Runtime: 1 hour, 26 minutes
Rating: PG
Director: Timothy Reckart
Quick Impressions:
We were supposed to see The Disaster Artist Thursday night. Then while my husband and I were enjoying a delicious dinner at the Brick Oven, snow started to fall (in Austin!!!). As it defied the odds and got heavier and heavier, we slipped into one of those trances you see after drug binges or love-at-first-sight in the movies (or in memes about shopping at Target online). In a mad whirl of joyous delirium, we forgot all about James Franco and raced home to play with our kids in the snow.
That left me dying to see a movie, and since my parents have been expressing interest in “the one about Baby Jesus” for weeks, I managed to coax everyone to follow The Star to Tinseltown on Friday afternoon. (I hope that doesn’t sound sacrilegious.)
My two-year-old sat through this movie, which is high praise for the film since he ran away repeatedly during Coco, spends most of mass out in the prayer garden, and even tried his hardest to escape during his own baptism.
His good behavior stunned me, especially because he wasn’t so sure about the whole thing when I pitched it to him at the park Friday afternoon as “Baby Jesus and the Camel” (for some reason I went with camel instead of donkey).
He was like, “Baby Jesus and the Camel??! I have never heard of dat!” He suggested we see Monsters University instead, or if possible, “Baby Jesus and the Monsters…You know, like Mike and Sully.” (When I told him it was probably not possible, he reluctantly agreed to go with me, anyway, as long as he got “some popcorn and that cold blue.”)
The Good:
This is a very respectable family Christmas movie, much better than I expected, actually. If you are a Christian and feel that Christianity and Christian values are underrepresented in Hollywood films, then please go see The Star. It was made for you, and isn’t pandering or obnoxious. It simply tells the Christmas story through the eyes of Mary and Joseph’s donkey and all the other animals who are making their way to Bethlehem.
The Star handles the source material reverently and doesn’t shy away from the scriptural origins of the story. We are following the adventures of a courageous young donkey trying to find his destiny, but we’re also seeing the miracle of Christ’s birth.
We see angels visit Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. We see that the Christmas star is extremely conspicuous and has attracted a lot of attention from various observers. We get some lovely meditations on the meaning of Christmas from a wise camel played by Oprah Winfrey. We get an awesome soundtrack of true Christmas carols (the ones with overtly Christian messages) sung by contemporary artists (contemporary to us, not to Mary and Joseph). We get a gentle Christian message about finding the right flock, honoring God (through marriage vows, by serving others), practicing forgiveness, and all sorts of other concepts central to the faith.
This is honestly the best specifically Christian animated film I’ve seen for some time (by a long shot). Probably my favorite Bible-themed animated film is Joseph: King of Dreams, but that may be just because I love that Bible story, particularly the discovery scene at the end. (Fans of Batman may also get a kick out of Ben Affleck voicing Joseph and Mark Hamill voicing his brother Judah.) Some of the Veggie Tales stuff is really funny and cute, but I’ve noticed in feature-length films, Veggie Tales tends to have erratic pacing and run out of steam before the end. Since The Star is about a small donkey who ends up helping the holy family, making comparisons to the 1978 film The Small One seems natural. That film (only 26 minutes long and interestingly one of the Disney movies directed by Don Bluth) is excellent, too, but this movie seems more suited to holding the attention of young children in 2017.
I expected to find The Star boring, corny, or featuring humor that was borderline offensive. To my delight, it was none of these things. What really surprised and delighted me the most was how thoroughly it held my attention. Start to finish, the whole thing was engaging and charming. Is it the greatest masterpiece of all time? No. Could I imagine watching it at home with my children every Christmas season? Oh yes. A resounding yes. Occasionally certain jokes and characters seem like watered down copies of Disney material, but children like that kind of thing and respond well to it. As I said, my son remained seated and watched the whole thing attentively and (usually) quietly. (We did have one brief kerfuffle when he temporarily mistook the setting on my twisted-around wedding ring for a piece of popcorn and became exasperated when he couldn’t remove it from my cupped palm. But, really, that could have happened during any movie.)
One of the great strengths of The Star is the richness of its all-star voice cast. The acting is excellent all around, and so many of those voices are immediately recognizable. (When you hear Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, or Christopher Plummer, you know right away. And though I don’t think of Zachary Levi as someone with an extremely distinctive voice, it is definitely true that Jospeh sounds just exactly like Flynn Rider.)
