Nativity-themed 'The Star' mixes the profound and the silly
"The Star” — ★ ★
An animated fable about the first Christmas, “The Star” re-imagines the Nativity story from the perspective of an animal — actually, an entire menagerie of comical Holy Land critters, led by a miniature donkey, who become key supporting players in the tale.
Among the production companies involved in making “The Star” are the faith-based Walden Media and Sony's religious wing, Affirm Films. The movie is sincerely Christian in its outlook, while also a slapstick animal 'toon. It's a mix that works only intermittently.
Screenwriter Carlos Kotkin and director Timothy Reckart mine every opportunity for goofy animal humor: Voiced by a self-effacing Steven Yuen, the film's donkey hero, Bo, has a hoof-scrambling, Wile E. Coyote moment skittering down between two cliff walls, and Bo's pal, a pugnacious dove named Dave (Keegan-Michael Key), ponders unloading on the head of a mean human. Despite animation that has the hard-plastic look of CGI, the Holy Land backgrounds are rather lovely.
The film opens in what we're told is Nazareth, 9 months B.C. Abby (Kristin Chenoweth), a hoppy little rodent, witnesses the Annunciation firsthand, when an angel appears to Mary (Gina Rodriguez) and tells her that she will conceive and bear a son. On her wedding day, a pregnant Mary worries about telling Joseph (Zachary Levi), but that conversation doesn't occur on-screen. He seems loving and nonjudgmental — merely worried he won't be a worthy dad to the Messiah.
Bo, who sees the bright star in the East, longs for adventure, but he's yoked to a millstone in Nazareth. Escaping, he gallops off with Dave flying alongside.
The two animals take shelter in Mary and Joseph's yard. After she and Joseph leave for Bethlehem to take part in a census, a grim-faced soldier with two snarling dogs comes looking for them, on orders from Herod. Because Bo senses the peril, he and Dave chase after Mary and Joseph, setting them on a journey that culminates in the birth of Jesus. Along the way, they befriend a sheep (Aidy Bryant) and encounter the three Wise Men — or, more accurately, their camels (voiced by Oprah Winfrey, Tracy Morgan and Tyler Perry).
“The Star” walks a fine line, trying to simultaneously stay grounded in the New Testament, avoid details that might offend non-Christian viewers, tell an emotionally profound tale and go for all the animal-centric yuks it can. It isn't great by any means, but “The Star” has enough good qualities that some viewers looking for faith-based family fare as Christmas nears will probably say, “Amen.”
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Starring: Steven Yuen, Keegan-Michael Key, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi
Directed by: Timothy Reckart
Other: A Sony Pictures Animation release. Rated PG. 86 minutes