"The Star" is an American English-language animated movie from this year that premiered here very recently, so you could definitely say it is one for the holidays. It's not too long at under 1.5 hours, but features still a whole lot of known actors that you may have come across in other projects. Maybe you won't recognize their voices, maybe you will. But you sure will recognize their names. This film here takes us into the Bible by telling us about the nine months before the birth of the Christ as a bit of a fable with speaking animals and an ancient background as this one plays over 2 millenniums in the past. The good news is that I enjoyed almost all the animation aspects here. There was one especially beautiful shot that may have been among the greatest of the year when we see the humans and animals moving forward while also seeing the beautiful star-studded sky. The music was fine too overall with some beautiful songs.
But sadly, the film had also far too many mediocre and forgettable moments that made this one seem way too long for its own good and that is even more shocking as it really wasn't a very long film at all. It easily could have been kept at under an hour I believe. On the one hand, there were just far too many (animal) characters in here that had hardly no impact at all on the story. Quite a pity. They were included for one or two funny ("funny") moments and then disappeared as quickly as they appeared like the ones at the end at the location where Mary gives birth. And as for the approach to the comedy here, it was not as successful as I hoped. Here and there, there was a solid moment including a witty joke, but most of it was really just loud and over-the-top sadly and on a level where just the little ones would enjoy it. And this means quite something when I say or write it because it is a statement coming from somebody who is off the opinion that quality animated films are as much for grown-ups as they are for children. Anyway, the ending was somewhat better again and I liked how they included the subject of forgiveness with the two dogs, but also weren't afraid of killing off a really sinister character. By the way, the two dogs could really have their own movie as a sequel. They were one of the better components here.
All in all, however, I did not like the film as much as I hoped I would. Donkeys sure are the greatest thing ever (next to guinea-pigs), but the thing I found distracting here is that the German voice in the version I watched did not satisfy me at all and I wasn't too happy in general with the dubbing also for other characters, especially the animals. Let me add too that I am an entirely nonreligious atheist, so I won't go too much into detail about the biblical and more serious contents here and their accuracy. I would just say that the dramatic plot was never really as good as I wanted it to be. So yeah there are some glaring weaknesses here and it may not be the greatest effort by Oscar-nominated director Timothy Reckart at all. Then again, this may be more the two writers' fault than the director's. I for once can only say I am surprised how much attention this has received from the Annie Awards. An Oscar nomination seems possible, but I think it really isn't that good. Watch something else instead.
But sadly, the film had also far too many mediocre and forgettable moments that made this one seem way too long for its own good and that is even more shocking as it really wasn't a very long film at all. It easily could have been kept at under an hour I believe. On the one hand, there were just far too many (animal) characters in here that had hardly no impact at all on the story. Quite a pity. They were included for one or two funny ("funny") moments and then disappeared as quickly as they appeared like the ones at the end at the location where Mary gives birth. And as for the approach to the comedy here, it was not as successful as I hoped. Here and there, there was a solid moment including a witty joke, but most of it was really just loud and over-the-top sadly and on a level where just the little ones would enjoy it. And this means quite something when I say or write it because it is a statement coming from somebody who is off the opinion that quality animated films are as much for grown-ups as they are for children. Anyway, the ending was somewhat better again and I liked how they included the subject of forgiveness with the two dogs, but also weren't afraid of killing off a really sinister character. By the way, the two dogs could really have their own movie as a sequel. They were one of the better components here.
All in all, however, I did not like the film as much as I hoped I would. Donkeys sure are the greatest thing ever (next to guinea-pigs), but the thing I found distracting here is that the German voice in the version I watched did not satisfy me at all and I wasn't too happy in general with the dubbing also for other characters, especially the animals. Let me add too that I am an entirely nonreligious atheist, so I won't go too much into detail about the biblical and more serious contents here and their accuracy. I would just say that the dramatic plot was never really as good as I wanted it to be. So yeah there are some glaring weaknesses here and it may not be the greatest effort by Oscar-nominated director Timothy Reckart at all. Then again, this may be more the two writers' fault than the director's. I for once can only say I am surprised how much attention this has received from the Annie Awards. An Oscar nomination seems possible, but I think it really isn't that good. Watch something else instead.