A Review of The
King of Kings by Olszyk
Distribution Service: Theatrical
MPAA Rating, G
USCCB Rating, Not rated at the time of this review
Reel Rating, Four Reels
It’s been
less than a month since The Last Supper, but already there’s another
major release about Jesus, though from a significantly different angle. The
Kings of Kings is a wonderful story-within-a story about the life of Christ
as told by Charles Dickens (Sir Kenneth Branagh) to his six-year-old son Walter
(Roman Davis). Beautifully animated, it is the perfect Easter outing for the
whole family and ranks among the best adaptations of “the greatest story ever
told.”
The film
begins with a rookie parenting mistake. Dickens is giving a live recitation of
his classic A Christmas Carol when Walter and his cat Willa (the
legendary Dee Bradley Baker) burst onto the stage from the curtain behind him.
Stupidly, he brought three of his young children along and even let them play
around backstage. Two of them calm down, but Walter insists that he is King
Arthur and the cat is his knight, even spiking his father’s behind with a
wooden dagger. Despite responding in a relatively mild manner by confiscating
the sword, his wife Catherine (Uma Thurman) thinks Dickens was “a bit harsh”
and insists he tells Walter a story when they return home, one with
“forgiveness and understanding.” Since Walter loves kings, Dickens announces a
tale of the “greatest king of all” with a “different kind of magic sword.” Thus
begins a private recitation of The Life of Our Lord, the most important
story told to the most important audience.
In any
adaptation of the gospel, one must discern what to portray. Directed by Korean
animator Seong-ho Jang, King of Kings hits all the right notes,
highlighting the exciting parts that interest a child (the Calming of the Storm)
but also a few harder moral teachings (the Woman caught in Adultery). Despite
its short run time, Kings of Kings comes off a complete narrative that
doesn’t cut the important details. As the story progresses, Walter becomes more
and more enamored with Jesus, which makes his passion and death incredibly
tragic and his resurrection even more glorious. By the end, father and son
reunite and another soul is won for Christ.
Despite a
narrative complicated with two interacting stories (think The Princess Bride
or Orion and the Dark), Jang does a masterful job weaving the two
together. Occasionally, Dickens and Walter walk among Jesus like thought
impressions, not interacting and wearing their Victorian clothes. Other times,
they are time travelers in the Bible story itself and can converse with the
characters. My favorite moment is the calling of the twelve disciples. As
Dickens names them, they appear as tiny men walking across a table while Willa
pokes at them like mice. Jang frames the stories as two distinct styles. The
Victorian world is more flushed out and detailed like a Pixar film while the
Jesus characters are elongated and reminiscent of puppets or Claymation. It’s a
fantastic way to distinguish universes in a manner easily understood by
children.
There’s a
unique bond between a father and son in terms of their mutual faith in Jesus
Christ. The Life of Our Lord was the only novel Dickens never intended
to publish. Like Tolkien’s Christmas letters, he composed it as a gift to his
children, reading it aloud in the family home as an annual tradition on
Christmas day. For decades after his death, Dickens’ descendants continued the
rite, keeping the story a family secret. This ended in 1933 when one of his
unscrupulous grandchildren sold it to meet his debts. This relationship is
brilliantly expressed in how Dickens lovingly guides Walter through the story.
When a father tells his son the Passion, he feels the weight of the Father giving
up His Son. When a child sees all that Jesus does for him, he recognizes this
sacrifice in what his own dad gives up every day for his own good.
The most
common reaction to Jesus in the New Testament was θαυμάζω, often translated as
“wonder” or “amazement.” Watching The King of Kings, I was able to again
experience this wonder, both in the eyes of my children and my own heart. This
is the best animated version of the story ever filmed and will most likely become
a classic for ages to come.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on April 11th, 2025.
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