Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

ckbarbour The birth of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. There have been several debates over the years between religious scholars as to how'll accurate the Bible depicts the events that led up to his birth and if it actually occurred on the day we celebrate as the day of his birth. Because of the debates over the biblical and historical facts of his life, different types of religious movements have formed around the world, thousands of different types of religious publications have been done on the subject matter as well as fiction and non-fiction works of art. The Naivety Story, in my opinion, is an excellent work of art that delivers this religious story in a deeply moving manner. Catherine Hardwicke directed the 2006 biblical tale of the Nativity Story. The movie opens up with a quote from the Bible," Behold the days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel will dwell securely" (King James Version Jeremiah 23:5-6) This prophecy sets the tone of how King Herod relentlessly goes after the people of Bethlehem to make sure that this prophecy does not come true. Caught between fulfilling the wishes of God and a mandate of King Herod that all men must go the ancestral homeland to register for a census, Joseph, and a pregnant Mary, had to make the extremely long and arduous journey to Bethlehem. This movie takes the viewer thru a gamut of emotions, from the suspense of the Angel Gabriel speaking to Zechariah and Mary about God's plans for them or the heartwarming emotion of seeing the love develop between Mary and Joseph, the amazement and joy of watching Mary give birth to Jesus and finally the horror at King Herod's edict to kill all boys two years old and under in Bethlehem. This movie makes the tale of Jesus birth come to life like no other movie has! ReferenceRainolds. John, Cambridge & Oxford Translators (1604-1611) King James Bible Retrieved from: time.com/4821911/king-james-bible-history/

Julia Arsenault (ja_kitty_71) I really love this version of the Nativity story and it is one of my holiday favorite movies to watch over and over at Christmastime. I was a little shocked by the 6.7 rating on IMDb though. I thought they had chosen the right girl to play Virgin Mary very well besides Olivia Hussey in the film/mini-series "Jesus of Nazareth" from 1977; Keisha's portrayal was top-notch.The film also has excellent music and that's one thing I love in a movie is a very good soundtrack, as I said many times. I don't have a favorite scene, because I love this film from beginning to end. So overall I really love this holiday film forever and ever.

Evan Wessman (CinematicInceptions) I'm not going to discuss the plot of this movie since probably most people interested in seeing it know the whole story and have heard it a couple hundred times. Instead, I'll talk about what I think it did well and poorly in. The strongest point in this film in my opinion was how the characters were humanized. We get to see a lot of the emotional struggles that Joseph and Mary and Mary's family went through during this time in their lives, which is good because that's something that I feel isn't addressed enough. Mary is still the spiritually flawless person that the Church reveres her as, but she is still definitely human in this film as well and clearly experiences a wide range of emotions that the audience can relate to. The same is true for Joseph, and his character is developed throughout as he learns how to become a father and husband. The wise men are touched upon throughout and provide a small amount of comic relief. King Herod and his son are also included and have a side story of sorts.Another big factor is the scripting. Most of the behind the scenes sequences that are kind of synthesized by the filmmakers are well scripted, but problems arise when the screenwriters have to include iconic lines straight from the Bible. It's kind of necessary for the movie since, well it's a Bible story, but I wish they didn't have to use the lines from scripture because almost all of them seemed really forced and out of place.The biggest detracting point that I see in the film is the dramatic sequences. Some of them were just fine and well executed like the slaughtering of the the infants and the scene where Mary goes into labor. However, the scenes where the Roman soldiers rush into Nazareth and are all intimidating could probably have been left out. They didn't contribute at all to the story and even resulted in some bad acting from a few nameless characters. This also ties in a bit with Herod's side story since most of the times he is seen before being visited by the wise men don't contribute to his character or the story. I think showing the end at the beginning with him and his son was good, but they could have cut down on the number and or length of his other appearances. In terms of technical specs, I felt like the casting was good with the accents that are evident but not so strong that you can't understand them. The lighting was good throughout, though I'm not really sure why I noticed that. You could make a case against the quality of the acting, but it should be satisfactory for anyone that isn't scrutinizing it too much.It's not a bad family film. The infant slaughterings and two childbirth scenes are relatively intense, but all are fairly brief and are minimally graphic. If you hate Christian films, this is better than most of them, though it still might be irritating to watch. It doesn't have the same quality that The Passion of the Christ does, but neither is it made poorly like some Christian movies (e.g. Courageos, Facing the Giants, and Letters to God) all of which have terrible stories and let the religiousness of their films limit them to an unholy degree. Since I'm not going to review any of these movies, I may as well put this out there now: If you're making a fictional inspirational film, make sure that it's a good movie before putting any inspiration into it and don't be religiously affiliated. The two reasons to not being religiously affiliated are 1. Religious plots are usually not good unless religion is a minor factor like in Angels and Demons or The Last Crusade and 2. By being religiously affiliated you won't be able to include any kind of profanity or anything controversial beyond a PG level, which severely limits your credibility, plot, and characters. Sorry if that last bit was too off topic. Overall Rating 8/10.

RameshKhanna A deeply moving movie experience. Slow yes, but then this is not our usual brain numbing mindless action flick. It's about human emotions and inner conflicts, and what a fine way to portray the same on screen.A vastly underrated film that is sure to touch your heart the same way Shawshank Redemption did. A must watch for every serious movie lover and a definite must watch for a devout Christian.Note: I am not a Christian and I still find this movie worthy of a repeat viewing. This movie, like Shawshank Redemption is all about Faith, Hope and Love. ...and believing.I was watching this movie just a little after MIDNIGHT and it was raining heavily with heavy flashes of Lightning and huge/loud rolls of Thunder. This effect enhanced the overall "atmosphere" of my movie watching experience, ...and hard to believe, but the whole rain, lightning & thunder thing stopped as the movie wound to an end :-)