The Easter Story Keepers

The Story Keepers as a series is pretty good but suffers from a low budget, middling voice acting at times, out-of-place music, and some janky animation, especially in the earlier episodes. The Easter Story Keepers doesn't have any of these issues.

The story holds up really well. As a kid I liked it but re-watching it, I saw the great pieces of character development in it. In a lot of Christian shows, they make evangelism seem easy, which it really isn't, and in Roman times it certainly wouldn't be. There is an exceptional moment in the Easter Special involving Ben telling the story of Jesus to a Roman Centurion named Capella, who is properly set up as cunning and evil (willing to burn children alive, no joke). Justin also has a good mini-arc, and Ben is a great character all around.

The Special gets all the background music right to a T. Which is important because it helps invest you in the drama and action. The voice acting is great, with Tim Curry playing Nero (great casting choice), and getting a great villain song. Adam Wylie and Debby Boone are great too. Robert Guillaume (Ben) also sings the opening song and his voice is fantastic.

It was also well-researched in terms of history. For example, during a trial scene, a Roman senator is mocking the idea that Ben, an overweight baker, has been able to outsmart the Praetorian Guard. The other senators are amused and laugh at his joking. Nero takes notice and laughs himself, because he wants to be seen as humorful by the Senators (whom he is in a rivalry with in history). There are also slaves in the story, but no characters are whining about how unjust this is because in ancient Rome slavery was just a fact of life.

Overall, very good. Would recommend. I would like to see it remade with a budget and perhaps in live action.