The Miracle Maker

This movie is about Jesus Christ. And any movie that glorifies Christ is worth seeing; this one is actually quite good at it. The animation is unique and effective. The voice acting is convincing. The whole family can enjoy this one. The cel animation that appears throughout the movie is neat. At least rent it for a viewing, you'll be glad you did. The DVD has some neat special features.

As the title indicates, this movie centers on Christ's miracles, but has plenty of parables, counter-legalism interactions with the teachers of the Law, historical clues, relationships, calling of the 12, Gethsemane, the miracle of the Cross, and most importantly the resurrection. My favorite scene is the woman who touches His robe.

This is a great production which is far superior to any of the 'epic' real life re-tellings of the life of Jesus. If you look at the list of theological advisors in the credits at the end of the film you will see part of the reason why - rather than a dramatic Hollywood interpretation of the story, this work is part based on the thoughts of people who have spent a lifetime reflecting on what Jesus meant. That means rather more depth than we get with, for example, John Wayne as a centurion in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Plus the puppets and animation mean that the audience (or at least myself) aren't distracted by the sets and the actors. It's real, but has an other worldly edge that makes it different. Very strongly recommended.

You remember all those Rankin-Bass holiday Specials from the 60s and 70s, Rudolph and Frosty and Easter things? Well, this is a throwback to them-but with a big budget, excellent voicers(Ray Fiennes, Richard E Grant, Julie Christie, Ian Holm, etc.), terrific animation, great heart.

I liked most of all the straightforward, reverent way in which they portrayed Christ, sure it's from the Gospels without much(if any) contemporary shading-but that is really what the material deserves, in my thinking. If you are going to do the Easter story, and his parables, show the 12 apostles and etc-then this is the way to go about it. I enjoyed the mix of stop motion and toon animation, esp in the parables. There was an interesting mixture of styles too-some looked folky, some looked outta Marvel Comix(whenever Judas saw Christ as some revolutionary figure, for example), some more cutting edge.

It didn't have the walking on water or Sermon on the Mount scenes, but did include Lazarus, a flashback to the nativity, healings and etc. I think they did the gospels proud here,and have done a very good job of it. This deserves to become a classic.

***1/2 outta ****----very good.

When he decides to quit his job as a carpenter, everyone thinks Jesus has perhaps flipped but his mother knows that this "father's work" that he speaks of is in fact God's mission for him on Earth. Jesus sets off to tell the people how things should be, gathering a group of men (disciples) around him as he goes. His message is simple but it is not met well by the religious leaders of the day. Seeing the passion and zeal he brings to the people, these leaders plan to accuse him of blasphemy and see him removed from the spotlight in a bloody and permanent fashion.

Whenever I watch a film I try to view it as objectively as possible, ignoring my own preconceptions, media hype etc. With this film I will set aside my opinions on the subject matter but will admit that, if you are a Christian with kids then you'll probably love this movie because it does a great job of presenting Jesus in an accessible and convincing way without making it into a Pixar or Disney Happy Meal type product. The plot is well-known but the film still does a good job with it, careful with what it drops and what it includes, building the main blocks of the tale and allowing enough to be hammered home without doing so much that it would overwhelm with events. The animation is well done; the models are smooth and match the action well, while the variations into other styles is used to make a point or to expand the limited scope of the models and their backgrounds.

The voice cast is pretty close to being stellar and they certainly helped the film sell. Fiennes is OK as Jesus but I didn't think he delved deep for a character – perhaps an unfair complaint since this is aimed at kids and therefore not a performance that called for complexity or interpretation. Holm is good as Pilate; Hurt is strong in a foundation role, important in building the story on a personal level for kids. Grant is a strange John the Baptist – mainly because he sounds very like Richard E. Grant and it doesn't seem right! Stott is unmistakably but a very good Peter. Support from Massey, Molina, Peck, Thewlis, Christie and others all help the voice work add to the classy feel of this film – certainly they raise the film above the Sunday school cartoon level that lesser actors could have seen it stuck at.

Overall a good film on several levels. Christians with kids will love it because it gets the message across without being "educational" in a way that puts off kids and without being the other extreme of being a glossy cartoon. However the casual viewer may enjoy it as well, because the voice work is roundly strong, the animation professional and the story told in a manner that is well delivered and watchable. Considering the millions who went to see the lesser "Passion of the Christ", this film deserves to have many more viewers.

Wow! This movie has such stunning visuals. The first time I saw an ad for it on TV, I could not tell that they were clay figures. They really looked lifelike. Not only this, but I thought this movie was really a lot better than most of the live action "Jesus" movies I've seen. Its dialogue was a lot more down to earth and probably closer to the way He would have spoken. Even though I was annoyed by the switching back and forth between drawn animation and claymation at first, it grew on me, and I think it had a good effect. Even though the voice actors were too dramatic at times, they really delivered a great performance overall. In short, this movie was a great ending to my Easter.