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It’s not every day you take your kids to see a movie in theaters and realize, “We are going to watch this every year for the rest of our lives.”
But somehow, director Dallas Jenkins (of The Chosen) pulled it off with this year’s top family film: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Filled with all the warmth and heart of an old-time classic, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever dazzles with the awe and wonder of the true Christmas message.
You can watch the trailer here:
A rare perfect adaptation
The story of the six wild and unchurched Herdman children, who hijack a prim and proper Christmas pageant, begins as a comedy but ends with a powerful message. It’s one of the best stories to help kids connect with the true meaning of Christmas.
Naturally, the many fans of the 1972 novel The Best Christmas Pageant Ever were intrigued and a little worried to hear that it was being adapted to the big screen. I’m one of them. Having read it when I was around 10 years old, this simple but profound story was a step on my own path to faith and a relationship with Jesus.
When I read it, I realized for the first time that the Christmas story wasn’t just a pretty tale of silent nights and starlight but a real, intense, urgent, and earth-shattering moment in history. Best Christmas Pageant stayed with me, and I wasn’t sure the film would capture its magic.
But I didn’t need to worry. Director Jenkins loves the book as much as I do. He said, “That became our Christmas tradition, reading the book to the kids and them making fun of us for crying the whole time, while also loving the story themselves.”
In his hands, the movie became a perfect adaptation of the book, a feat not achieved this well since the 1985 book-to-movie adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.
Unvarnished reviews: “New favorite movie”
I opted to read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to my kids before we went to see it in theaters.
I do recommend reading the book first (the audiobook is only two hours long and free on Hoopla!), as the Herdman children’s truly awful (and illegal) antics might be a bit jarring for younger viewers. Among other things, they steal, lie, smoke cigars, and deliberately burn down a toolshed. (There is also a passage in Chapter 1 in which one of them makes fun of others' weights; I easily skipped over it when reading to my kids. This unfortunate section was prudently omitted from the film.)
Yet the awfulness of these misfit children is exactly what makes their story so great. As one character says, “Jesus was born for the Herdmans as much as he was for us.”
Honest kid reviews
I wanted to see if my kids understood this unusual story, so I sat each of them down for a little interview. Here are their honest reviews:
- “The Herdmans are so small to be so mean,” said my five-year-old. “At first, they were bad and then they turned good. It’s really funny and the best movie in the whole world.”
- My eight-year-old did not hold back her love for the film: “I nearly cried because it was so beautiful. It’s my new favorite movie. It made me think about how God really loves us even if we’re bad. Even if someone starts out mean, they can get better.” She did add this word of caution: “Be very careful if there are annoying kids in your neighborhood, because they might burn down your shed.”
- Meanwhile, my 10-year-old said, “It was sad but good. It gives kids more of a feel of how much God is great. The Herdmans are evil but even after all that they even become good. This really helps kids, and grownups too, to see the Christmas story more clearly.”
And what about my three-year-old? I thought surely it went over her head. But she got it just right with this succinct review of the movie’s moving climax: “She was crying because she was holding the real Jesus.”
Let’s be honest, I was crying, too.
An ode to moms
One of the few changes the director made to the original book was to underscore the role of the narrator’s mother, whose steady faith in the Herdman kids carries the story. That’s why many reviewers are calling it “an ode to moms.” Moms will especially appreciate this aspect of the story and won’t leave with dry eyes.
A suggestion to take home
My theatrical eight-year-old offered this suggestion to parents and teachers: “Plan to do your own pageant at home.”
If your church or school includes a Christmas pageant, this movie would be a perfect addition to the festivities.
“What are you waiting for?”
One of the funniest moments in the film is when the youngest Herdman, in the guise of the Angel of the Lord, yells, “HEY! Unto you a child is born! What are you waiting for?! Go see him!”
All of us have a little of the wild Herdmans in us, and all of us have a little of the pearl-clutching church ladies too. Yet Christ loves each one of us, no matter how imperfect, silly, prideful, and awful we are. What are we waiting for? Let’s go worship him.
And let’s make time to enjoy this delightful Christmas movie with our friends and family. Catch it in theaters now or on AppleTV. This one is sure to become the next beloved holiday classic.
