It’s time for a recent film based on the events of King David from the Bible. This one is particularly focusing on his rise to becoming the King. This makes for a pretty good adventure as that focuses on his strengths and his devotion to God. At this point we are only seeing the tail-end of Saul’s journey where he began to go crazy. Unfortunately being king is a huge burden and one that is far too much for just about any man after enough time has passed.

The film starts off by showing David being a good shepherd as he protects his sheep from a Lion. David was brave the whole way through even while knowing that he could be ripped apart by the Lion. David was not going to back down and that is absolutely crucial here. He would have to continue fighting opponents of a much larger stature than him like when he goes up against Goliath. That’s probably the most famous part of David’s journey so naturally it was going to be here.

Surprisingly it’s a fairly small part of the film though as a good chunk of it is really about dodging Saul’s many assassination attempts. I’d say this was a good idea because these are the scenes that you don’t see animated very often. It was definitely a really stressful time for David because having an actual king and his armies after you isn’t easy. Additionally, David’s troops continuously pressure him to murder Saul but David refuses. He refuses to go that far and will wait for Saul to see reason.

The animation may take you a little bit to get used to though. The character models and everything feels a bit off like this is almost a mix of 3D and stop motion. Still, the film does get the horror imagery across pretty well with how the Amalekite tribe looks. Their clothes really seem demonic and make them a clan that you don’t want to fight. David was able to put his trust in the Lord though and got everyone else to do this as they all began to sing and put their fear aside.

The film is part musical so there are different songs that play during the movie. On the whole I would say that the songs are good. None of them are going to end up being super memorable but they do work well in the scenes that they are in so I didn’t have any complaints there. Additionally, they don’t overdo it with the songs the way some musicals have one playing every 5 minutes. They are spread out pretty well here so there is always a purpose to the song.

The movie is also pretty straight forward so there isn’t a need for a bunch of twists and turns. Naturally if you’ve read the Bible before then you will know how the events play out so there wasn’t going to be much of a purpose in trying to keep anything hidden. Saul definitely feels like a very imposing character from the start who isn’t exactly oozing goodness so you’re not surprised when he ends up being a big antagonist.

It was good to see more of Jonathan as well since he was David’s best friend in the Bible and got a lot of screentime. Generally you don’t see him much in the adaptions though so this was really good. David’s brothers tend to appear a lot but this is the first time that his sister also got a role. So the film did well in expanding the characters and really fleshing everyone out.

It was also important to start off by showing David’s work as a shepherd. It’s a big part of his character growing up and sets the tone well. I was also glad about the fake out because initially it seemed like we would be starting the film off with animal violence which would have really been a rough beginning. It also would have completely undercut the first scene if you ask me so everything really turned out for the best here.

Finally David’s story is a classic example of how these situations were not ones that he could have solved on his own. If he had chosen to fight without God and just trust in his own skills, he would have lost. The odds were not in his favor and by any human metric David would never have survived this encounter. He would not have defeated Goliath with a slingshot under his own power. Nor would he have been able to evade Saul’s men for years and always find a way to make a counter attack. David was only able to survive this because he put his complete trust and control in God’s hands. While David would go on to have a rough adventure, this is why he is still looked up to as one of the men closest to God’s heart throughout the Bible. You tend to see him and Paul mentioned a lot in that respect. Paul went through a rough period to start things off while David hit the rough patch near the beginning. Ultimately they had to repent and confront their own weakness.

Overall, This was definitely a really good film and it’s clear that the writers were paying attention to the source material here. The animation may not be one of my favorite styles but you’ll quickly be drawn into the narrative so it won’t be a big deal. The film is really paying attention to details and has good pacing throughout. They cover a whole lot of ground here and the characters all act as they should. There is plenty of room left for a sequel should they ever want to do that but this one definitely covers the key events. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I definitely recommend changing that. Whenever we get a well done adaption of the Bible like this, you really want to see it as soon as possible!