The Christmas Storykeepers (1998)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Written by Eric J. Danenberg, Rob McFarlane, and J. David Stem
Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami

Features:

• None
  

Released by: Artisan
Region: 1
Rating: G
Anamorphic: No

My Advice: Skip it unless you need to be smacked across the face with the lesson that there were a couple of decent Romans

The Storykeepers is an animated series in the tradition of Veggie Tales, taking its name from the idea that the Jews and then the Christians are charged with keeping and retelling the stories of God and Christ. At the center of the show is the family of Ben and Helena, who have fled Nero's persecution of the Christians along with several children who lost their families in Nero's burning of Rome; as the family journeys, they have their own adventures and relate to viewers tales primarily drawn from the Gospel of Mark. The Christmas Storykeepers cobbles together a couple of episodes into a "special long episode" (just over an hour), weaving together tales of Jesus' birth and ministry, with the travels of the Magi and a totally new and fictitious tale of Ben and his family.

Along the way, we meet the standard cartoon heroes and villains, and this is where the problems with the series/show begin: heroes are always kind and generous (even the suspicious oldest child learns his official lesson and repents), and the villains are so cartoonish as to be unreal and basically impotent. For example, two of the Roman soldiers are named "Nihilus" and "Snivellus." Please. This show could have been amenable to children and an effective evangelization tool, and yet still have avoided twisting classical history to bits and being basically shallow. How can today's sophisticated and educated children take Nero seriously as a villain when he's pint-sized, never shown as effective, and basically a joke? It doesn't take a god to defeat him, nor even grand, wonderful men of faith… a duck could do it. A drunk, stupid duck. Why must the "bad guys" be stupid and ineffectual? Why not take them seriously and show them for the real trail of faith that they were? Would that not make the "good guys" look all that much more splendid to have overcome such real struggles?

On the other hand, it is nice to see entertainment for children that attempts to show how engaging stories from the Bible can be. To paraphrase the beginning of The Princess Bride, the Bible contains murder, revenge, true love, pure hope, ultimate sacrifice, exile, adventure, and even wicked men becoming heroes. Most so-called "Christian" shows pull the fangs out of the serpent and simultaneously turn the same Christ they claim to be celebrating into a misty hippy. At least The Storykeepers seemingly manages to avoid that. Granted today's entertainment seems unable to do more than glorify meaningless sex and violence, but do kids really need the whole weird lion cub bit to learn about "lost sheep"?

What might confuse children is the interweaving of the story of Ben's family with the stories from the Bible. It might have been more effective to animate one or the other—the exemplum family demonstrating virtues and learning moral lesions or Jesus being the Messiah. Part of the problem could be how this "feature" was taken from regular episodes; if scenes had to be cut, then perhaps the original episodes had more continuity and smooth narrative.

Overall, the idea of a family who retell the stories of the Bible so that they could be preserved is an intriguing notion, rife with possibility. Unfortunately, the execution here just does not quite live up to the promise. The stories are at least mediocre, but the characters are just plain silly, if not annoyingly one-dimensional and lacking in the power you would assume a religious tale of any sort would have inherently. Ben and Helena are likable enough, but they have strangely little screen time. Add all that to the fact that the weaving of Bible stories with new fiction is uneven and rough, and you're left with a disc you're better off only renting if you're desperate to indoctrinate your young to assume all Christians are silly and most Romans are stupid.