Summary
A curious holiday mash-up—half Victorian bedtime story, half reverent retelling of the Gospels—that plays it safe and solid.
Charles Dickens and Santa Claus have become the secular tentpoles of Christmas in a way the Easter Bunny could only dream of. So when this very traditional biblical tale of the first Easter opens with the climactic scene from A Christmas Carol, you’d be forgiven for thinking Christmas—having already annexed Halloween through New Year’s—has now set its sights on the first half of the year as well.
In fact, this animated feature—marking the directorial debut of visual effects veteran Jang Seong-ho—draws inspiration from The Life of Our Lord, a lesser-known story Dickens originally wrote for his children, published posthumously in 1934. The framing device follows a younger Dickens (voiced by Kenneth Branagh), struggling to get his King Arthur-obsessed son (Roman Griffin Davis) to take responsibility for his actions.
So, he tells him the story of another king, with he and wife Catherine (Uma Thurman) recounting the life of Jesus (Oscar Isaac), from birth to death and resurrection. The morality tale conceit allows young Walter—dressed in mid-19th-century garb and trailed by a mischievous cat—to interact with the ‘King of Kings’ along his journey.
It’s no surprise that the first animated feature from Angel Studios (of the controversial Sound of Freedom and TV’s The Chosen) leans heavily into Christian teachings. Eschewing overt politics and featuring a notably bloodless Stations of the Cross, the film is unquestionably aimed at younger viewers. (A live-action coda features a series of children earnestly telling us how cool Jesus is—several repeating the line, “Every kid should see this movie.” That should remove any lingering doubt about the target demographic.)
For broader audiences, already familiar with at least some version of the story, Jang’s adaptation plays like a greatest-hits album of the Gospels. A stacked voice cast—Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Forest Whitaker as Peter, Ben Kingsley as High Priest Caiaphas, and Mark Hamill doing full Joker mode as King Herod—adds plenty of energy. The lead animation leans more toward a simplified, television-style aesthetic, though the detailed backgrounds—like the greenery of the Sermon on the Mount—are often lovely.
Even with the novelty of the Dickensian framing device (or perhaps because of it), THE KING OF KINGS takes a fairly expected path through a well-worn tale. It may not reach the heights of more ambitious biblical adaptations, but it’s likely to resonate with the audience it’s designed for.
2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jang Seong-ho | WRITERS: Jang Seong-ho | CAST: Kenneth Branagh, Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, Pierce Brosnan, Roman Griffin Davis, Forest Whitaker, Ben Kingsley, Oscar Isaac | DISTRIBUTOR: Rialto Distribution | RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2025 (USA), 10 April 2025 (Australia)
