Review: ‘Light of the World’ brings us Jesus through John’s eyes

This year appears to be a banner one for animated features with a bit more of a spiritual inclination than those currently being offered by the big Hollywood studios. We’ve already gotten the Charles Dickens–inspired retelling of the life of Jesus, The King of Kings, earlier this year, and in November, David, a cartoon musical based on the biblical king of the same name will make its way into theaters. And then there’s Light of the World, the story of Jesus’ three-year ministry as told from the perspective of his youngest apostle, John.

Now, the exact age of the Apostle John when he first met Jesus is not directly stated in the New Testament — or anywhere else, for that matter — so theologians have had to make their best guess. We know John died around the age of 90 or so during the reign of the emperor Trajan (c. 98–117), so he had to be quite young during the period covered in the Gospels. We also know that, in Jewish culture of the time, a young man could begin following a rabbi as a disciple in his mid-teens.

Based on this, most theologians speculate John was probably around 16 to 18 years old when Jesus began his ministry, though the Eastern Orthodox Churches sometimes opt for depictions as young as 15.

All of that is mentioned only to point out that Light of the World chooses to depict John as young as the facts allow, as a mid-teen lad eager to do good and be a part of everything, but also encumbered by an adolescent’s inexperience, awkwardness, and tendency to rush into situations without necessarily considering the consequences beforehand. We see this in full force during the film’s opening moments as John embarks on a simple errand for his father, only to accidentally end up in trouble with a Roman centurion and nearly bring his family to financial ruin. It’s not a good day for the boy overall, though he does manage to briefly befriend a nameless local carpenter who helps him out of a tough spot.

John soon bumps into his new pal again at a wedding ceremony, which he has crashed to search for some guy named Jesus. It seems John the Baptist has told some of his followers that this Jesus is the promised messiah, and the young John figures if anyone can help his family out of the mess they are in with Matthew the tax collector, it’s the messiah. John is in the middle of telling all of this to his friend when the carpenter’s mother approaches and explains there’s a problem in the kitchen. John, now realizing who he’s been talking to the whole time, follows along and witnesses Jesus’ first miracle.

Fans of Mary will likely enjoy her portrayal here. As Jesus protests that it isn’t really time for him to go public, Mary gives him a wry, motherly “mm-hmm” and then instructs everyone to do whatever her son says. This kind of everyday-person approach is applied to all the characters in the movie. There are no Shakespearean actorly moments like one might find in an old-school biblical epic. These are just ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. Even Jesus himself comes across as very human and relatable, maybe even too much for some folks’ taste, but it never gets disrespectful.

Following the wedding, the narrative picks up speed and moves briskly through several highlights from the Gospels. We get the assembling of the apostles, the feeding of the 5,000, a fair helping of healings, and Jesus’ occasional run-ins with the Sanhedrin. There are some expected non-biblical additions for storytelling purposes, but nothing heretical. For example, there’s the running gag involving the Baptist’s diet. Scripture makes mention of his eating locusts but doesn’t dwell on it. However, in this movie, he really, really likes eating bugs, much to the amusement of Jesus and John.

As such moments might indicate, the film is mostly lighthearted and breezy, at least until the crucifixion approaches and it’s time not to be. To achieve this tone, the filmmakers have chosen to animate Light of the World in a classic 2-D style that’s somewhat reminiscent of 90s Disney efforts like Hercules. This actually ends up giving the film something of a refreshing look given the glut of CGI children’s movies over the past two decades. Overall, Light of the World is an entertaining take on the Gospel story told from a perspective we haven’t gotten before. Take the kids and enjoy.

Light of the World opens in theaters September 5, 2025.