the main story, Gustafon is so rich, he probably could've just hired some inventors to work for him, and not had to worry about running out of inventions to steal. Hell, he could've even paid them to stay quiet if he still wanted the credit for creating them.
• Cute Machines: The Buddy 3000.
• Decoy Protagonist: The first act of the movie sets up Jessica as a bright young inventor-in-training and successor to her father's work, as well as possibly being the story's narrator. From the second act onwards, it's her daughter Journey who takes the role of protagonist.
• Foreshadowing: When Journey shows up on Jeronicus' doorstep, he denies having sent Jessica a letter. Journey seems more annoyed than hurt or confused. Because she sent the letter herself.
• Formula for the Unformulable: Jeronicus and Journey solve magical equations for the circumference of spectacular, the second derivative of sensational, and the square root of possible.
• Framing Device: The film is framed as a story that an old woman is telling her grandchildren.
• Green and Mean: The signature color for Gustafson and his empire.
• Hates Being Nicknamed: Jeronicus is annoyed by Ms. Johnston's insistence on calling him "Jerry".
• "I Am Great!" Song: "Magic Man G", in which the now-famous Gustafson boasts about himself and his newly-modified Twirly-Whirly toy.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Unlike Don Juan, who really is that full of himself, Gustafon clearly knows deep down that he isn't the genius he presents himself as, and still feels like he's in Jeronicus' shadow.
• It Runs in the Family: Jeronicus, Jessica, and Journey are all incredibly gifted inventors. Journey's granddaughter seems to have also inherited their ability to see magic that others cannot.
• It's All About Me: Don Juan Diego is incredibly egotistical and believes himself to be one of a kind. Finding out that he's just a prototype and will be mass produced, thus making millions of Don Juan's just like him is what kickstarts the plot. Gustafson also counts to a much lesser extent.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Jeronicus begins the story as a wide-eyed, enthusiastic artist who wholeheartedly believes hard work and being a good person will pay off. Then the plot happens, and he grows into a cynical, grumpy shut-in. Journey reawakens the idealist in him.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Gustafson thinks himself an inventor, but the only toy we see him design and build himself, The Twirly-Whirly, malfunctions and falls to the ground shortly after being activated, and the toys on which he built his company were all stolen from Jeronicus.
• Large Ham:
  • Ricky Martin's performance as Don Juan is somehow hammy as hell and absolutely perfect at the same time.
  • Mrs. Johnston brings backup dancers wherever she goes. It doesn't get much hammier than that!
  • As per usual, we have Keegan-Michael Key as the grownup Gustafson. His big Villain Song is about as scenery-chewing as you'd expect, and even ends with him channeling James Brown.
• The Man Behind the Man: Don Juan Diego, the matador doll, is the true villain behind Gustafson's misdeeds, convincing him to steal Jeronicus's book of inventions and continuing to guide his actions as he becomes a successful toymaker.
• Mentor's New Hope: Journey and, eventually, Edison for Jeronicus.
• Morally Bankrupt Banker: Subverted, though the tropes involved are played straight. The bank is set to foreclose on Jeronicus' shop on Christmas, giving him only three days to pay up or give them something amazing they can back, but the banker involved is a friend of Jeronicus who wholeheartedly believes in his genius, and both know he only has to do it because they're out of other options. The banker appears to be holding onto the hope that the crunch will inspire Jeronicus to reignite his passion.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Buddy 3000, Jeronicus's latest invention, in that it runs on belief and won't operate when anyone nearby doesn't believe, leading to two instances of characters trying to show off the toy to other characters, only for it not to do anything.
• Parental Abandonment: An emotional variant; Jeronicus pushed Jessica away after their Trauma Conga Line, feeling like he'd only make things worse for her. Jessica finally packed her things and left, seeing no other way forward.
• Parents as People: Jeronicus was a Doting Parent to Jessica when things were good, but after their financial problems and Joanne's death, he fell into a depression and pushed her away, to avoid further pain for them both. Which made their relationship a thousand times worse. It takes decades, but they do manage to patch things up.
• Poor Communication Kills: Jeronicus and Jessica both wanted to make up for years, but he was convinced she wouldn't want to hear from him, and she was still too hurt by his emotional abandonment of her to reach out. He even wrote her hundreds of letters, but was too afraid to send a single one. And when she receives what she thinks was a letter from him, inviting Journey over for Christmas, she immediately agrees, despite not having seen him for years. They could've rebuilt their relationship ages ago had they just talked to each other.
  • As Gustafson is being dragged out by the police after Journey proves he stole Buddy from her grandfather, Jeronicus asks the constables to wait for a moment and brings a gift he intended to give to Gustafson over thirty years ago: a stabilizing gyroscope for the Twirly-Whirly, which would have made it work. Jeronicus sadly tells Gustafson he would have helped him with his invention, if only Gustafson had waited for Jeronicus to have a moment to talk to him. Gustafson can only stare at him in quiet heartbreak as he's lead away.
• Romancing The Widower: Jeronicus has an admirer in Ms. Johnston, the local mail lady, who calls him "Jerry" and isn't shy about her interest in him, though it takes him a while to reciprocate.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Jeronicus was terrified he'd mess up and make Jessica's life worse, so he pushed her away... destroying their relationship and thus making her life worse.
• Shout-Out: A sticker on Jeronicus' trunk is for Wakanda. Also an Actor Allusion, since Whitaker appeared in Black Panther (2018).
• Stealing the Credit: Gustafson steals Jeronicus's book of inventions and becomes a massively successful toymaker by building the creations from the book and claiming them as his own.
• Steampunk: The movie takes place in a Neo-Victorian sci-fi world.
• Trauma Conga Line: Jeronicus and Jessica get the absolute crap kicked out of them at the start of the movie; his apprentice steals his notes and uses them to start a profitable factory, driving them to bankruptcy, and he loses his creative spark. Then his wife dies, and he pushes Jessica away, to the extent that she may as well have lost two parents, and she eventually leaves him like he keeps urging her to. By the time of the main story, she's a fairly well-adjusted woman with a daughter of her own, but she misses her father terribly, and he's become a borderline shut-in. And then, he finds out he has three days before the bank repossesses his shop.
• Truth in Television: Part of what makes Jeronicus and Jessica's deteriorated relationship so hard to watch is that it's completely in line with reality for a lot of people. Well-meaning and loving parents sometimes push their kids away due to their own personal demons, inadvertently hurting their kids in the process, and it sucks.
• Villain Song: "Magic Man G". Also, "Borrow Indefinitely" is dripping with Don Juan's ego and manipulation.

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