Stream It or Skip It: ‘Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special’ on Apple TV+, a Befuddling and Bedazzled Holiday Treat

Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special is Apple TV+’s entry into the world of original holiday magic. Iconic Christmas diva Mariah Carey enlisted a bunch of celebrity pals—Tiffany Haddish, Billy Eichner, Jennifer Hudson, Ariana Grande, I could keep going!—to make her dream special come true. But does this holiday treat deliver some old school cheer? Or does it deserve a Christmas jeer?

MARIAH CAREY’S MAGICAL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s been five years since Mariah Carey graced us with a full-length Christmas special (she is elusive, after all), and the world has changed a lot since Hallmark aired Mariah Carey’s Merriest Christmas in 2015. Hell, the world has changed a lot since last Christmas, or since March, or since October—and you better believe Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special knows what’s up!

The nightmare of 2020 is actually the framing device for this 45 minutes of singing, dancing, and whistle tones; as narrator Tiffany Haddish establishes via a riff on “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” holiday spirit has hit an all-time low in 2020. No one, not Bette Midler or Heidi Klum, is in the celebrating mood. And if houses aren’t decked out in Christmas lights, then how can Santa see where he’s going? Rudolph’s no help, as he keeps crashing into the TV antenna! Fortunately for humanity, Santa’s head elf Billy (Billy Eichner) has a solution: get Mariah Carey on the case!

With Christmas on the line, Mariah puts on a Christmas concert like you’ve never seen before… while wandering around the North Pole and generally not following any of Billy’s suggestions. She croons by the piano, watches a new Peanuts short, brings out Snoop Dogg to entertain the elves while they get presents ready, wanders into the harsh winter of the North Pole in minimal coverage, and teams up with Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson to perform a holiday bop. If that doesn’t maximize Christmas spirit, what will?!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This is another 21st century revival of the kind of holiday specials that were mainstays on TV from the ’60s through the ’80s, hosted by everyone from Dean Martin to Dolly Parton. These variety shows mostly disappeared from TV for a good 20 years, and made a comeback in the 2010s thanks to Kacey Musgraves, Michael Buble, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, and—of course—Dolly Parton. But this one? This special is uniquely Mariah Carey.

Performance Worth Watching: Billy Eichner’s always fun to have around, and he gets to deliver lines like “I’ll have you know I have the only falsetto this side of the gumdrop river.”

Memorable Dialogue: Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande’s harmonized whistle tones on “Oh Santa.”

 

A Holiday Tradition: There’s no unique tradition in this special, but I truly hope that this special is part of a larger holiday tradition. Every streaming service needs their own beyond extra Christmas special! Netflix gave one to Bill Murray, and Kacey Musgraves debuted hers on Prime Video last year. We need Kelly Clarkson! Adele! Why doesn’t Weird Al have a new holiday special every year? And which brave streaming service will give Carly Rae Jepsen the 45 minutes of merry screentime she so deserves?! I’m looking at you, Hulu!

Does the Title Make Any Sense?: It’s about as perfect as it can be. This is Mariah Carey’s Christmas special, and it’s powered by holiday magic (and lots of green screen and social distancing).

Our Take: The best gift Mariah Carey has given us is self-awareness. There’s a version of this special that could’ve existed, wherein Mariah Carey just looked straight into the camera and sang her heart out to the same old Christmas standards. Maybe some fake snow would fall, maybe a choir would sway in the background, maybe it would be fine. But this? This is a Christmas special that could only be made by a Mariah Carey that knows what her fans want from her: they want to be gagged, they want the most, they want to be bewildered, befuddled, and bewitched by the elusive chanteuse.

This is a holiday special that fully feels like it’s constantly on the verge of descending into 2016 New Year’s Eve debacle territory—which is wild because this thing was pre-recorded, no one is singing live, and it has almost as much CGI as The Polar Express. The preposterous premise, the slightly off-kilter pacing of the interstitials, performances that dance between the bizarre and the brilliant—Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special is like the White Elephant of holiday content. You never know what’s going to be unwrapped next.

The performances range from sincerely great (Carey’s girl group number with Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande is such a joy) to the completely unexpected (a Mariah/Peanuts mash-up—sure!) to the confounding. This special goes from Snoop Dogg rapping directly into Misty Copeland twirling to a version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” headlined by Mariah’s iconic whistle tone. It’s pure merry madness—and I live.

Could you imagine Mariah Carey doing a special any other way, though? This feels like a Mariah that knows she has a rep as a kooky diva and she is 100% okay with leaning into that. For real, Mariah as Mariah flat out says that she does not follow schedules and is constantly wandering into areas of the North Pole that are off limits in order to belt out a tune while wearing the most revealing floor-length gowns ever designed. How does it show everything while still hitting the floor?!

This special is fully wild, overboard, extra, next level, ridiculous, jubilant, a trainwreck and a masterpiece all in one. It really is magic.

Our Call: STREAM IT, because you really have to see it in order to believe it.

Stream Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas Special on Apple TV+