Modern movies with a biblical focus tend to be either reputedly dippy or heretical if not blasphemous. From what I read, this would be neither. It gets high audience scores and mixed critic scores; Metacritic currently puts it below A Minecraft Movie. I figured I should watch it during Easter season, not knowing where it might stream later.
Charles Dickens himself (Kenneth Branagh) is reciting A Christmas Carol when his backstage family, especially King Arthur-obsessed son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis), accidentally causes disruptions. Wife Catherine (Uma Thurman) later talks Charles into telling Walter the story in a book in progress, The Life of Our Lord -- basically the Gospel packaged for children -- in lieu of punishment. The telling starts shortly before the birth of Jesus (voice in adulthood by Oscar Isaac) and ends right after the Resurrection, with brief interludes to explain the Fall and Passover.
For a new religious studio I'd never heard of, the cast is surprisingly star-studded. In addition to the above, we have Pierce Brosnan, Forest Whitaker, Mark Hamill (that's at least three Star Wars alumni), Ben Kingsley, and veteran voice actors Jim Cummings, Dee Bradley Baker, and Fred Tasciatore. None of these actors wear their faith on their sleeve, and it's not like anyone expected the movie to make a ton of money.
Charles's narration gets interrupted at many points, rather like in the screen version of The Princess Bride, but I was reminded more of, well, A Christmas Carol. Walter keeps picturing himself, absurdly expressive cat Willa, and sometimes Charles as bystanders to the events, generally unnoticed like Scrooge visiting the past. As you can imagine, these three are responsible for the bulk of what little comic relief can be found. The next Rugrats Passover special it isn't.
Initially, Walter isn't sure he'll like the story. After all, Jesus may have provided inspiration for Arthurian legend, but he's not your conventional action hero. Nonetheless, Walter wastes little time in becoming rapt, feeling exactly what Charles wants him to feel. Eh, no less credible in that regard than the excitedly listening kids of In the Heights. I notice that Charles never insists that the story is true, nor does Walter indicate that he believes it, so you might not even find it preachy.
How faithful, then? Well, the main liberty is in modernized language, presumably because "My spirit is in your hands" is easier to understand than "Into your hands I commend my spirit." I could think of few Gospel episodes that got skipped altogether, and those would require a little more explanation for young viewers. The whipping and crucifixion are there, all right, but the bloodshed is off camera.
Throw in the adequate CG and brisk pacing and it looks like a decent way to make single-digit fans of the New Testament. That said, the young 'uns I noticed at my theater weren't exactly eating it up. One bawled at the end credits. Well, the PG rating isn't for nothing, watered down tho it may be in this era.
As for my adult perspective, at least it's not boring, even knowing the gist in advance. I do feel like Walter got off way too easy for his shenanigans, especially by 19th-century standards, yet I recognize that forgiveness is a key element to the tale. TKoK does only so much to warm my heart, but I won't be a Scrooge about it.
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