The Star (2017)

My daughter and I rented this movie last night; this was the first time seeing it as well. We both laughed so much during the movie, and I know it will be a new favorite to watch for years to come.

All reviews negative towards this film are censored. As such I cannot post any lengthy review.

'THE STAR': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)A computer-animated Christian family film, about the story of the Nativity of Jesus, told through the eyes of a donkey and other animals. It was directed by Timothy Reckart, and it was written by Carlos Kotkin and Simon Moore (based on an original idea by Tom Sheridan). The film features the voice talents of Steven Yeun, Keegan-Michael Key, Aidy Bryant, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Christopher Plummer, Ving Rhames, Gabriel Iglesias, Anthony Anderson, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Kristin Chenoweth, Kris Kristofferson, Mariah Carrey and Delilah. It's received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and it's also a modest hit at the Box Office as well. I found it to be a little too kid friendly, in sometimes a pretty silly way, but religious families will probably enjoy it. The story revolves around a donkey, named Bo (Yeun), who's tired of his life of slavery, milling wheat for his owner, and dreams of joining a traveling caravan. His father (Kristofferson) helps him escape, and he ends up at the home of Mary (Rodriguez), and Joseph (Levi), who let him stay at their home, despite him not wanting to stay there. Mary, being pregnant with Jesus, and Joseph, later leave their home for Bethlehem. Bo, and his dove friend Dave (Key), try to escape, but they end up on an adventure, with other animals, to protect Mary and Joseph instead. The birth of Jesus, and the first Christmas, becomes the result of their efforts of course. I saw the film with my parents, who are Catholic, and they both liked it. I can see why other Christians, especially those with kids, would enjoy it too. For me the storytelling, and filmmaking, are a bit too basic and routine though. There's also an excessive amount of silly kids humor in it (but kids should like it at least), and I didn't really care for the animation either. I did like that it's all told from animals' points of view though, and there's even some animal rights/vegan messages in there (that I really appreciated). I think the film accomplishes what it set out to do, and it should please it's target audience at least.

"The Star" is an American English-language animated movie from this year that premiered here very recently, so you could definitely say it is one for the holidays. It's not too long at under 1.5 hours, but features still a whole lot of known actors that you may have come across on other projects. Maybe you won't recognize their voices, maybe you will. But you sure will recognize their names. This film here takes us into the Bible by telling us about the nine months before the birth of the Christ as a bit of a fable with speaking animals and an ancient background as this one plays over 2 millenniums in the past. The good news is that I enjoyed almost all the animation aspects here. There was one especially beautiful shot that may have been among the greatest of the year when we see the humans and animals moving forward while also seeing the beautiful star-studded sky. The music was fine too overall with some beautiful songs.But sadly, the film had also far too many mediocre and forgettable moments that made this one seem way too long for its own good and that is even more shocking as it really wasn't a very long film at all. It easily could have been kept at under an hour I believe. On the one hand, there were just far too many (animal) characters in here that had hardly no impact at all on the story. Quite a pity. They were included for one or two funny ("funny") moments and then disappeared as quickly as they appeared like the ones at the end at the location where Mary gives birth. And as for the approach to the comedy here, it was not as successful as I hoped. Here and there, there was a solid moment including a witty joke, but most of it was really just loud and over-the-top sadly and on a level where just the little ones would enjoy it. And this means quite something when I say or write it because it is a statement coming from somebody who is off the opinion that quality animated films are as much for grown-ups as they are for children. Anyway, the ending was somewhat better again and I liked how they included the subject or forgiveness with the two dogs, but also weren't afraid of killing off a really sinister character. By the way, the two dogs could really have their own movie as a sequel. They were one of the better components here.All in all, however, I did not like the film as much as I hoped I would. Donkeys sure are the greatest thing ever (next to guinea-pigs), but the thing I found distracting here is that the German voice in the version I watched did not satisfy me at all and I wasn't too happy in general with the dubbing also for other characters, especially the animals. Let me add too that I am an entirely nonreligious atheist, so I won't go too much into detail about the biblical and more serious contents here and their accuracy. I would just say that the dramatic plot was never really as good as I wanted it to be. So yeah there are some glaring weaknesses here and it may not be the greatest effort by Oscar-nominated director Timothy Reckart at all. Then again, this may be more the two writers' fault than the director's. I for once can only say I am surprised how much attention this has received from the Annie Awards. An Oscar nomination seems possible, but I think it really isn't that good. Watch something else instead.