The Star and the All-Stars

Did you ever wonder if the donkey at the Nativity
previously knew the Sheep?

“The Star and the All-Stars”

A Review of The Star by Nick Olszyk

MPAA Rating, PG

USCCB Rating, NR

Reel Rating, Two ½ reels

            The best thing one can say about The Star is that it is much better than its trailers. Unfortunately, that’s about the most praise that can be mustered for this theatrical “television Christmas special.” Since the advent of Pixar, many other studios have jumped on the computer animation bandwagon with mixed results. Some of these companies, especially Dreamworks and Sony, tend to churn out the same story repeatedly, just with different cute animals. The Star follows this pattern to a tee but thankfully without the unnecessary crude humor and a large amount of respect for its source material. Overall, that’s quite an accomplishment.

            The Star is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern for the Nativity with a dash of Sufjan Stevens’ “The Friendly Beasts” thrown in for good measure. Its protagonist is Bo the donkey who spends his life going in circles crushing grain but wishes he could join the royal caravan and “carry kings.” Just from this one sentence, even an amateur cinephile can tell where this movie is going, and he’d be right. After escaping, Bo’s plans for fame and fortune are put on hold when he needs to protect Mary, Joseph, and their soon-to-be-born child from Herod’s burly assassin. To aid in his quest, he enlists a ship of anthropomorphic fools including a narcissistic dove, a scatterbrained sheep, a cross-eyed goat, and the three camels of the magi. While it may not be the most intelligent or sophisticated narrative ever, it certainly kept my two toddlers quiet.

            This kind of tale has been told since the 1^st century when one of James’ disciples invented a story about Jesus supernaturally elongating planks of wood to make up for elderly Joseph’s lackluster carpentry skills. In the credits, the producers freely admit to “artistic license” but claim “the values are true.” I would agree. This is by no means a modern reconstruction. Jesus is the Son of God, born of virgin birth. The angels are also real and powerful. Bo’s courage and ultimate sacrifice of his own dream for the sake of Mary and Joseph is commendable and a great lesson in the love of Christ himself. This was the purpose of the Apocrypha: creating hidden details about the history of God’s salvation to reinforce eternal truth using human imagination.

            Despite its lame story, predictable plot, and occasionally unbearably insipid dialogue, the voice performances are quite good – which should not be a surprise since the majority of the budget was clearly spent on recruiting Hollywood’s elite. They got Tyler Perry, Tracy Morgan, and Oprah Winfrey herself to play the wise men’s camels, for goodness sake. The best are Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez and Tangled’s Zackary Levi as Mary and Joseph. The create probably the best on screen relationship I’ve witnessed of these giants of the faith, a true marriage that is both intimate and loving yet completely chaste. My personal favorite is mega-pastor Joel Osteen as one of the magi, although they missed an opportunity for a great joke by not making him the one who gives Jesus gold.

            If a family is looking for a holiday film that will reasonably entertain young children while affirming the truths of the Creed, The Star isn’t a bad choice. Yet, it is a shame that a truly great theatrical film has never been made about the Incarnation. Hopefully, we will get to see one someday.