L'étoile de Noël

Just watched this with the kids, "The Star" A really underrated movie about the journey Mother Mary had since the day The Angel visited her. It is funny, touching. The songs are great. It is a good movie to watch with the whole family this Christmas.

This movie made me appreciate Mother Mary even more while at the same time get the magical feeling about Jesus Christ birth 🤗🙏😇. Just watch it. It is in Netflix.

I saw a preview of this on utube and immediately made sure my grand babies went to see it. I guess I'll use the same word as previous reviewer who thought it was INDOCTRINATION. Yep, I guess I've wanted my kids/gk to be indoctrinated to Christmas being about Jesus. It's hard "fitting it in" with all the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Was proud to be there with ALL 5 of them (ages 4-7) Animation was OK, not like Disney of course, but it kept the kids attention. It has some funny parts. It's all from the perspective of the animals, and it takes a while to get to where the star is leading. I hope the kids got it with the typical noise in a movie for children. But either way, I'm glad they can see a movie that tells the story of Jesus at Christmas time. Better than most of what is offered to them on TV and theatre these days!!

'THE STAR': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A computer-animated Christian family film, about the story of the Nativity of Jesus, told through the eyes of a donkey and other animals. It was directed by Timothy Reckart, and it was written by Carlos Kotkin and Simon Moore (based on an original idea by Tom Sheridan). The film features the voice talents of Steven Yeun, Keegan-Michael Key, Aidy Bryant, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, Christopher Plummer, Ving Rhames, Gabriel Iglesias, Anthony Anderson, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton, Kristin Chenoweth, Kris Kristofferson, Mariah Carrey and Delilah. It's received mixed to negative reviews from critics, and it's also a modest hit at the Box Office as well. I found it to be a little too kid friendly, in sometimes a pretty silly way, but religious families will probably enjoy it.

The story revolves around a donkey, named Bo (Yeun), who's tired of his life of slavery, milling wheat for his owner, and dreams of joining a traveling caravan. His father (Kristofferson) helps him escape, and he ends up at the home of Mary (Rodriguez), and Joseph (Levi), who let him stay at their home, despite him not wanting to stay there. Mary, being pregnant with Jesus, and Joseph, later leave their home for Bethlehem. Bo, and his dove friend Dave (Key), try to escape, but they end up on an adventure, with other animals, to protect Mary and Joseph instead. The birth of Jesus, and the first Christmas, becomes the result of their efforts of course.

I saw the film with my parents, who are Catholic, and they both liked it. I can see why other Christians, especially those with kids, would enjoy it too. For me the storytelling, and filmmaking, are a bit too basic and routine though. There's also an excessive amount of silly kids humor in it (but kids should like it at least), and I didn't really care for the animation either. I did like that it's all told from animals' points of view though, and there's even some animal rights/vegan messages in there (that I really appreciated). I think the film accomplishes what it set out to do, and it should please it's target audience at least.

A Christmas story from the point of view of the animals! I can't speak for the cultural appropriateness of this angle, but once you get past the fresh premise, it's a decent retelling. This film focuses on the donkey and other animals but it does show the main points of the overall nativity story so you're not missing out on anything. Their adventure is genuine and heartfelt, just maybe more profane than sacred.

This was quite an entertaining take on the birth of Jesus as experienced by various animals done on computer animation to both humorous and dramatic effect. The traditional holiday songs are well done in scoring some of the picture. Of the celebrity voices, I noticed Tracy Morgan's from the first time I heard him, while my movie theatre-working friend also noticed Oprah Winfrey's. In summary, The Star is worthy of the tale it tells on film.