Nativity! (2009)

Very pleasant and Heart warming movie. As usual, excellent performance by Martin Freeman but Marc Wootton was so on to it. Kids played a major role which bring this movie to life.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS, NOTHING THAT WILL RUIN THE STORY THOUGH: We've seen this movie twice now and will most likely watch it again next year. We love the actors (who are THE very best part of the movie) and the locations and the lack of gungy language and that the children seemed like every day fabulous children and the reminder that people rise to the occasion when given the chance.We could have done without the raunchy dance moves. ") And we could have done without the skewed Mary and Joseph love story especially when acted out by children. Both were a bit cringe-worthy. So, you have to put aside respectful manners and history-according-to-the-Bible for a bit and just enjoy the rest which is loads of fun.Clarke Peters dancing at the end is the best. Wish I had a photo.

This movie is playing on Showtime, and I've been laid up in bed with nothing much to do but read, surf the web and watch TV, so thank god for Showtime!! This movie initially was something I avoided, since I usually really hate kid movies. But strike that; I learned that I really hated *American* kid movies; British kiddie films (and romcoms) are so much better and much more fun. Although Brit humour is right up front, these movies tend not to be dripping with the kind of bottomless cynicism and coy promotion of greedy materialism that lies at the heart of most American movies aimed at the rated G set.For example, in Nativity!, all the kids come from decidedly the underprivileged and underdog working classes, and their chief rival is a posh upper-class school. In an American film, the gold at the heart of the rainbow would have been literally that: gold. The kids would somehow end up fabulously rich at the end, and their poor, belabored working class parents would now able to buy them everything they could possibly want at Christmastime--the true American dream. In Nativity!, all they really want to do is put on a wicked good holiday show and maybe get their depressed teacher back with his girl. Christmas is not nearly as commercialized and monetized in Europe and the UK, and this aspect is very refreshing whilst watching a movie about the one season that American has utterly and completely ruined. I'm usually quite the grinch about our holiday season, but watching this movie made me happy that all the world is not American. (I'm waiting for someone to call me un-American and a Euro Socialist, hee hee) The musical scene at the end; the Nativity play in all its glory, is stupendous. Simply put, the songs are so catchy that I actually had to buy the soundtrack, which will be a neat from-leftfield addition to the usual hackneyed Christmas music selection. (Note to Americans: in general, the Brits have it all over us in the Xmas music department. They have a yearly holiday music competition, and some pretty great songs have come out of it. Whenever I play my Brit Xmas CDs, everyone is instantly singing along to songs they've heard for the first time, and asking me who it is.) The staging of the kids and the way they handled modernizing the nativity theme for the 7-13 set was really quite amazing. For instance, all of the kids want to please their parents who've never had a chance at anything grest, and want to play the Mary or Joseph role. So, the teacher devises a way in which they ALL can individually be Mary and Joseph in the staging of one of the central musical numbers. Great costumes and sets, and I liked that the kids were NOT too-cutesy, been-there-done-that Hollywood kid pros, as would have been the case in anything American. (One reviewer expressed relief in being able to take her pre-teen girl to see something fun that didn't feature Hanna Montana and shopping: too true!) Some of the kids really can sing, and the ones who are just OK make up for it in pure enjoyment of what they're doing. As others have mentioned, I LOVED the little sprite who played Bob, with his funny strong country accent and rock-n-roll attitude. I imagine I'll be seeing more of that kid; he's too cute and full of a natural energy to slip through the cracks.

If you like kids, music or drama/plays , you'll love this movie. Great production. Get's you in the mood of Christmas. This movie will make you laugh, make you cry (sometimes at the same time!), and make you feel like a kid all over again! Freeman - who plays the serious and disciplined hard-on-yourself-than-the-kids and Wootton - the comedious, childish and mischievous assistant, goes deep into their characters which although are quite the opposite, perfectly match and balance out as the story progresses.Amazing how much work would have been put in to train a set of wonderful children.A truly marvelous achievement overall. Well done!Enjoy!