‘Jingle Jangle‘ is the ’20 Netflix musical about dueling toymakers goaded on by their sentient toys, but neglectful of their families. Hardly a Christmas miracle, this whirligig of a spectacle is rife with gospel (“Make It Work“) and guilt (“Over and Over“), while allowing for growth (“Square Root of Possible“). [Ed.: ‘The Games Maker‘ was a better movie about the same thing.] “Borrow Indefinitely” is the surprising tango number from one of the toys. It deserves a minute of your time.
Also beset with potential, ‘Anna and the Apocalypse‘ was a ’17 British curiosity: zombie-fighting teen musical. Cool concept, meh production. The songs are indistinct navel gazers about who-am-I and who’ll-love-me. But, it’s set during the holidays and has a whole single song about Christmas (“Christmas Means Nothing Without You“–the same old pop). I mention this in passing, as the one song that stands out is when the school bully takes center stage about how much he wants to kick zombie ass in “Soldier at War.” Nearly entertaining.