About the time he was creating the crowd-pleasing “David Copperfield,” Charles Dickens was writing a book meant for a much smaller audience — his children. “The Life of Our Lord,” a simple retelling of the life of Jesus, was read aloud to them, we understand, each Christmas. Dickens insisted it never be published not only throughout his own lifetime but through those of his ten children as well, which moved its publication date all the way to 1934. Not known is why: Was it too personal, or too slight?
Whatever the reason, it’s now been adapted into a full-length animated feature just in time for Easter.
“The King of Kings” is being produced by Angel Studios, which is already busy on its heavy pay-it-forward promotions and ready to cash in. Not only is it the first film adaptation of the Dickens story, it’s one of the few times the life of Jesus has been told in cartoon form — in this case the prevailing 3-D computer animated style.
Dickens, voiced by no less than Kenneth Branagh, plays a prominent role in it, as the author decides to recite the Biblical tale to his rambunctious fourth child, Walter, if only to get him off his King Arthur kick.
“If it’s not about a king, I’m not interested,” pouts the child, who is voiced by Roman Griffin Davis, the Golden Globe-nominated kid from “Jojo Rabbit,” now 18.
So the story begins with the Christmas story, and there are a lot of questions.
“What’s a manger?” Walter asks.
Soon the boy is in Bethlehem amid the action in his red hair and Victorian garb (this is how good his father’s storytelling is). He’s accompanied by his big eyed cat Willa, because if an animated feature doesn’t have a rascally animal character getting in trouble and being cute, it’s hardly worth the Disney money you’re paying at the box office.
At one point Willa gets lost amid the hubbub while Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the Lord helps find the cat. Then Jesus turns back into Daddy Dickens, and the Bible story gets a little muddled here.
But a lot of the New Testament action is retold, from raising Lazarus from the dead to feeding the crowd with the meager loaves and fish, to walking on water.
And before the march to the cross, there’s even a flashback to the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent.
“What’s a serpent?” Walter asks.
It’s surprising he’s never heard these stories before, frankly, either at home, school or church. But there was no internet then either.
Walter has no questions whatsoever about adultery when a woman is about to be stoned, or crucifixion for that matter. He knows something bad is going to happen.
“Gosh, Jesus must feel so sad,” he says as the Romans move in.
And while we hear the sound of whips, we don’t see it hit Jesus’ flesh. Similarly, kids are spared seeing nails being driven into his hands (though they hear it.).
This may follow an edict from Dickens’ wife (Uma Thurman, who otherwise barely utters a word) when recounting Herod (Mark Hamill, who had his own daddy issues in his most famous role) going after all male babies under two.
“Tone it down, we don’t want nightmares,” she tells Charles.
Still, dying for our sins is heavy stuff and it’s faintly ridiculous to see a kid dressed like Buster Brown, with his cartoon cat in tow, at the death scene (a tableau that I imagine would even be offensive to some believers).
Upon the resurrection, Walter has no questions about how these events might save mankind from its sins (questions I might join in asking). Instead he’s at the window, saying everyone should hear about it — like the reformed Scrooge at the end of “A Christmas Carol.” (Perhaps he’ll tell a bypassing old man to buy him a turkey).
That this seems to be happening in the morning suggests the story-telling took all night and that’s about right. An hour and 40 minutes is about a third too long for an animated children’s movie.
Still, it seems like it was fairly well done from South Korean director Seong-ho Lang (who doesn’t even speak English) with nice animated touches for snow and ocean waves.
The character design is a little odd, with the disciples sporting geometric schnozzles and flat heads. Jesus himself (the gentle voice of Oscar Isaac, no less) has a more softened appearance, but like the others a pencil-thin neck, as if this were the Holy Land of Bobbleheads. That Jesus seems white and with an American accent doesn’t seem accidental.
The animation began with motion-captured actors turned into digital images with voice and facial expression recorded separately and added last, which may explain why things move a little strangely. And the rest of the voice cast is notable, with Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, Forest Whitaker as Peter and Ben Kingsley as High Priest Calaphas. Kristin Chenoweth co-wrote and sings two pop songs that aren’t necessary to the action.
But what do kids think? You won’t need to wait to find out. In the credits, a group show up to talk about how great it was, how every kid should see it and predictably, the youngest reviewer saying “My favorite part is when the cat meowed.”
But if you need to tell your Easter tale throgh cartoons and don’t want to leave it to Veggie Tales, I guess this is where you’ll find it.
“The King of Kings” opens Friday in theaters.