{"id":13685,"date":"2025-12-23T14:44:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T19:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13685"},"modified":"2026-01-17T20:59:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T01:59:50","slug":"david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/12\/23\/david\/","title":{"rendered":"David"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"David<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Angel\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action\/violence, some scary images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Trapanese\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 19, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Phil Wickham, Brandon Engman, Miri Mesika, Sloan Muldown, Ashley Boettcher, Mark Jacobson, Adam Michael Gold, Asim Chaudhry, Mick Wingert, Mark Whitten, Will de Renzy-Martin, Lauren Daigle, Kamran Nikhad, Brian Stivale.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t know if this is the big question on everybody\u2019s mind at the moment, but I\u2019ll ask it anyway. Does David<\/strong> stand a chance at the box office against Disney\u2019s Zootopia 2 (currently closing in on the $300M mark)? Realistically, no. While I definitely think there\u2019s an audience for a Biblical animated musical, I don\u2019t think Angel can bring down the studio equivalent of Goliath. Not that it doesn\u2019t deserve to. Their first full-length animated feature is actually very good. I\u2019m surprised too.<\/p>\n

\u00a0David<\/strong> is a co-production of Sunrise Animation Studios, the South Africa-based studio that specializes in family-friendly entertainment. It\u2019s been a dream project for studio co-founder Phil Cunningham since he was a boy growing up in Zimbabwe. He finally got to realize it after more than 30 years. He serves as writer-director along with creative partner Brent Dawes. They previously worked on a series of animated shorts called Jungle Beat (2004-15). Apparently, it has a huge YouTube presence. Me, I\u2019ve never heard of it until now. I guess I\u2019m not part of their target demographic.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Adapted from the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, David<\/strong> tells the story of the shepherd boy who would someday become the King of Israel. This is foretold by the prophet Samuel (Stivale) who anoints him in the presence of his family. David (Engman as a boy\/Wickham as an adult), a brave lad we first meet protecting his flock from a lion attack. He doesn\u2019t want to be king, but it\u2019s the will of God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0David is taken before King Saul (Gold) to play the lyre for him. Saul is not in a good place right now. He knows that God no longer wants him to be king. His spirits lighten when David plays his music. What really catches everybody\u2019s attention is when the boy volunteers to fight the giant Goliath (Nikhad), the champion of the Philistines who are currently waging war on the Israelites. Everybody laughs at the ideas, but David is firm in his belief that God will protect him. Sure enough, the boy brings down the giant with a single stone.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The movie continues the story with David, now an adult and trusted ally, having to go on the run after Saul tries to kill him. The king figures out that his musician is to be his replacement on the throne. When he fails to kill him, he claims David made an attempt on his life. The boy flees with Saul and his men in hot pursuit.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I grew up going to Sunday school. I remember bits and pieces of the story of David. I also saw the 1985 flop King David starring Richard Gere in the title role. That one will always live in infamy for the scene where David boogies into Jerusalem. Thankfully, David<\/strong> doesn\u2019t get ridiculous like that. It takes itself a little more seriously. It\u2019s not somber however. It has flashes of humor and a few animals, but none of the humor is rude and the animals don\u2019t speak. It\u2019s child-friendly as opposed to childish. A family can go to see it straight from church and not feel guilty.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Computer-animation has become old hat. Everybody uses it now. It\u2019s animation on autopilot. I can\u2019t say that about David<\/strong>. The animation is absolutely gorgeous. It\u2019s colorful, bright, vibrant and rich in detail. I\u2019d even say it\u2019s realistic. These aren\u2019t just animated characters on a screen; they come to brilliant life. Some of the shots, like David\u2019s reflection in Goliath\u2019s sword, are incredible. The artists at Sunrise did a masterful job with David<\/strong>. I would absolutely welcome another animated Biblical epic from these guys.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Unlike most (or all) modern animated films, the voice cast isn\u2019t comprised of known actors with instantly recognizable voices. So you won\u2019t be hearing Jason Bateman or Awkwafina in it. The makers definitely made the right move here as it would be too distracting for the viewer. Moreover, it would diminish the power of the story and its message about faith and trusting in God. That\u2019s not to say that David<\/strong> is a total sermon. It\u2019s not. Besides, considering the audience that will likely turn out, it\u2019s preaching to the choir.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I am shocked at how much I enjoyed David<\/strong>. It\u2019s beautiful to look at and it\u2019s quite moving at times. It has a hero you can root for and likable side characters like his spunky little sister and a wise but slightly overbearing mother. The battle scenes are exciting and well done. It\u2019s a great movie for the whole family.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Angel\/Drama-Musical\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (action\/violence, some scary images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Joseph Trapanese\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 19, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Phil Wickham, Brandon Engman, Miri Mesika, Sloan Muldown, Ashley Boettcher, Mark Jacobson, Adam Michael Gold, Asim Chaudhry, Mick Wingert, Mark Whitten, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13687,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/David-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13685"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13688,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13685\/revisions\/13688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}