Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers

If your child will have a hard time sitting through music videos and monologue, you might want to skip the first 76 minutes. The music videos were grandiose to a cringey degree and took up over half the runtime. The monologues were engaging for an adult. The movie did a terrific job of conveying the human element of a sojourner giving birth. For those who say the casting wasn't historically correct, I say it was better to use the actors from the original low-budget short film. For those who say "it didn't happen exactly that way in the Bible", I say this is called "The Chosen", not "The Bible". I won't complain about the less-than-realistic depiction of the birth; seeing the real thing twice was more than enough for me.

Dallas missed the mark on this one. If you came to see a beautiful Christmas story, you'll first have to listen to a bunch of Christian artists (maybe 3/4 music and 1/4 story). Sorry but I was disappointed.

The music is good. It is advertised as a movie-like production. But it is mostly music. Music is good. But I can't believe the wisemen nor Shepards were included in the Christmas story! Dallas, the founder, has been stretching out stories to prolong his involvement in the production of movies. To me, this movie is a sure sign that his personal motives are taking priority over telling of the story in a way that engages people. Also, consistent with his other productions, he talks for 20 minutes before the show starts. The narration in the movie is good though.

Please don't get me wrong, I love The Chosen and I think it is God's gift to this world at this time. The Chosen series is anointed beyond measure. The problem with this specific Christmas edition for theaters is that Dallas got it all wrong. The first hour or more of this theater film is nothing but artists singing songs like we are watching the Christian music channel. Why would Dallas think that this would be suitable for a theater? Literally only 25% of the 2 hours is a story. If Dallas wanted to put so much music in this film, why didn't he break it up between stories at least? For me it was disappointing. The main reason I would tell you to go to the theater is to support The Chosen movement. If you want to save time but still donate, please give to The Chosen online and don't bother going to the theater.

I went to see what is so awesome about the chosen, "the Bible acted out". Finally in the Christmas Special after an hour or more of music videos the Chosen did what it does best. I loved watching Mary and Joseph come to life. However the first hour or more as boring and painful. Great artists, great songs, but going to a movie theatre to watch one of your favorite shows only to see what seem like 7 to 8 music videos was rough!

They exalt "The Chosen"; Dallas exalts himself; They exalt the artists; They exalt humanity; They exalt Mary Magdalene and Jesus' mother. I thought Christmas was supposed to be about Jesus... The only time He was even brought up, was when they were talking about our benefits from His sacrifice.

I love "The Chosen" series and wanted to support it by seeing "Christmas with the Chosen" in theaters. I knew there would be special music in addition to the story itself, but hadn't realized the story would only be about 25% of the viewing experience. CCM isn't really my cup of tea, and all the zoomed-in facial emoting didn't help. (The Bonner family, however, was wonderful, as were the children's choir pieces). I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from supporting a good cause or from sending a message to theaters that there is a market for good-quality Christian films like "The Chosen"... but just recognize that most of this film is not actually "The Chosen."

I'm a huge fan and donator to Seasons 1 & 2 of The Chosen series, so why do I feel like I just walked out of a 2-hour timeshare presentation? Perhaps we completely misunderstood what this 'Christmas' feature was meant to be. It was plugged a fresh take on Jesus' birth told through his contemporaries..or so we thought. 15-minutes in my wife turns me and asks "What is this?" Documentary? Music video? History Lesson? Televangelism? Dallas Jenkins self-promo? Testimony? Feature Film? Band Interviews? It's all of it, and none of it at the same time. Who was the intended audience here? Christians? Non-Christians? Those in-between? A one-sized fits all approach misses. A theater release into the secular big-screen world gets a convoluted religious promo piece. Sigh. The first 85 MINUTES is a hodgepodge of lip-syncing Christmas music videos, personal testimonies, performer interviews, and monologues about 1,000 years of Jewish history. We felt like all 11 Thanksgiving leftovers were mashed into the blender, and served over again and again. IT IS NOT is a 120-min feature film with a plot, character development, production value, and historical fresh takes the birth of Christianity's central figure. Yes there are actors telling you why Christianity is relevant to them. Perhaps try telling a story that the audience can relate to through its characters regardless of background or faith. If you enjoy WATCHING Contemporary Christian/Christmas music then you may be right at home. Finally around the 90th minute we get into a past-future scene flip between Mary & Jospeh at Jesus' birth, and aged Mary documenting the event for Luke's gospel. By this time we were just worn out. 45 more minutes was not enough to bring a new WHY perspective on Jesus' arrival as a human baby into a rough-n-tumble world. For that go watch Season 1-2+ of the Chosen series. POSITIVES: Faith music. Children's choir. People-of-Color featured performers. NEGATIVES: Dallas Jenkins monologue in a hoodie. Again. Lack of cohesive production.