THE STORY KEEPERS: BREAKOUT!

THE STORY KEEPERS is the latest attempt by Focus on the Family films and Zondervan Publishing House to communicate biblical truths to children. Episode one of THE STORY KEEPERS, BREAKOUT!, introduces us to a baker named Ben and his family who live in Rome in 64 A.D. Ben sees his real calling as keeping the stories of Jesus alive. Ben tells a group of Christians about Jesus’s feeding of the 5,000. As he tells the story, the animation flashes back to the Gospel event itself. Then, Ben goes on to tell about Zacchaeus. In the midst of his storytelling, Roman soldiers break into the secret meeting. Everyone escapes except a juggler named Cyrus. Cyrus is taken to the colosseum where he and the other Christians are to face gladiator Giganticas. God’s grace and quick thinking by all involved gets them out of the colosseum alive.

Breakout is a well written story. In fact, the story of Ben and his family is so well written that it overpowers Ben’s stories about Jesus feeding the 5,000, showing kindness to Zacchaeus and raising Jairus’s daughter from the dead. My younger children want to watch BREAKOUT! again. My 13-year-old felt that the animation was not as good as it could have been. MOVIEGUIDE recommends THE STORY KEEPERS as another wonderful way of communicating biblical truths to young children.