The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Its lessons about how kindness and inclusion benefit both the giver and the receiver are welcome, but its gentle reminder to view even the oldest and best-known story with fresh attention and connection may be even more meaningful.

The film is directed by Dallas Jenkins, the creator of “The Chosen,” a long-running TV series about Jesus’ life. His tonally perfect adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s book boasts a gentle wit. He deftly conveys the movie’s message without a heavy hand.

Director Dallas Jenkins comes from the world of faith-based media, and that world is not generally known for delicacy in its messaging, so it counts as a Christmas miracle that Best Christmas Pageant generally avoids heavy-handed sermonizing.

The movie manages to provide moments of witty dialogue while moving forward with its spiritual duties.

As far as family-friendly, faith-based holiday movies go, you could do worse than “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” though it might not quite connect with all young audiences, as the film leans more toward poignant than playfully riotous.

Uplifting in the right spots, touching near the end, cute and yet cloying, maudlin and manipulative everywhere else, it punches a lot of familiar buttons when it comes to faith-based films for the holidays.

Despite the amateurish lack of comic or dramatic timing, Christmas Pageant does have some old-fashioned charm.

MOVIE TITLE: The Best Christmas Pageant EverThis totally adorable, family-friendly Christmas movie is now playing in theaters, as well as on Fandango at HomeRATING: PGLENGTH: 1 hour 39 minutesMovie Review Mom GRADE: ASPONSOR of Today’s movie review:If you love the movie, you can read the book!Here’s the link on Amazon: ****/3ZKNGbUIN A NUTSHELL:This charming movie is based on the popular 1972 book by Barbara Robinson and will soon become a Christmas **** movie was directed by Dallas Jenkins, the creator of hugely successful TV series The Chosen, a fantastic show about the Jesus and His disciples. Writing credits go to Platte F. Clark, Darin McDaniel, Molly Belle Wright, and Ryan **** film is actually a remake of the 1983 version. It has even been a stage production over the years. Already, the movie has won the “Truly Moving Picture Award” from Heartland Film Festival.THINGS I LIKED:The first line of the movie is awesome: “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.”The director wrote personal notes to Judy Greer, Pete Holmes, and Lauren Graham, telling them how much he wanted them to be in this movie and why he thought they would be perfect in it. They all agreed!Fans of The Chosen will love seeing some of its actors in this **** narrator was voiced and played by Lauren **** kid actors are absolutely terrific and include Beatrice Schneider, Matthew Lamb, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, Ewan Wood, Lorelei Olivia Mote, and Kynlee **** movie is as Judy Greer’s character states, “It’s a good reminder of what Christmas is all about.”Keep watching during the final rolling credits to learn what each of the kids did once they grew up. Cute **** film is filled with nostalgia, humor, and immense charm.I love that Judy Greer’s character is named Grace because she demonstrates so much of it to **** movie was filmed in Canada.When our kids were young, we used to act out the nativity story too. We had little costumes for them and my husband would read the scriptures. This sweet movie helps us all see the story of the birth of Jesus in a new way. Yes, the movie brought tears to my eyes.THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:Some viewers might think it’s too preachy. I didn’t at **** don’t get to learn very much about all of the characters. In that regard, the story is very simple.TIPS FOR PARENTS:Kids smoke cigarsFightingSome profanity (OMG)In the first 3 minutes of the movie, we’re told how rotten the Herdman kids, given a list of very specific bad behaviors.THEMES:Christmas pageantsThe birth of Jesus ChristTraditionFamilyCommunityChurchHelping others feel lovedHypocrasyKindnessHopeDoing the right thingThe true meaning of ChristmasThe power of snacks at churchFUNNY LINES:“I didn’t think they’d actually walk into a church building!” –Charlie (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) “I’m surprised they didn’t burst into flames.” – Bob (Pete Holmes)“Is your mom home?” – Bob (Pete Holmes) “Not when the sun’s up.” – Imogene (Beatrice Schneider)“I got a book license.” – Claude (Matthew Lamb)INTERESTING LINES:“We all need to remember Christmas comes for everyone.” – Dad“All the actors and actresses get to be someone else. They get to change who they are and life a different life. They can get away from their miserable lives and become someone new.” – Imogene“Don’t forget the whole point of the story is that Jesus was born for the Hermans as much as he was for us.” – Grace (Judy Greer)

#TheShortHandCritic: There are those movies that are hard to find fault in because they are innocent enough to slide under the radar. That’s #TheBestChristmasPageantEver for sure. Not that there’s anything so utterly wrong with it. It’s just “missing something”. That something seems to be less processed emotions. It’s a color-by-numbers film. It wants to have a heart of gold so bad, it succeeds in being too squeaky clean. Director #DallasJenkins could have embraced being rough around the edges. You might recall the premise from the book by #BarbaraRobinson and the stage play. The town’s well-known annual Christmas pageant is in jeopardy when a group of rebel children called the Herdman’s bully their way into the show. The film anchors itself on if the pageant will succeed in being “the best” when it’s clearly already in the title—or is it we find out how it is the best? If so, the ending could have afforded to be somewhat bittersweet and not bow tying up ever character in that dumb method of clips and what-happened-to-them taglines. It is a sweet film with a good child performance by #BeatriceSchneider as the main bully Imogene. The often-irritating #JudyGreer plays the mom-turned-director of the pageant. It’s perhaps her best performance (or is it most tolerable?) A major misstep was not having #GilmoreGirls#LaurenGraham as the narrator take the larger part. It would have made the film even more endearing. There is something nice about watching a wholesome movie every now and then. This one is on the fast track to become a Holiday staple, but it doesn’t quite measure up to other classics. There’s no big-little moments of pink bunny suits or cats being roasted by Christmas lights. But as a new family-friendly film it fills the void for the time being. ️️… (Why Not It’s Christmas)+️ (Out of 4 Because 5 Stars Are For Restaurants & Hotels Only!) #FilmReview #ShortHandCritic

A simple and slow movie that takes forever to get where it's going and has all the wit and charm of roadkill. I tried for Judy Greer I really did. Unfortunately, movie isn't the right word here. It's Christian propaganda aimed at kids.