CinemaSerf

Charles Dickens has a young son who loves stories of King Arthur and Camelot, of dragons and sword play - and refuses to go to bed until his father regales him with a story. This evening, though, dad tries a different tack by telling him a tale of the king of kings. The lad is suitably sceptical but is soon engrossed in a story of Jesus and the birth of Christianity. This animation uses a paternally Dickensian narration to plonk the young Walter amidst the scenarios as Jesus fights temptation in the desert, has his battles with the nasty Pharisees and recruits his group of followers who share his dream of a peaceful and more equitable world. What makes this telling a little more interesting is that it tries to tell us the stories through the eyes of the young lad. Like those bibles we got as kids that accentuate the adventure elements of the parables, that allow the imagination of a child to get hold of some exciting stories rather than adopt anything akin to the more pontifical. To that end, it plays nicely to Walter’s imagination and, of course, the sentiment extols the virtues the writer intended. It does mess around with the time lines a bit though, and imposing the kid in the middle of the biblical scenes rather disjointed it I felt, but is does engage quite entertainingly as it gathers pace. Though it could never be described as graphic, it also doesn’t shy away from demonstrating just how brutal these times could be if your face didn’t fit or if you crossed the authorities - local or Roman, and as an history lesson it is much more approachable than many more gospel-led lectures on the birth of Christ and his religion. Adults may find it a bit unchallenging, but as a kids introduction to the concepts of faith - in it’s broadest sense, decency and just a bit of fun, too, it uses amiable animation techniques and works fine.