The King of Kings

LIKES: Good Message Very Good Delivery Great voice Acting Authentic Emotion Liked The Presentation Cute/Funny Very Friendly Family Good Pace/Entertaining Meaningful Great Music DISLIKES: A Tad Preachy Character Usage is Uneven Lots of Material In One Movie The Animation Is A Tad Off Does Not Have The Full Movie Magic

Summary: The King of Kings is a movie about one of the most powerful stories in the history of the world. This movie translates it quite well into a piece that feels welcoming to a wide variety of audiences, with kids and adults alike getting ensnared in the powerful prose of Dickens' storytelling. It's a solid delivery and presentation of the material, a combination of what feels like a good Christmas tale that mixed Sunday School and a sermon into an engaging narrative to a boy more impressed with Medieval tales. Inspirational, powerful, and motivational, The King of Kings intertwines the majestic tale of Jesus with a very adorable approach to learning from a child's perspective. Jang and his team (alongside the studio they bought) have managed to keep the magnitude of the miracles and the cute comedy in check, and in allowing the interruptions and jokes, it shows a clever character progression that feels almost as magnificent as the story being told. The emotional moments hit very hard, in particular, the ones where the fantastic musical score mixes with the perfect animation moment to give goosebump-raising moments that feel so in tune with spirituality. As for the voice acting, it's pretty good, with many of the characters brought to life with powerful delivery, especially Isaac and Branagh, who have this command of their figure's emotions and qualities. The poetic dialogue of Dicken's spin of the story sets up Jesus's commanding, yet calm, lines as he teaches his subjects the words of God. Such engaging delivery keeps the deep emotion flowing, presenting that prowess of the moment and, again, not becoming so ensconced in it to be too intense for kids. Especially at the end, where the story comes together full circle, and you are left with this aura that makes you feel lighter. And all of this is at a pace that moves to keep your attention and not feel like attending a bible study for nearly two hours.

Yet, the movie does still cross into preachiness at times, losing the balance and becoming more of a Sunday quoting session. These moments are limited in distracting, but still sometimes trip up the building moments of the movie. Past that, the movie struggles at times with character usage, so many of the members in the Bible feel diluted despite how much each of them contributed to Jesus' life. There's a lot of material in one movie, and so many scenes seemed to be as simple as the sentences in the good book. While this is accurate to a degree, I think that the movie could have used the movie design magic, adding a little more of that musical interlude, a bit more vivid imagination in the miracles, and some slight build-up of moments to fully add that oomph. I know it probably undermines the point of the tale, but just a little more detail or design could have gone a long way. Finally, the animation, at times, feels a bit off. Not in terms of lag, but more so in that the emotion doesn't match the feelings of the words, or maybe it's the opposite point around. At times, the characters seem to have extra words that don't have the delivery to match what they were trying to convey. Something just felt off to me, and though most will not care, that slight difference in delivery is enough to lose a little bit on the score.

The VERDICT: The King of Kings will accomplish a lot for the target audiences of this movie and seems to be quite a force from my time at my theater. It was a wonderful work that blends entertainment and religion to a level that serves the time of the year, establishing hope, faith, and joy in what this story means. It's cute, but not to the level that makes being an adult stink, as it balances fun and seriousness in a nicely paced movie to entertain everyone. And the voice acting is just stellar on many levels, the two lead roles in particular unleashing their characters to amazing levels. Sure, the movie does get preachy at times, and the character usage and content are uneven, given how much happened during Jesus' first walk on Earth, and the animation/feel of the lines is off at some points. However, most of these moments are forgivable when you get those perfect moments of musical and visual splendor colliding to give you that amazing feeling this story brings. Is this the theater movie? Yeah, I have to say it is for a lot of audience members, with those who don't like this subject material or believe in it need to steer clear of this film. The movie's scores for me are: Animation/Family: 8.0 Movie Overall: 7.5.

We took our grandkids (3,7,12) this weekend and were amazed how well the movie kept their attention. We thought the 12yo would zone out - she didn't. We thought the 7yo would not be interested at all, but he was riveted, and he was in tears at the crucifixion. The 3yo fell asleep, but up until that moment she loved it.

We found the animations beautifully done, and the characters were all well voiced and drawn. Most importantly, we hoped the story was honestly told while being careful about how to present some of the more difficult aspects to kids. All of this was done well, and we're glad we went. The movie offered great opportunities for discussions afterward, both with us and with the grandkids' parents. So thankful for this movie!

I can't say enough about how wonderful this movie was. It is a joy looking through the eyes of Dickens youngest & exuberant son Walter. The story is told in such a way that isn't too heavy for children yet conveys the story without watering it down The animation was superb, the humor delightful the flow rhythmic.

I wasn't prepared for the opening scene, but once I understood, about 5 sec in, it became one of my favorite humorous scene. It makes for a impactful & entertaining family outing. We had 4 children in tow ages almost 3 to 11. They all enjoyed it & the almost 3 yr old did not get fidgety until the last 15 min.

The voice acting was great.

The way HIS life was portrayed brought me to tears multiple times.

Visuals were very good, and they way the integrated the child he is telling the story to in to the story kept it interesting.

If you want a family friendly movie to take your kids to this is it.

We enjoyed the music as well.

I don't understand why this review has to be so long as I am a short and to the point type of person, and don't appreciate long winded answers to things that can be shared in a short period of time, thank you for listening, this should take my review of this great movie over the limit.

I was surprisingly the only one in the cinema for this film so I didn't have that high expectations, I was very wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, the music and storytelling were really beautiful at such an important time of year for us Christians. I think this is suitable for ANY age and hooked me all the way through and I'm 22. I think the third person perspective of the Easter Story told by Charles Dickens in the film was really interesting. Such a heart-warming film and loved every single important story told in it. I think this deservers a higher rating. I will certainly watch again and recommend it to my family/friends.

I thought the outro song was a masterpiece too, really touched me this film and NO ONE i know is talking about it! GO AND WATCH.