If I had to choose five of my most favorite movies, or the movies that have inspired me the most and never lost their charm over the years, I would readily go for: The Prince of Egypt, The Last Unicorn, Pinocchio, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I've always considered The Prince of Egypt my all-time favorite non-Disney movie. Even if it's not totally accurate, I feel it does the story of Moses the most justice; I'll go far enough to deem it superior to The Ten Commandments, although I do appreciate that movie well enough on its own. In The Prince of Egypt, the character development is incredible, Rameses is one of the main reasons why I love tragic villains so much, the music continues to give me pleasant chills (especially "Deliver Us," "All I Ever Wanted," and "The Plagues"), and the animation is nothing short of dazzling. What's even better, plenty of non-religious people sing the movie's praises, all the way to this day, so that's how you know those guys did something right.
I used to say I would pay big money to see the story of Jesus Christ portrayed in a similar fashion. Well, I got my wish this last Christmas, courtesy of good old Santa Claus. I was lucky enough to get two such movies that happened to come out in the same year: The King of Kings and Light of the World. I had a fine time deciding which of the two we should watch first. My older sister helped me settle on The King of Kings on Christmas Day, and then we watched Light of the World on New Year's Eve.
So we'll start with The King of Kings, which everyone would surely know about by now, given how it broke the record previously held by The Prince of Egypt and it's garnered plenty of rave reviews.
It's basically Charles Dickens narrating the story of Jesus Christ to his young son, Walter, because there was apparently such a story the real-life Dickens told exclusively to his children and he didn't want it publicized until well after his death. So that would explain it; both my mom and I were a bit puzzled at first about the whole Charles Dickens thing.
For the most part, I was fine with this whole "telling a story to a child" thing, although it got a bit jarring at first, switching back and forth so much between Victorian England and ancient Israel. Some of the dialogue sort of clashed, too, a little too much modern vernacular that I couldn't really hear coming out of such characters' mouths.
Walter is also quite adorable for the most part, if somewhat of a handful (you'll find yourself sympathizing very quickly with his father) and his character development is fairly believable. But you can't help wondering now and then how much of a story like this is suitable for a child at that age, because they really don't shy away from the grim parts such as the Crucifixion. There's a particularly poignant scene in which Walter tries to bring Jesus a bowl of water, but he trips and falls and the water ends up wasted. Then there's another scene where Walter, like Peter, finds himself sinking beneath the cold, dark waves and he cries out to Jesus to save him. Nothing too intense but not much sugar to sprinkle, either. And Walter's only, what, five or six years old? That's really pushing the boundaries of what children can handle if you ask me.
But on the whole, I most definitely enjoyed The King of Kings. Probably my one true complaint is the pacing; some parts felt a bit too rushed and the side characters didn't get as much focus as I would have liked. I, for one, would have loved to see more of the Twelve Apostles, Peter and Judas if no one else, because they both play such a substantial role in the story of Jesus and yet they just sort of disappear after the big betrayal. With that being said, while I would have liked to see Jesus Himself fleshed out a little more, they made great use of what they did show us. Oscar Isaac did a wonderful job at playing Jesus as a gentle yet commanding person, someone who fully expects to be obeyed but lets you decide whether or not you'll obey.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate The King of Kings 8 and a half.
Now onto Light of the World, and I'll admit I was more excited about this one because of the kind of animation we don't get anymore. I ended up enjoying it even more, too.
This one revolves around the Apostle John, who's depicted as a surprisingly young boy, not much older than 12 or 13. Granted, you were considered "grown up" at that age back then; girls could get married as soon as they hit puberty. Even so, John undergoes fantastic character development just like Moses in The Prince of Egypt, although I must wonder why he doesn't end up a little taller with a slightly deeper voice, given that Jesus's earthly ministry lasted three years. You would think John had followed Jesus only for a few weeks or a month or two at most.
But I quite liked John's character on the whole. He starts out as a bright, somewhat clumsy boy with a great deal to learn and a sincere desire to help. His heart is almost always in the right place and Jesus simply helps him to become more thoughtful and graceful. Iron out those rough spots, if you will. I could see a lot of Aladdin in him, so if you like the movie Aladdin, you should like this as well. There's a scene where John is fleeing a small group of Roman guards across a bunch of flat rooftops and it plays out almost exactly like Aladdin fleeing the Arabian guards.
The other Apostles also get a little more of the spotlight, but I would have liked to see them further fleshed out. For instance, when Matthew is recruited, John doesn't like him at first because he's a publican, a "traitor Jew" who holds a cushy job with the Romans and he goes far enough to threaten John's own family if they can't pay their (unfairly increased) taxes by the appointed time. Yet as soon as Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him, Matthew drops everything and follows and that's that. I think more interaction between Matthew and John would have been nice.
Just like The King of Kings, my one solid critique of Light of the World is the pacing. For both movies, I would say it's like going on a car ride through a very beautiful landscape with a slightly inexperienced driver. The driver goes too fast in some parts and applies the brakes a bit too hard in others, but the scenery is ultimately worth it.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate Light of the World 9 and a half.
Overall, I consider both movies worth owning and watching on several occasions, we could certainly use more Bible stories on such a grand scale, I'm quite inclined to give The Chosen a try one of these days, and it looks like The Prince of Egypt just might have a fair bit of competition as my all-time favorite non-Disney movie.
