Les Pires Enfants de l'Histoire du Monde

Some reviewers here are bashing this movie because they say it is overtly religious. Not true at all and you shouldn't listen to them. It deals with being kind to people who aren't easy to like. It centers around a play around the birth of Jesus. Hello!!!!! That is what Christmas is about. It does not in the slightest shove converting to Christianity down your throat like some have inaccurately stated.

It's a nice family friendly movie that isn't filled with adult language. If you want a feel good story with a good message then this is the movie for you. Will it win any Hollywood awards? No. It has a decent story and some scenes that made me chuckle and even tug at the heart strings a bit.

Don't listen to the naysayers. They probably prefer the blood and guts movies anyway.

I'm a dad, in my late 40s. Took my 10year old daughter to see this and we both enjoyed it. I grew up doing these plays in church. I found myself welling up at all the right places. This movie focuses on baby Jesus and the Christmas nativity story, but the emotions come from standing up for what's right and putting others first. It also tackles how the nativity story can be glossed over as a nice photo - this asks some funny questions that had me laughing out loud.

Really like the story telling structure and narrator. The child actors were great.

Originally I saw the trailer and thought it looked cheesy. I was wrong. Don't judge a book by its cover - also the point of the film.

Very happy to take my daughter to see this film and will recommend it to friends. Happy enough that a day later I'm still thinking about it and felt it needed a positive review. By comparison, I didn't have that feeling with the last 3 superhero blockbusters I saw in theatres this year.

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.

Having read the book when I was young, I never saw too much into it that this was overtly Christian in any way. I wasn't a churchgoing kid but I knew people who did. Only a year ago did I learn that there was a whole legacy behind this, a stage musical, two literary sequels, and a 1983 TV special.

I'm not a big fan of 'faith-based' content (no matter how many I've logged implies) but on discovering that this was happening, I set aside all my hesitations in anticipation. Not only is it abundantly clear that this film adaptation faithful to the spirit of the source material but also expands upon it in a graceful manner. There's three notable segments I acknowledge, and they're all perfect.

Now I'm not gonna go watch The Chosen and harp on about it, but director Dallas Jenkins has crafted one of the best Christmas movies in recent memory. Not once does Christmas Pageant feel like it's proselytizing but it's telling the Nativity in such a manner that, in-universe, the Herdmans (aka the worst kids in the whole history of the world) are enraptured but also the unconverted take away with the logically warped way they see it.

It's the young ensemble cast who are the heart of this story, especially Beatrice Schneider as Imogene, the eldest Herdman who serves as guardian of her five siblings. The children's father allegedly left a few years earlier, and their mother works nights. She had to grow up faster than life would allow. The scene where Beth's (the protagonist) father brings a ham to the Herdman residence is perhaps the first sign that these kids aren't all bad.

The unspecified time period is beneficial to the story, in that this can happen anytime, anywhere. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is what I've been searching for for a long time, a 'faith' film that doesn't leave a bad aftertaste. This is my new holiday go-to.

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.