PG | 1h 40m | Animation, Drama, Family, History | 2025
Considering that Jesus Christ is the most portrayed deity in the history of film and TV, one might think there’s next to nothing new any filmmaker could add to the mix.
The bulk of these movies and TV shows focus on the last three years of Christ’s life; relatively few of them are cradle-to-grave productions. Of those, only a handful are recommended for family viewing, either because of quality issues or violent content.
Written, directed, edited, and co-produced by South Korean filmmaker Seong-ho Jang (in his feature debut), the Angel Studios animated release “The King of Kings” puts an entirely new and welcome spin on the greatest story ever told.
The Elephant in the Room
Let’s get this issue out of the way now: Most adults (meaning 50 percent plus one) won’t watch any movie, no matter what the content, if it’s animated. To them, these are nothing more than glorified, overlong cartoons. I get that. Very few animated films can please audiences of all ages. But think of the first “Shrek,” the “Toy Story” franchise, and the 2024 masterpiece “Flow.”“Kings” will engage entire families—not so much for the bountiful and moving biblical content, but because of its “kid-friendly” presentation.
While Seong-ho deserves immense credit for his appealing and unorthodox handling of the material, the movie simply would not exist without the book “The Life of Our Lord” by Charles Dickens.
Private Dickens
Written at about the same time as “David Copperfield” (1846 to 1849), “Lord” wasn’t published until 1934, the year after the death of Dickens’s last surviving child—a condition expressly included in the author’s will. Dickens requested this because he wrote the book not for profit but to read to his 10 offspring every Christmas.In putting together “Kings,” Seong-ho combines elements of the Bible with “Lord” to astonishing effect. The movie opens with Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) doing a stage reading of “A Christmas Carol” while being interrupted by his second son, Walter (Roman Griffin Davis). Walter and his cat, Willa, are acting out parts of “King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table.” This raises the ire of Dickens to the point where he severely admonishes Walter, sending him home hurt and dejected.
At the urging of his wife, Catherine (Uma Thurman), Dickens attempts to make up for his outburst by reading “Lord” to Walter for the first time. Still reeling, Walter initially shows little interest but perks up when Dickens informs him that “King Arthur” is based on the life of the greatest king ever, Jesus Christ (Oscar Isaac).
Firsthand Witnesses
What could have been just a novel and a pretty good Sunday school lesson is transformed into something thoroughly enthralling. Instead of showing Dickens and Walter in the family study room the whole time, Seong-ho and his illustrators put Walter and Willa (and sometimes Dickens) in the same frame as Christ, witnessing firsthand his extraordinary acts and deeds.At one point during Christ’s admonishing of those who have turned the temple into a marketplace, Walter initially appears to interact with Christ. But through some impressive sleight of hand, it proves to be something else, and the scene thus doesn’t attempt to rewrite or fictionalize history.
My greatest fear in entering the third act was how Seong-ho would handle the depiction of the crucifixion. Luckily, most of this extended event was mostly implied and handled off-screen. It still had the desired effect while falling within the guidelines of a PG-rated movie.
Seong-ho’s greatest triumph here (among many) is in not making “Kings” a religious movie. Instead, it’s one rooted in morality, miracles, life lessons, and always doing the right thing. It leads by example, not dogma.
If you (and hopefully, your family) choose to see it, be sure to stick around for the entire end credit sequence. It includes a “pay it forward” QR code option and a video montage of child “critics” voicing their often astute opinions of the movie.
