Movie Review: The Star Part 2

Movie Review: The Star Part 2                                                                                                   12-9-18

From Sony Pictures Animation, The Jim Henson Company, and Walden Media comes The Star, based on the story of the birth of Jesus. Bo is a donkey who dreams of a life beyond the grain mill. One day, he finds the courage to break free and teams up with a lamb named Ruth and a dove named Dave with lofty expectations. Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his friends follow a star in the sky on the adventure of their dreams, and become part of the greatest story ever told.

Now, what do I think of The Star? Well, it obviously doesn't hold a candle to The Prince of Egypt, but is much better than another Biblical animated film, 2007's The Ten Commandments. It looked something like this.

THIS is from 2007?! That looks like something from the 1990s!

Instead of being animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, like Surf's Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Hotel Transylvania, The Star was animated at Cinesite in Montreal.

Now what do I think of this movie? Well, to be honest, I found it disappointing. The Star has paper-thin characters, unfunny jokes, and a story that should've focused on Mary and Joseph, voiced by Gina Rodriguez and Zachery Levi. I can't believe that I'd ever say this, but I actually think I prefer some of the characters in The Secret Life of Pets, which was also made after an overabundance of talking animal movies from different studios, instead of this.

You would also think that since Abby, the pygmy jerboa voiced by Kristen Chenoweth, was featured a lot in the promotional material, she would end up being a major character, right? Wrong. She only has about five minutes of screen time in the entire film. In fact, you could remove Abby from the story and it would still be the same!

In conclusion, while not as bad as The Emoji Movie or the Korean-produced Spark: A Space Tail, The Star is a film that might charm younger viewers, but doesn't have much for teens or adults. If you want to watch a good biblical animated film other than The Prince of Egypt, I recommend the half-hour Disney short film, The Small One. It's included on most DVD releases of Mickey's Christmas Carol. The Small One looked something like this.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.