The Star is the latest animated film geared toward a Christian audience. It is the first animated venture by Walden Media. The Greatest Story Ever Told is recounted from a new perspective in this film. Taking a cue from the huge success of animated animal heroes, The Star recounts the events around the birth of Jesus from the perspective of the animals that witnessed it. And in this case, the animals that helped make it happen.
Bo (Steven Yeun) is a miniature donkey wasting his life away pulling a millstone in circles. When given the chance at freedom, he sets out on an adventure with is pigeon-friend Dave (Keegan-Michael Key). The friends plan on joining the "royal caravan" only to have their plans get sidetracked when Bo ends up in the care of Mary (Gina Rodriguez) after hurting his leg. When Mary and Joseph (Zachary Levi) set off for Bethlehem to be counted in the national census, Bo and Dave uncover a plot against Mary and her unborn baby. With the help of other animals they meet along the way, Bo and Dave manage to help thwart one of the King's henchmen and his dogs. And the rest, as they say, is history.
So, how does one tell the story of Christ's birth from an animal's perspective? It's hard to do that without embellishing a bit. The story is mindless fun, somewhat accurate and engaging enough. There was silly visual humor for the kids, which is to be expected. But the zaniness never felt sacrilegious to me. The colors in this film were rich, and the characters unique and intriguing. The actual animation was decent, but flawed at times. Some of the movements were incredibly fluid, while the movements looked stiff and forced at other times. The animation was a mixed bag for me. The story wove in the elements that we are all familiar with into a new fabric that gave us a new perspective. From a religious standpoint, it was good clean fun. Not wholly accurate, definitely not for the atheist, and imperfect in its execution. But I enjoyed it. And that is all that really matters in the end.
The Star has a relatively short run time at 86 minutes. It received a PG rating for "thematic elements," although I didn't really see anything worthy of a PG rating. It was pretty clean and straightforward. The film takes the opportunity to capitalize on the full "Christmas Season" with a Thanksgiving release that will hopefully carry it through to Christmas. But I have a feeling that this film won't last that long at the theater. I enjoyed it. But it was flawed. Not as bad as IMDb suggest at 5.5, but not as good as I had hoped.
The Star is filled with them. Stars that is. The film is filled with stars. From Yeun (Glenn from Walking Dead) to Oprah Winfrey, the film is packed with an all-star line up. Among some of the other voice stars, you will find Christopher Plummer (who is also Scrooge in The Man Who Invented Christmas this season), Ving Rhames, Kelly Clarkson, Anthony Anderson, Kris Kristofferson, Mariah Carey and Oprah Winfrey. The film cost 18 million dollars to make and is not likely to lose money. It has already recouped two thirds of the cost to make it. That bodes well for this film. Our theater was packed for a Black Friday matinee. I'm thinking this film will do well with young viewers. I am nowhere near as low as IMDb, but I'm not going overboard, either. It was a fun movie with flaws. 7/10.