After the movie, I asked my kids, “Who was your favorite character?”
My son immediately piped up, “The mouse!” My daughter said decidedly, “Mary.”
Actually, those were my two favorites, too.
As Abby the mouse, Kristin Chenoweth really makes the most of one small moment she’s given, recounting her dramatic tale to the other animals with such charming flourish. She’s definitely a scene stealer.
And Gina Rodriguez actually gives a surprisingly powerful performance as Mary. I was not expecting the movie to present Mary’s story in such a nuanced way. The anxiety she feels as she tries to work up the nerve to tell Joseph she’s pregnant is palpable and obviously aimed more at adults in the audience since children will not understand why this worries her so much. In fact, many children might not even realize how worried she is. Much of Mary’s emotional journey is directed at older members of the audience, yet this is done in such a subtle way that young children will not even be aware that there is a dimension to the story that they’re missing. Rodriguez gives a very strong performance.
Of course, one thing working in The Star‘s favor is that most viewers will already have strong feelings about the subject matter. The movie doesn’t have to work all that hard to ensure that the ending of the film feels powerful. We’re watching the birth of Jesus. Those of us who worship Him as God are bound to find a dramatization of His birth profoundly moving. I’ll admit to tearing up a bit at the end. It’s not that the movie does anything so extraordinary. It’s that the birth of Christ is itself is extraordinary.
And in case you’re wondering, my husband’s favorite character was Ruth, the sheep voiced by Aidy Bryant. Ruth is a winningly optimistic and amusing friend to Bo the donkey. (She’s sort of like Dory from Finding Nemo without the short term memory problems.) And she has a huge part, so she’s pretty easy to love.
My son, incidentally, later changed his answer and explained that his favorite character was actually Baby Jesus, but I think he just wanted one-up his sister in piety, and since she was going on and on about Mary, he decided to proclaim his love for Jesus.
The Star also does a good job of presenting the material in a way that will be comprehensible to children, yet faithful to the source. The screenwriter makes excellent use of misunderstandings. For example, we don’t have to hear everything Herod says, and we don’t need specifics about the Magi, either, because we see the situation mostly from the point of view of the eavesdropping camels. (Those camels–voiced by Tracy Morgan, but Tyler Perry, and Oprah–are pretty cute, too. They’re mildly funny, like characters in a children’s picture book. Really the best joke is that Deborah (the Oprah camel) keeps inexplicably “guessing” the gospel truth and being called crazy by the other two.) The three animals who are waiting by the manger are pretty funny, too.
Best Scene:
The opening scene with the mouse scurrying through the night is surprisingly compelling. I also really love Mary’s early anxieties about how she’ll reveal her pregnancy (and all it means) to Joseph.
Best Action Sequence:
Bo the donkey’s efforts to climb down the side of a mountain cliff are made very entertaining by his new companion, Ruth the Sheep. It’s cute that their names are Boaz and Ruth but probably for the best that they have more of a friendship than a romance.
Best Scene Visually:
Though there are many lovely vistas and establishing shots of Bethlehem that make it look like the inside of an especially captivating snow globe, I particularly liked a much earlier moment when Mary closes the doors at Joseph’s house. The moment is so charged with emotion, and for just a moment she appears to be standing in the form of a cross.
The Negatives:
The Star probably isn’t for everyone. (Fellow Christians will say that Christ came for everyone, but I’m just saying not everyone will want to fork over $10 to see this movie.)
Now for Christian parents, the movie is worth it. The Star is about the birth of Jesus, but it doesn’t talk a lot about dogma or doctrine. I can’t imagine why any Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, et. al.) would have any objections on theological grounds. This is a barebones version of the story clearly presented for young children. Yes, the movie does compress the timeline, making the Magi arrive within minutes of the shepherds, and it blends elements of the story in Matthew with elements of the story in Luke, but so do most children’s Christmas pageants.
We do get some embroidery of the story to fit in all the animals (because obviously, there is no gospel according to donkeys, though a lot of jokes could be made about the way Christians treat each other when arguing about what is and isn’t canon). In this aspect, though, The Star fits neatly into a teeming, centuries-old subgenre of Christian literature, particularly children’s literature focused on the animals present in the Nativity scene.
