The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Currently Only in Theaters

Runtime: 1 hour and 39 Minutes

Rated PG

“The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, and swear.”

They even smoke cigars! But what happens when these rebellious children show up to church and want to be part of the 75th Annual Emmanuel Christmas Pageant? Some of what you would expect: mischief, fire alarms going off, bullying, and a strong desire to add Herod to the performance and have him killed on stage. However, through all the disasters leading up to the pageant, the Herdmans may just give this church something that they didn’t realize they were missing…

Based on the 1972 award-winning book by Barbara Robinson you will find yourself laughing, crying, and rediscovering what Christmas and the impact of Jesus’ birth is all about.

Themes:

Christmas, Jesus, Emanual (The word, person, and city), bullying, fire, benevolence, stealing, prayer, rudeness, tradition, truth, kindness, lying, the Herdmans, directing a play, leading, the Bible, church, charity, absent parents, pretending to be someone you aren’t, Herod, shepherds, wise men, showing up, doing hard things, a turkey, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Language:

Name-calling such as dirty, stupid, and dumb.

Religious Exclamations - 3 (The child that says them is reprimanded each time.)

While there is no “cursing” in the movie there is a scene at the beginning that describes the Herdmans as people who curse. The scene shows a kid yelling words, but the scene is muted out and nothing can be heard. The phrase, “straight to Hell,” is used once time and there is talk of butts and underwear.

Stuff to be aware of: “

Sad - The Herdman children’s parents are never seen and there are references made about how their mother is never home and their father left them. The children are often hungry and do not know how to behave at church and school.

Smoking - A young girl is seen smoking a cigar briefly. She later admits to smoking in the bathroom at the church building.

Violence - There is a scene when a wild cat gets loose in a classroom and a boy with an empty fish bowl is seen, leading the audience to assume his fish was eaten. The Herdman children are bullies. There are scenes with them hitting people, fighting, stealing things, calling people names, taking kid’s lunches, and threatening people. None of this is overly violent or gruesome. There is no bloodshed, but they are some intimating bullies.

Other - While there is one scene during a worship service, acts of worship are not seen. This scene only includes an announcement and children sharing why they are thankful for being about to be part of a church. There is a lot of talk about Jesus and one character prays periodically through the movie.

Overall: “It’s about Jesus.” “Everything here is.”

I have not read the book, but this movie will have you laughing, reminiscing about being a kid, crying, and it will remind you that to be like Jesus we must look past people’s behavior and appearance and remember each person is a soul created by God. I could not help but think about the humor from movies like A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation while watching this. While this movie may never be as popular as those, it does a good job of bringing about church humor that could very well happen if someone like the Herdmans showed up where you worship.

Acting-wise, the adults are all great in it and the children all do a good job with their roles. The story will likely play out as you expect it to, but there were a few surprise heartfelt moments that made this movie more than just a cookie-cutter “fish out of water” Christmas story.

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and it is one that families can watch and not worry about inappropriate dialogue or scenes. I am so glad we watched The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and by the end of the movie, I had shed a few tears. While it might not become a movie your family watches every December, in my opinion, if you are a Christian you will be glad you saw it. There is a strong spiritual message in this movie underneath the humor and it is one we all need to be reminded of.