Holy Week poses a challenge for me vis-à-vis posting a review of a new release for The Legionnaire, especially since I switched to Friday premiers.  To do so, I started going to the theater on Thursdays, which is great almost every other time of the year.  The one day this is inconvenient is the Thursday before Easter, or Holy Thursday more familiarly.  In the Catholic Church, it is the beginning of the Triduum, or the seventy-two hours between Jesus’ Last Supper and His rising from the grave on that Holiest of Days we call Easter.  You would think that, given their significance, all three twenty-four-hour periods would be obligations for us Catholics to go to Mass, other than the usual obeying of the Sabath.  They are not, but I go anyway, which makes my usual cinema slot of Thursday a no-go since there is Mass that evening.  Thus, I was looking for alternatives.  In scrolling through trailers on YouTube, something I do during the week while watching and writing about other movies, I noted that The Accountant 2 was having a special preview on April 15^th, appropriately also known as Tax Day.  Thinking this might be the solution, I looked for showings.  In doing so, I was reminded of another, more relatable film for the season: The King of Kings.  It also helped that it was playing on more screens than The Accountant 2’s sneak peek.  Had The King of Kings not also been out, I would have made the trek to see The Accountant 2, either way freeing up my Triduum to focus on Jesus’ Passion as is proper.  I may not be bringing you the latest motion picture, but The King of Kings will tell you the story of the Son of God, who died for our sins as a true Ruler should be willing to do.

Still, The King of Kings begins with a different story, that of Ebeneezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) A Christmas Carol.  The famous author is giving a dramatic reading of his famous piece to a London audience, but he is being interrupted by Walter Dickens (voiced by Roman Griffin Davis) and the boy’s cat, Willa (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker).  Backstage, the imaginative and rambunctious Walter is carrying on with his brother and sister about his favorite character, King Arthur.  Despite Charles’ pleas for quiet so he can continue the show, the child and feline insist on the importance of their pantomime, which spills out on the stage.  Willa does his part, too, jumping upon Charles’ recent manuscript and scattering the pages.  Eventually, Charles loses patience with everyone and snaps at Walter.  The boy is chastened but sad, and Catherine Dickens (voiced by Uma Thurman) volunteers to take the children home.  Before doing so, she gathers the disheveled papers and notices that they are a story meant for the little ones.  After the performance, Charles goes back behind the curtain and is disappointed to not find his family waiting.  He trudges home and is greeted by an expectant Catherine upon entering through the front door.  Asking about Walter, Charles is informed that the boy is in his study and expecting a story, referencing what she had found at the theater.  Though Charles is initially apprehensive, some encouragement from his wife convinces him that spending some time with their youngest child is the only way to settle down Walter.  What Charles is about to tell is the eponymous tale, a recounting of the life of Jesus (voiced by Oscar Isaac).  However, how do you get a five-year-old who only thinks about the adventures of King Arthur and knights fighting dragons to be interested in the Prince of Peace, one of Jesus’ other titles?  Charles does not hide the fact that Jesus is a king, an office for which He was born.  One of the ways this happens is by telling Walter that Jesus is the inspiration for King Arthur.  Yet, Charles is also honest about the fact that there are no magical swords or mythical beasts.  There is a version of the Round Table in the form of the Twelve Apostles, but for the first half of the story, Charles must fend off Walter’s wondering about when the “exciting” stuff, mainly Jesus’ crowning, is going to happen.  As this is about the life of Jesus, I will refer you to Scripture to get an account of what is contained therein.  For cinematic purposes, I will tell you that Charles gradually draws Walter into the events, which go from Jesus’ birth to His death and resurrection.  By the end, Walter is spellbound, saying that it is better than King Arthur, and he goes to tell his brother and sister about it.  During the end credits, we see Walter re-enter the story, seeing Jesus during His resurrection and ascension into Heaven.

Since I skimmed over the details of Jesus’ life as portrayed by The King of Kings, I will treat how they are presented in this paragraph.  Charles is presenting Scripture to his son, but in a manner that is more consumable for a little one than reading straight from the Bible.  As a historian, it is a little hard to imagine the Dickens’ offspring being so unaware of these events, but I appreciated the narrative device, spiritually speaking.  If you are a practicing Christian, though, you will recognize chapter and verse at each stage of Walter’s journey with Jesus.  Having a world renowned authored telling it to you also probably helps.  At any rate, Walter witnesses Jesus’ birth; tries to warn the Holy Family of the coming guards before their flight to Egypt; and watches their return once King Herod (voiced by Mark Hamill) passes away, to name a few.  Most of the time is spent on Jesus’ public ministry, which makes sense since the Bible devotes few pages to before this period.  It is also important to remember that there are four Gospels that tell of Jesus’ life and times, five of you count the Acts of the Apostles, though Jesus physical presence is limited in that last book.  There is some overlap between these accounts, but there is still a lot to cover.  I think most Christians will be happy with the outline presented.  An additional thing to note is the manner in which it is presented.  It seems to turn people off of the Bible that it is usually not written in a contemporary style.  People are aware that the man Jesus lived 2,000 years ago, but anything that sounds old appears too passé.  At the same time, attempts to modernize the language comes off as corny.  Arguably, the film errs on the latter of those two extremes, but it works because this is intended as a kids’ movie.  Lastly, there are a couple moments when words are put into Jesus’ mouth that are not Scripturally based.  This should not be a problem, particularly if you are a fan of the show The Chosen (2017-present).

Given that The Chosen stars Jonathan Roumie, a devout Catholic, I could end my analysis of The King of Kings here.  Yet, the real-life Dickens was not Catholic, having a complex relationship with the Faith, and neither is the movie specifically Catholic.  At the same time, it is inspiring for what I try to do with The Legionnaire in terms of changing hearts and minds.  I try to use film as a tool of evangelize, something every Christian is called to do as God moves them.  To that end, the movie introduces this concept early with Charles narrating Scrooge’s plea before his grave that he can change his wicked ways.  There are Bible parallels to this, such as Luke 16:19-31, which features the parable of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus.  The rich man dies and is banished to eternal torment in hell.  Lazarus also passes and is taken to “the bosom of Abraham,” as Heaven is described in verse twenty-two.  From the netherworld, the rich man sees Lazarus and begs the poor man for relief.  When the rich man is told this is not possible, he asks that Lazarus be sent to his family so that they can change their ways and not suffer the same awful fate.  Again, the rich man is rejected, saying his relatives will not believe even if someone were raised from the dead.  Just so, Scrooge is seeing his fate and begging to be allowed the chance to put his life on a different course.  He is also wealthy, but unlike his Biblical counterpart, he is allowed the opportunity to choose a different path.  The same logic can be applied to Walter.  He comes to have a different perspective on what it means to be a king, one that serves rather than to be served.  It is a great message for a kid(s), but one that adults can still learn.  One of the universal truths of belief in God is that it is never too later to return to Him.

With that, The King of Kings is a movie anyone can enjoy.  It is aimed at younger audiences, but it does not do that thing that many animated films do where they sometimes literally wink at adults in the theater as to what is really happening.  Is Walter a little annoying?  Yes, a little.  However, he is more than bearable in the light of Jesus.