Also falling into the category of potential inaccuracy is a very scary, hulking, menacing single assassin immediately dispatched by Herod to kill Mary and Jesus. Now his plot-driving presence may not be strictly accurate, but since he is thwarted at every turn (which is so obvious it can’t count as a spoiler), then I don’t see why his inclusion is a problem. Christopher Plummer’s Herod very pointedly says that if this single assassin can’t find Jesus, then he’ll just have to murder all the children of that age. So The Star is historical fiction, yes, but it operates within the broad perameters of the actual gospel narrative.
The story has a lot of humor, mainly directed at little children, but none of it is crude or irreverant, and the tone is respectful.
I think there is little to complain about here for Christians. (Maybe that swords don’t usually cut quickly through stone, but that seems minor.)
Now, for non-Christians, it’s another story. I still personally think that The Star is sweet and harmless as long as non-Christian parents preface it by saying, “This is what Christians believe about why they celebrate Christmas.”
I, personally, would love to watch faith-based movies intended for children about the origins of holidays like Hanukkah, Ramadan, and Diwali to name just a very, very few. Once I had a conversation with someone about what he was taught in a Hindu equivalent of Sunday School. It was so fascinating (and incredibly similar to what I’d been taught as a Christian). When you hear about other religions from Christian evangelists (a dicey proposition), or theologians (better), or from textbooks (even better) or their own sacred texts (best, provided that you understand what you’re reading which you probably won’t), you don’t get the doctrine distilled into the form in which it is taught to children. Not only are children taught what is (or seems) simple, but they are also taught what is truly most important. So I would love to see a movie like this made for children of another faith.
But I am an adult.
As a critic, I have to guard against my own tendency not to notice what is not objectionable to me. (During a conversation, I once forgot that there was any lesbian content in The Hours. Seriously, all the time I’m like, “I don’t remember too much profanity in that,” and then the movie is The Departed.)
So initially, I thought, There wasn’t anything offensive to a non-Christian audience in that. There was really no kind of doctrinal statement or express theology in it.
Then I realized, Yeah except for that part when what are clearly divine beings tell Mary and Joseph that they are going to be raising the Messiah. And then Joseph freaks out about his stepson being the Messiah and says Messiah about a million times.
So I think this would be most problematic for Jewish children who know about Jesus and truly believe a Messiah is coming but don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah. Still, most Jewish children in this country have been exposed to Christian Christmas specials before (once or twice or like constantly and incessantly for their entire lives), so this surely would not be world shattering for any of them. A simple disclaimer, “This is a make believe story about what Christians believe about Jesus,” would do the trick.
But people of other faiths would need to make sure they clearly positioned the film that way when showing it to their children. You can’t just let them watch it without some sort of warning because what are clearly non-human entities speak to Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, and Joseph says like twenty million times that he was told the baby will be the Messiah. If you are not Christian, be aware that your children will see the human protagonists of this story talking to heavenly beings (which could be mistaken for aliens or demons) and concluding their child will be the Messiah. Christian children will watch and think, “Oh these are the angels, conveying the truth from God that Jesus is the Messiah, no problem,” but I’m not sure what young children who are not Christian might think. As presented in this movie, the angels might even frighten or unsettle young children.
So if you are not Christian, but you are a person of faith, I don’t think this movie would be particularly insidious or indoctrinating for your kids to see, but I also don’t know why you would go out of your way to pay to see it in the theater. Of course, if you’re already at the theater and desperate to entertain your kids for an hour and a half, all the little animals are cute, and the morals of the story are inoffensive and gently conveyed. You’d just need to remember to prep your children about the supernatural elements ahead of time.
If, on the other hand, you are an atheist or agnostic, I’d say sure, take your kids to this movie if they want to go. Why not? The movie is pretty harmless. It does introduce the birth of Jesus, but it isn’t trying to push any particular doctrine (other than basic Christian concepts like forgiveness and doing what your heart tells you is right) which double as secular values our society teaches to children, anyway. If you’re cool with all the Santa Claus stuff then why not a movie about a brave little donkey who tries to help Jesus?
Overall:
If you are a Christian (or just a fan of Christmas), then you should take your children to see The Star (especially if they are young). It is sweet, moving, gently (inoffensively) funny, and (best of all) consistently engaging with great work all around from a talented cast of voices. My two-year-old sat through it, and all of us liked it. Honestly, it was better than I expected.