‘The King Of Kings’ Review: Is This The Next Greatest Retelling Of The Greatest Story Ever Told?
Easter release The King of Kings is a film that joined in on the box office beat down of Snow White and easily coasted past that maligned remake. It also holds a record over Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. As a South Korean production, its success means it’s the new highest-grossing import from that country to the States. I’ll bet you didn’t know that. Pretty cool, right?
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Regardless, if there’s hype, does this little movie that (just about) came out of nowhere live up to it to be crowned the next great classic for all seasons? (That is, since the last great budding contender ten years ago, and the one before that.)
The King of Kings is based on a book by Charles Dickens, but that book doesn’t share the movie’s title. It was actually called The Life of Our Lord and was a tome the Victorian author read to his children long before it was actually published in the 1930s.
This aspect of history forms the basis of the plot where the Gospel is recounted in vivid fashion by Dickens (Kenneth Branagh) to his little firecracker of a son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis). After the King Arthur-obsessed boy and his cat (Dee Bradley Baker) ruin a recital of that other Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, he avoids punishment by sitting down and listening to the tale of a greater king than Arthur – a King of kings (Oscar Isaac).
But remember I said “vivid“; Dickens, the kid, and his cat don’t just hear the story, they relive it. Every detail from Christ’s birth and ministry to his death and resurrection is experienced in living color and almost real time by the trio. They are present through the tempests, the miracles, and everything in between.
That’s the crux of it: the movie plays out like a walk through history using an animation style that is exaggerated, kid friendly, and something Pixar or DreamWorks could have pulled off, if they were so inclined, albeit with budgets at their disposal more inflated than the balloons in Up.
I appreciate the period touches though I am not a fan of the character designs. They look like bobbleheads or wood carvings that’d fit a little too well in Minecraft – with their narrow necks and big fat noses – or those CG Addams Family reboots. There might be an untapped merchandising opportunity, though.
However, like every animated production, what really brings everything to life is the voice cast. Everyone, especially Kenneth Branagh, Oscar Isaac, and newcomer Roman Griffin Davis, disappears into each of their characters. Such was the case, so much, across the board that I forgot Ben Kingsley and Forest Whitaker, who played Peter, were part of the cast.
Kingsley is in truth instantly recognizable, but Whitaker plays Peter perfectly even if he is a little underwritten. He captures the essence of the Apostle as someone trying to serve and follow the divine plan who comes short constantly because he is still a fisherman at heart adjusting to life in the light and shadow of Grace, of God Himself made Man.
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I’ve heard the issues over Mark Hamill – and a few others – being part of the ensemble, due to his politics, in particular. The most I can say to that is he is appropriate for Herod in hindsight. Other than that, there is no political or woke grandstanding, and Hamill does what he does best, and has done so well since he recorded his first Joker lines. His performance is what you should expect.
And since I’d be remiss not to get to it, how does Oscar Isaac (who voiced Gomez Addams and once played Joseph in The Nativity) do as The Lord? Quite well. Vocally, he conveys the compassion and command an actor should have when playing the most famous Person who ever lived.
As subjects go, King of Kings covers very familiar material for the average audience, even if you only go by all the movies about the Gospel. There are tons going back to the Silent Era and DW Griffith’s Intolerance. It doesn’t go as far as Mel Gibson did, obviously, but there are still some nearly tear-jerking moments during the crucifixion. A few times, I was prepared to wince, forgetting this was supposed to be for all ages.
All Angel Studios releases of the past year have their harrowing moments. I’ve seen most of them and seen people get shot, children forcibly blinded, and terrorists run drivers off a desert road. None of that happens here, so you shouldn’t feel nervous about taking your kids to see King of Kings, especially if they are in Sunday school.
I can see it being shown in classrooms and becoming a modern Easter/Christmas holiday classic with the likes of The Passion, The Ten Commandments, and maybe Son of God; except, you know, for kids – like Santa Claus: The Movie (almost).
So, yeah, Angel should be proud of themselves. They can’t take total credit, but can still count this one as a win (their first since Cabrini, honestly)
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The King of Kings
PROS
- Oscar Isaac as Jesus
- The Dickens family subplot
- Jim Cummings supplies a few voices and uses a plethora of his tried and true inflections
CONS
- Very minor issues with character designs, a few moments of ADR, and some omissions from the Gospel story
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