As someone who grew up in the Catholic Church and attended Catholic School for nine years, I KNOW Catholic dogma. I also know that many Catholics (as well as other Sunday Christians) take themselves WAY too seriously. I know several who refuse to enjoy anything not explicitly sanctioned by the Holy See. Most of the negative reviews here were apparently written by these types. That and the ones who openly admit to being atheist, but are then :shocked: that they don't like Christian movies with Christian themes.
So... yes. The writers DID take a few liberties with the text:
* The age difference between Mary and Joseph. In reality, she was 14-ish and he was 30-ish. Here, they are both late teens. Most every retelling of the Nativity gets this wrong, so as to not offend modern audiences.
* Mary is shown as wanting to be a teacher like her father instead of getting married. Others claim she is shown as a 'rebellious' feminist. We're not given any information in the Bible about Mary prior to being betrothed to Joseph. How do we know she didn't not want to get married? She may not act like the submissive female of that era, but at the end of the day, does it really matter? Does it change the story any any way? No.
* The Angel Gabriel is initially shown as being unsure of what he needs to say, rehearsing it different ways before waking Mary. He even hits his head as he floats into her room. The rehearsal is eye_roll inducing, but the whole movie has a comedic slant to it. Again, at the end of the day... not that big a deal.
* The wise men are shown more like the three Stooges, as others have pointed out. Again, the whole movie has a comedic slant to it. At the end of the day... does it really matter? No. I mean, why does everyone assume that everyone involved in the life of Jesus was a stoic, terminally serious, gloomy Gus? These are living, breathing, humans. They had joy in their lives and there is nothing wrong with showing them with a sense of humour. A sense of humour which, by the way, comes from God.
* The Holy Family is shown fleeing Bethlehem when Herod's son finds them and then, after Mary stands up to him, allows them to go; that they are "under his protection." THIS is the only deviation from Scripture with which I have a problem. Mary, Joseph and Jesus were never under any mortal's protection. They were under GOD'S protection and told to flee in a dream/vision given to Joseph.
Aside from the poetic licenses taken... the movie was fun. It wasn't some stodgy retelling of the same story we've heard verbatim for two thousand years, with no human emotions like laughter and playfulness. It showed a corny side of the figures we've all seen as ritualistic, and I happen to like corny humour.
I like musicals, but only certain types. "Repo - the Genetic Opera" is a specific type I like, as is the original "the Music Man." Normally, I can do without the singing in most shows. Most of the songs in this, though, were REALLY good. I found myself tapping along to a couple of them. There were a couple I could do without, but nobody likes everything.
All in all, I would say that this is a good, clean movie without overt modern day injections that you can sit and watch as a family.
