This animated biblical retelling has its faith and formulas.
When young David asks who Goliath is, he’s told: “Imagine the biggest warrior you’ve ever seen. Now imagine somebody ate him.” It reminds me a little of how John Cena said “I’m like Mark Wahlberg ate Mark Wahlberg” in “Trainwreck.” But as the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament says, he manages to defeat the giant with one stone. But being “David” is a children’s animated feature from Angel Studio, he doesn’t have to cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword. So, no violence necessary.
You know the biblical story of how the young shepherd and poet David is chosen to be the next King of Israel, but as he grows up he must prove to everyone that faith comes from God, not Saul’s kingship. In his youth, we see him performing a song for Saul, who is warmed over by it, and eventually, he treats him like one of his sons. But in his adulthood, Saul finds out who David was meant to be, and wants him dead.
Not many known actors are used in the voice cast, and I have no issues with that. In fact, a majority of them are very good, like contemporary Christian singer Phil Wickham voicing the adult David, Israeli singer Miri Mesika as his mother Nitzevet, and video game voice actor Adam Michael Gold as Saul.
“David” is also a continuation of the animated miniseries “Young David,” also created by co-director Phil Cunningham. The animation is gorgeous with its attention to detail in the humans, especially their eyebrows which have to be thick and perfect in an animated feature. I guess that’s an unwritten rule. But I guess there’s another unwritten rule that there has to be supporting or background characters acting like comic relief wannabes, which is typical.
Earlier this year, Angel Studios also released “The King of Kings,” which had Charles Dickens telling his precocious son the story of Jesus Christ, and had him and his pet cat being placed in the story. As great looking and faithful as that film was, I just got annoyed by the boy and his cat, and felt they were unnecessary. I’m thankful that “David” doesn’t use those characters to qualify itself as a children’s film, and it does take its story seriously.
But the problems with this animated retelling are that we get songs that are well-sung but unmemorable and it starts to lose our interests towards the third act. A story as powerful as David’s should be given a wiser examination. And if you’re going to aim this for kids, that’s fine by me. As long as it’s inoffensive. And the King Achish the monarch of Gath (voiced by Asim Chaundhry from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” and “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”) is presented as a buffoon whom we shouldn’t really take seriously. I’m sure he was more serious in real life, but I don’t know the whole story, so I can’t really compare ands contrast. But I suppose little kids won’t take him seriously either.
Angel Studios finds its crowd and critics in this decade a lot better than how smaller faith-based movies did in the 2010s (and I hated “God’s Not Dead” for its atheism and cold-hearted nature). I’m not a religious person, but I have found my spirits in faith-based dramas from time to time. It’s all about the filming techniques and how the directors and actors are able to tell stories. But there are times when I have to have my doubts. And as gorgeous and spiritual as the animated version of “David” is, it should reflect on the story with less Disney clichés.
