I know I'm late on reviewing this, but better late than never. So now that I've seen this, how is it? Officially it's a mess. 60% of it had a lot of not so good moments while 40% actually had some profound moments I didn't anticipate. Let's start with the good stuff:
1) Mary and Joseph as characters: the emotions they go through are solid. Whether addressing the unborn child or the animals, it all feels genuine and not forced. There's even a moment where Mary has an emotional breakdown while on the road. As for Joseph, it shows him dedicating everything to helping Mary and the unborn child while trying to hold his sanity together. That's a real character arc. Bravo
2) The theme: Life doesn't always go as we planned, but in the end it will turn out okay.
3) I enjoyed Bo's (the donkey) story
4) The voice acting is terrific from everyone
5) The animation is terrific!
Now what doesn't work: 1) The animals being the main focus. I don't object to it necessarily, but the execution was sloppy in writing. One moment it involves Mary and Joseph dealing with being pregnant and on the road and the next moment it's about the camels comedically spying on Herod. 2) The extra villain: Seriously? Herod aside, why do we have a hunter going specifically after Mary? Even Herod could not figure out which child was the Messiah in the first place. 3) The animal commentary (mainly from Oprah's camel): In moments that should play out, the animals add unnecessary dialogue to it. For instance, there's a moment Oprah's camel comments about Jesus' birth always being celebrated. Why? What made her the expert? 4) The moping and doping: Bo saves Mary, Joseph kicks him out, Bo randomly rejects his friends, everyone is sad, and through it all "His Eye is on the Sparrow" plays (worst situation for the song ever). Then he turns around back to Mary. The whole scene was pointless. 5) At the end credits, the words "Be Moved" stand out. Um you can't tell people that, you need to allow moments to play out and rely on the audience to actually be moved. It's called "trusting your audience".
I'm not necessarily demanding the story of Jesus' birth to be told in an all serious light I'm asking for a better balance in writing. If you have to make the animals the main characters, you need to have a balance of both situations and comedy and drama, not sloppily combine the two; that's part of good storytelling. However, I don't regret seeing it, especially for the few terrific moments in the film. Compared to the Emoji Movie (which came out months before), this was a bit healing but didn't go all the way through. Do I recommend it? Um................not sure. Certainly if you're looking for a straightforward story on Jesus, you won't get it here. Comedy? Um not really either. However I don't think it's that bad either. It just depends on your point of view - at least it's not talking down to kids the way Nut Job/Emoji Movie did. Score: 3/5
Now what doesn't work: 1) The animals being the main focus. I don't object to it necessarily, but the execution was sloppy in writing. One moment it involves Mary and Joseph dealing with being pregnant and on the road and the next moment it's about the camels comedically spying on Herod. 2) The extra villain: Seriously? Herod aside, why do we have a hunter going specifically after Mary? Even Herod could not figure out which child was the Messiah in the first place. 3) The animal commentary (mainly from Oprah's camel): In moments that should play out, the animals add unnecessary dialogue to it. For instance, there's a moment Oprah's camel comments about Jesus' birth always being celebrated. Why? What made her the expert? 4) The moping and doping: Bo saves Mary, Joseph kicks him out, Bo randomly rejects his friends, everyone is sad, and through it all "His Eye is on the Sparrow" plays (worst situation for the song ever). Then he turns around back to Mary. The whole scene was pointless. 5) At the end credits, the words "Be Moved" stand out. Um you can't tell people that, you need to allow moments to play out and rely on the audience to actually be moved. It's called "trusting your audience".
I'm not necessarily demanding the story of Jesus' birth to be told in an all serious light I'm asking for a better balance in writing. If you have to make the animals the main characters, you need to have a balance of both situations and comedy and drama, not sloppily combine the two; that's part of good storytelling. However, I don't regret seeing it, especially for the few terrific moments in the film. Compared to the Emoji Movie (which came out months before), this was a bit healing but didn't go all the way through. Do I recommend it? Um................not sure. Certainly if you're looking for a straightforward story on Jesus, you won't get it here. Comedy? Um not really either. However I don't think it's that bad either. It just depends on your point of view - at least it's not talking down to kids the way Nut Job/Emoji Movie did. Score: 3/5