THE GOD-MAN

Written and produced by Jeff Holder of ABC Children’s Television and Sony Wonder fame, THE GOD-MAN is an innovative, contemporary approach to retelling the story of Christ. It is accurate and very powerful, and it retells the story with virtual 3-D animation that will strike a chord with children of all ages. Produced by the Book of Hope, who have been making Gospel products for youth for many years, this television movie manages to squeeze the whole story of Jesus, from Creation to resurrection and ascension, into a mere 45 minutes.

The animated story itself is bracketed by real characters in reel film footage. In the surrounding story, these youth are stuck in an abandoned well with a mysterious angelic character telling them the story. This real movie will be varied by footage appropriate to the culture of the country where the movie is shown. In other words, in Japan, there will be a “wrap around” movie with Japanese kids, in Saudi Arabia there will be Arabic kids. The plan is to translate the movie into 80 languages.

Another contemporary aspect of the story is the cutting edge music. However, it should be pointed out that it is Christian music, and that the music itself tells part of the story.

All of this sounds much more complex than it is. This is a winsome, compelling story of Jesus. It is better in terms of theology and entertainment than some of the other animated versions that have come out in the past. Of course, it is not produced on a big budget like THE INCREDIBLES, FINDING NEMO, or SHREK, so some parts are jerky and jumpy.

It is clear that the script and the attention to story has made a watchable, entertaining movie. This is the type of movie that you could show to your neighbors, friends, children, and perhaps for the first time, have them understand the whole story of Jesus Christ. In an age of confusion and cults and false testimonies like THE DA VINCI CODE, this is a very important animated retelling of the Gospel. Movieguide® enthusiastically endorses it and looks forward to improved versions, better budgets, and animation breakthroughs to take it to the next level.