Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Forest Whitaker, Mark Hamill, and Ben Kingsley lend their vocal talents to this film based on a story by Charles Dickens.
Plot: A father tells his son the greatest story ever told, and what begins as a bedtime tale becomes a life-changing journey. Through vivid imagination, the boy walks alongside Jesus, witnessing His miracles, facing His trials, and understanding His ultimate sacrifice. The King of Kings invites us to rediscover the enduring power of hope, love and redemption through the eyes of a child.
Review: Religious films have a long history in Hollywood, but their focus has shifted in the last few decades. While biblical epics were common for studios to finance, most have been relegated to smaller studios or independent productions. Outside of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, the only other substantial biblical films have been Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods & Kings and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah. Whenever A-list actors join a religious film, it tends to garner attention, and the massive cast of the animated film The King of Kings certainly has a roster of talent attached. Distributed by Angel Studios, who also released the surprise 2023 box office hit Sound of Freedom, The King of Kings takes an unusual and distinct approach to the story of Jesus Christ in a manner designed to be easily understood by children. With the talents of Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Roman Griffin Davis, Oscar Isaac, Forest Whitaker, Pierce Brosnan, Mark Hamill, and Ben Kingsley, The King of Kings is a harmless retelling of the greatest story ever told, even if the animation is not quite on par with what we usually see these days.
Loosely based on Charles Dickens‘ The Life of Our Lord, The King of Kings opens with the famous author (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) performing A Christmas Carol for an audience in London. When Dickens’ rambunctious youngest son, Walter (Jojo Rabbit‘s Roman Griffin Davis), causes a ruckus, Dickens is frustrated and upset. His wife, Catherine (Uma Thurman), stumbles upon her husband’s story about Jesus and prompts him to tell it to young Walter. Listening to the story alongside his troublesome cat, Willa, Walter envisions himself in the story of Jesus from his birth in a manger in Nazareth to his eventual crucifixion and resurrection. With asides made along the way in the contemporary Dickens home, the story shifts through the three decades of Jesus’ life, hitting all major points. This includes the most memorable quotations from the Bible, with the rest of the dialogue modernized a bit so that younger viewers can understand what is unfolding rather than keeping the flowery prose of the New Testament challenging for most kids and even some adults.
Of the all-star voice cast, most have only minor roles. Mark Hamill, who voices King Herod, and Pierce Brosnan, who voices Pontius Pilate, both have less than five minutes of screen time in the movie. Other actors, including Forest Whitaker as Peter and Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, have a bit more to do in the story, but their contributions are small compared to the main cast. While Uma Thurman has some substantial dialogue, most of the film relies on Kenneth Branagh’s narration and interaction with Roman Griffin Davis. The elder and younger Dickens are key to the film’s story as Charles Dickens tries to relate the importance of Jesus’ story over Walter’s obsession with King Arthur. At times, the approach feels somewhat heavy-handed, as it may come across as Charles Dickens trying to tell his son that everything he likes is bad. He needs Jesus more than he enjoys mythology and legend. The abundance of pratfall and silly comedy included in the form of Willa the Cat also lends the film an attempt at Disney-esque whimsy, but it feels a bit out of place. The entire Dickens element of the story is strange and maybe the hardest part of The King of Kings for audiences to relate to.
As Jesus, Oscar Isaac brings a feeling of calm and serenity to his performance. For much of The King of Kings, Isaac maintains an even-keeled and stoic approach to voicing Jesus with only a few moments of intensity punctuating the story. Jesus, at times, seems to have different animation styles to accentuate his iconic visage from artistic impressions. Most of the miracles performed by Jesus are handled in a realistic fashion, like the loaves and fishes and the resurrection of Lazarus. Still, there are a few more ambitious sequences. The work of Satan is visualized as a duststorm and another as a demon possessing a man, both of which are handled in a more subtle manner than I expected. The walking on water sequence is the most energetic in the film and stands out from the rest of the one-hundred-minute film. Through it all, Oscar Isaac keeps his performance easy to follow and approachable for viewers who may be unfamiliar with the tale. The crucifixion sequence is presented as bloodless, with the eventual nailing of Jesus to the cross done off-screen with his wounds blurred. It is an odd choice, given that the talk of death and execution is rampant.
Written and produced by Seong-ho Jang, this is his first project as director. The animation work is decent but pales compared to anything from a major studio and looks about a decade old in terms of refinement. There are moments where some characters appear to be AI-generated to fill in background sequences, and movements are blocky at times. Occasionally, the sync between the voice actor and onscreen avatar gets out of step, but it is momentary. At times, the animation has an ethereal quality that shows what could have been had the CGI been a bit more developed, but it feels somewhat antiquated and occasionally cheap. From a writing perspective, the approach to having the wraparound tale featuring Charles Dickens did not work for me as well as it could have. Kenneth Branagh is a solid narrator, but having the Dickens characters appear in the biblical tale is bound to confuse younger audiences. The film also seems a bit long for a children’s movie as it tries to include everything from the entire life of Jesus but glosses over characters like Mary Magdalene and Mary and Joseph in favor of the more prominent parts of Jesus’ life.
With a power ballad sung by Kristin Chenoweth over the closing credits, The King of Kings is an overall nice and accessible take on the message of peace at the core of Christianity. As a Jewish person, I was on the lookout for more stereotypical elements that became controversial in Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Still, there was nothing offensive in this adaptation. Some of the visualizations of the characters could be interpreted as a bit outdated, but nothing I would call racist or anti-Semitic in the least. This film focuses on the core principles Jesus preached and how his message should resonate today. I was unimpressed by the animation but found the overall film to be better than expected. I don’t think kids will be as entertained as the producers may think, but there is certainly more to be enjoyed in this movie than smaller kids would get from The Ten Commandments. The King of Kings is appropriate for younger kids and families, but pre-teens may be a stretch.
The King of Kings opens in theaters on April 11th.
