Dickensblog

Though The King of Kings is doing great at the box office, I've seen a number of critics and viewers saying that they have trouble with the unusual concept of Christ's story being framed by a story of Charles Dickens and his son Walter. Of course, the reason is that the film is based on Dickens's book The Life of Our Lord — although many of us diehard Dickensians would simply argue that Dickens belongs anywhere and everywhere he can get! Still, before I saw the film myself, I wondered how well the two aspects of the story would blend.

Personally, I thought writer-director Seong-ho Jang has done a pretty good job of weaving them together. He does this in large part by keeping things simple and child-focused, so it just seems a matter of course that we're seeing the biblical tale told by a father to his son. Although the over-the-top personality of Charles Dickens (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) comes through, it doesn't dominate the proceedings. The equally strong-willed young Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and his cat, Willa (Dee Bradley Baker) — a true feline diva whose unhinged behavior is a highlight of the film — set things going when they interrupt Dickens's public reading of A Christmas Carol by acting out King Arthur stories backstage. A riled-up Dickens has to be soothed by wife Catherine (Uma Thurman); back at home, she aids him in making up with Walter by encouraging him to tell the boy the new story he's started writing down, about a king even greater than King Arthur, a king so great He doesn't even need a sword. As Dickens narrates the life of Christ, Walter and Willa enter the story to view the events and occasionally interact with the characters.   

That story is told traditionally and straightforwardly, with Oscar Isaac a kind and appealing, if sometimes staid, Jesus. (The staidness was more in the animation and pacing than in the vocal performance; Jesus' speech and actions often seemed a beat behind, as if to set Him apart, but this often just ended up slowing things down.) It emphasizes the contrast between Walter's ideas of a king and what Jesus' kingship looks like, and while that theme isn't carried all the way through to the end of Dickens's narrative, it comes back at the end of the film when Walter begins to share the story with his siblings. The Dickens we have narrating is perhaps more theologically coherent and orthodox than our own real, heavily Victorian-influenced Dickens, but the filmmakers' idea seems to have been more to use him as a framing device and a compelling storyteller than to follow strictly his version of the story. 

The production values are generally good — I particularly liked the understated but beautiful score by Kim Tae-seong — and there's a lot here for fans to enjoy, whether they're Christ followers, Dickens fans, animation fans, kids, or just movie fans in general. If the Dickensian framework remains confusing for some, we can hope it will at least inspire them to learn more about Dickens and his work!