Portia Hilton
Blistering performances.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Kimball
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
adonis98-743-186503
A small but brave donkey and his animal friends become the unsung heroes of the first Christmas. Despite a stellar cast and good animation 'The Star' mixes Comedy and religion and the end result is a mess of a film that doesn't know what it wants to be or to do that even little kids will find cheesy and boring to sit threw. (2/10)
bakerfj
Very good movie. Especially for children! Stop overthinking! It's a movie for entertainment!
Bulldog1721
After watching this movie, I felt like this movie really had a great way to tell the Christmas story which we have heard all of our lives. But, this was something totally out of the box into the animal's perspective of that "night divine".I think kids will like it b/c of the comedy and the characters. The adults will like it b/c of the way it can introduce the story of Christ's birth to those who have never known about it.The animation was flawless, the accuracy was on point, the jokes were kid-friendly (a little delayed) but overall, a fantastic balance of what the kids want out of the story, and the lesson that the parents want to the children to get!Fantastic movie! Great for kids and parents alike!
dmbelafan
Religious movies can be outstanding. Children's movies can be outstanding. The combination may be tricky, but is certainly manageable (see "The Prince of Egypt" for reference). Sadly, "The Star" fails in both regards. There were redeeming elements, but the film as a whole lacked direction and polish.In an audience half comprised of children, laughs were sparse, and hinged almost entirely on butt jokes. To be fair, there were some clever jokes that depended on the viewer's familiarity with scripture, but they were few and far between. It didn't help that the movie couldn't decide if it wanted to be funny, sacrosanct, suspenseful, or none of the above.The major liberties taken with the story were for the sake of giving the movie an element of fear and suspense, and added little to the movie's message. Critical plot-altering moments came regularly out of left field with a single line of explanatory dialogue and no narrative support. With some focus, surely the writers could have done better, but their performance here is reflective of Sony Pictures Animation's trend of rushing out unfinished products. The soundtrack was quite good in general and is probably worth owning by itself. Aside from an uninspired performance of "His Eye is on the Sparrow" by Casting Crowns, the other renditions of classics were beautiful and fitting.I'd hoped for more from what could have been an interesting angle on the Christmas story, but I doubt it will be added to our collection. While not unpleasant, it left much to be desired.
