The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Positive—This was a very good movie. Well-filmed, well-acted, very heartwarming and thought-provoking, and, aside from some extra conflict added near the end (because the story needed to able to fill a movie), very accurate to the classic book as well.

This movie, just like the book, is a very anti-hypocrisy story. The “naughty kids” in the movie, despite their terrible behavior, are genuinely interested in many aspects of the story that they sign up to star in at the church. They’ve never heard it before, and they end up all reading the story for themselves to see what it’s about. Many of the people that attend the church are angry with the play’s director for allowing them to be in the show, and don’t believe that they should even be allowed in the church. The play’s director from previous years is a traditionalist, and has always followed the exact same script with no changes for years (and is also revealed to have shown favoritism to certain performers), and she is also angry at the new director. But, with the new direction and unconventional new actors in the play, it ends up becoming quite a surprise for everyone…

The movie ultimately shows the negative effects of harsh traditionalism and religious hypocrisy. Certain parents of kids in the play get mad at the “naughty kids” for mentioning violent elements despite these elements actually being part of the real Christmas story. The “naughty kids,” as they’re hearing the story for the first time, mention stuff about it that people who have been attending the church years simply took for granted without giving a second thought to it; ranging from serious elements like how hard it must have been for Mary and Joseph in those days, to more humorous elements like Mary burping Jesus. Their take on the story ends up putting a new spin on the story, albeit one that people really enjoy and which ends up making others see the story in a new light.

A word of warning to people who see this movie, the “naughty kids” are portrayed as violent, crude, and mean. They smoke, they beat people up, and they steal things. What might be most bothersome for a lot of Christian viewers are several misuses of God’s name, but these are clearly stated in the movie to be a bad thing, and the characters are scolded for it.

Despite the negative content, I am going to give this movie the highest rating of Excellent. Life is not always pretty, and we live in a sinful world. The movie was showing that the true meaning of Christmas should not be barred from people (especially young children) just because of the way they talk and act, and I find that truly excellent. I recommend for everybody, young or old, Christian or non-Christian, to go see this movie, and show filmmakers that more movies should be made that are like this.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5