A film that does something a little more innovative with the Nativity tale is 2017’s animated effort The Star. This charming little story looks at the story of Christ’s birth through the eyes of Bo (Steven Yuen), an adventurous donkey who, helped by his animal buddies, becomes the unsung hero of the first Christmas. Yes, this is the Nativity from the perspective of Mary (Gina Rodriquez) and Joseph (Zachary Levi)’s little donkey. Although that synopsis might appear like the sound of a barrel being scraped, this is an enjoyably fresh way to retell the ‘Greatest Story Ever Told’.
Helmer Timothy Reckart’s film makes sure to add plenty of cute, fun animal-related hijinks, making this something far more engaging for young children, while keeping the morals and spirit of the source material mostly intact. I learn this was critically mauled on release for not being funny enough and for being filled with cheesy pop songs but, after the dryness of The Nativity Story, I rather enjoy it.
The Star smartly avoids being overly preachy, letting the story speak for itself, albeit by filling its runtime with silly slapstick, modern vernacular and pop tunes. It’s harmless, solid stuff with a top-level voice cast. Yuen is plucky and endearing as Bo, the young ass with big dreams, while Keegan-Michael Key (Keanu) brings the sass as Dave, a wisecracking dove with a thirst for adventure. Christopher Plummer is an excellent, boo-hissable fit for Herod, while Levi is a likeable, goofy, long-suffering Joseph. A feisty Rodriguez is a maverick Mary for modern audiences - she doesn’t just depend on the men around her to get things done and steers her fella away from making some bad decisions.
The film smartly has Mary and Joseph amicably discuss the whole ‘immaculate conception’ thing offscreen, keeping the focus on the cuddly talking animals. Just like Disney’s winning formula for the wonderful The Sword in the Stone, the focus here is not so much on the birth of a saviour, as it is on the wacky, colourful animal-inspired adventures that take place along the way.
Naturally, this makes for a more exciting narrative than Hardwicke’s film and some liberties are taken with the scripture, like the reveal that Mary and Joseph actually had a terrifying bounty hunter on their tails the entire time, along with his two monstrous dogs, voiced by Ving Rhames and Gabriel Iglesias. Turns out these mutts weren’t in the bible because they were kept at bay by brave Bo and may or may not learn how to be “good boys” by the end of the film.
It’s all unashamedly faith-based but stays entertaining and humorous enough to merit a watch outside of a Sunday School class. It’s not every film that puts Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry and Tracy Morgan together as talking camels and makes it work. The camels get some of the film’s best lines and are at the centre of some excellent visual gags. This one pulls off the clever trick of telling a slapstick-heavy tale without compromising the scripture.
It’d be easy to be cynical about this film, but having been stuck indoors and subjected to a lot of crappy kids films over this last year-and-a-half, I can attest that this is one of the better ones. The filmmakers could have easily gone down the ‘fart gags’ route but they’ve wisely avoided that, treating the tale with just enough respect and reverence to make it all work.
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