Product Info

Studio

Angel Studios

Director

Seong-Ho Jang

Rated

PG

Theatrical Release Date (NA)

Apr 11, 2025

Film Length

1hr 45min

Purchase From

The King of Kings is a Christian-based story about the beginning of Jesus’s life to his sacrifice. There haven’t been many films about religion and King of Kings does a good job of retelling the story in a simplified version for all ages to follow.

A Family Moment

The film starts off with Charles Dickens, voiced by Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet, Oppenheimer), telling the tale of his popular story, A Christmas Carol. However, he is often interrupted by one of his children, Walter, voiced by Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit, Silent Night), and his pet cat. Charles’s temper flares towards Walter, creating friction in their father-son relationship. Afterwards, Charles is asked by his wife, Catherine, voiced by Uma Thurman (Kill Bill series, Pulp Fiction), to tell a bedtime story to Walter to help rebuild their relationship.

Walter, who greatly enjoys stories about kings, is intrigued to listen to his father’s story about the king of kings, Jesus. Charles explains how Jesus isn’t like other kings who use words and faith rather than weapons to spread their knowledge. The film then transitions to a new world before the event of Jesus being born. Instead of the audience watching the story unfold, Charles, Walter and his feline pet are in the story as background characters, observing the events.

Charles continues to tell the story about Jesus and his growth of followers, leading up to his sacrifice. There are a few spots during the story where the viewers are brought back to the reality of Charles and his family’s home. It doesn’t hinder much at first but starts to wear out its welcome. For example, there’s a scene where Walter loses track of his cat inside the story of Jesus and then back to reality, the viewers see Charles holding onto the cat and his family outside their house. Why not skip this scene? The back-and-forth doesn’t need to happen this often.

It’s an interesting approach to not only bring in Charles, Walter and his feline pet into the story as viewers of the events but also showcasing Walter’s expressions and reactions, giving a stronger connection between the film and the audience.

The simplified story helps follow the fast-paced events with uncomplicated dialogue and focusing on main plot points. Some scenes such as Jesus’s last supper could have been more focused than some of the previous spots.

Unpublished Becomes Reality

Because the story is well-known to many, there isn’t much room to edit without causing backlash. Instead, Angel Studios takes a different approach to telling the story by using an unpublished story Charles Dickens wrote to his children about Jesus, The Life of Our Lord. Using computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation to make visuals more approachable for children. This also includes toned-down violence such as blurring out areas where Jesus is sacrificed. However, the backdrops are vibrant and gorgeous to help the characters stand out.

The animation style feels unbalanced. Charles, Walter, and their feline pet look more fluid and animated than many of the figures in the story, which appears blocky, stiff and less fluid. Voice acting for Walter does a good job with enough energy in their reactions whereas everyone else is dull and monotone. With a popular cast including Mark Hamill, Uma Thurman and Jim Cummings, it’s surprising that there’s not enough emotion put into the characters. The soundtrack itself makes up for some of the lack of emotions with its harmonic scores and symphonic music.

The Final Sacrifice

The King of Kings storytelling is great for children to follow but isn’t perfect with its animation choices and lack of emotions. The King of Kings arrives in theaters on April 11, 2025. Showtimes and more information can be found on the official website.

An early screening provided for this review.