The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

So I gave this a 9/10. I want everyone to know this is not a true 9/10, but instead this is based on a scale of catching the meaning of Christmas. Let's go ahead and say 10 is it's a Wonderful Life.

Tthe Best Christmas Pageant Ever" is a 9/10. I don't say this lightly. Goodness, it has been years since a movie captured the true spirit of Christmas. The spirit that makes you want to be a better person, and believe in others ability to change. That vibe is so hard to come by, but wow does this movie get it done.

Yes, it's a Christian movie, but not in a preachy way in the slightest. This movie is subtle, and wonderful, and leaves you wanting to be a better person.

Just wow. For a family Christmas movie, bravo.

Beth: "Everything is falling apart." Grace: "I'm not sure they were ever together."

And so it goes with an annual Christmas pageant, whose machinations would rival a small military exercise. It's the film adaptation of the child's book, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. And it is just as the title suggests, at least for me who thinks this is the best Christmas film in years.

Comedy and drama march together as Grace (Judy Greer) runs the annual pageant now that its usual director has been incapacitated. Grace is a good person exemplifying the best of Christian virtue, yet her values will be tested to the max with the arrival of the Herdman children, motherless ruffians notorious for being ornery and at times downright destructive.

Although Grace is inclined to accept the clan for major roles, in the absence of other volunteers, most of the town, even her children, are exclusionary of the infamous family. Thus begins the dominant motif of the subtle faith-based dramedy, the acceptance of those not like us.

As Grace uses her people and drama skills to pull off the pageant, so, too, do others see the value of listening to critics of the status quo as the Herdman's are. More destructive than anything else is their challenges to conventional wisdom, for instance, the account of the Three Wisemen delivering gifts wholly unsuited to an impoverished family. The answer of delivering a ham is perfect and indicative of the riches the Herdman's give to the clueless town in the form of vigorous opposition to the outdated norms of the Bible.

I hope I have persuaded you to try director Dallas Jenkins' The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. My tastes run from It's a Wonderful Life to Bad Santa and not faith-based films in general. Yet, I have been impressed by the quality of such Angel Productions as Sound of Freedom, Cabrini, and Bonhoeffer and now the Kingdom Story Company's Best Christmas. I'm open to new experiences.

Happy Holidays.

Over the decades, our society has gone from MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (on my IMDb list of best films) to many dozens of meet-cute pseudo romcoms that pretend to be X-mas films, and are forgotten as soon as the closing credits roll. Most if not all replete with suspicious Canadian accents. Finally, we have a film which is not original but on-point, interesting, well-written, well-acted, and impactful. They should all be like this. They won't. But they should. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

This movie is so funny and heartwarming as well. My family and I watched this in theater and we enjoyed it from beginning to end. This is definitely a film for the whole family.

Dallas Jenkins did a great job directing and putting this together. There is even a few cast members from "The Chosen" as well. So, that was pretty neat especially since we've watched "The Chosen". Both the kids and the adult cast members did a great job acting in this as well.

I'll admit, we have not read the book. But this has inspired us to do so. We went in blind not knowing the story. So, this was definitely a welcome surprise. We will be going back to watch it again in theater. I'd definitely recommend this one.

Yes it's sappy.

Yes it's predictable.

But good Christmas movies usually are.

We laughed. I cried a good bit.

I wish we had more movies like this.

I wish we had movies that didn't have to have tons of sex and violence. I actually took both kids and my mother in law and we all enjoyed it at different levels. I call that success and it gives me hope.

Most Christian movies are bad. But not this one. It was well acted. The music and editing felt top notch. At no point did I feel like I'd be embarrassed to recommend this film. And I don't think every Christian film has to hit you in the head with the gospel. This one hit that perfect balance.