User reviews

This is a short and beautiful cartoon of the message of Easter, with a wonderfully inspired story, about the baker's struggles with the Romans.I highly recommend this for everybody who is religious or loves animation. The characters were wonderful, and all were appealing. Nylus was diabolical, and so was Nero. I loved the change to Cappella, and I cried when he died. The character animation was great, and true to the TV series. Speaking of the story, the story was the real star here. You had a totally original story, that was revolved around the story of Jesus, which was so clever, and I couldn't fault this. It also taught the importance of friendship, loyalty and family values. The few voice overs credited were flawless. Tim Curry, despite the limited screen time, was in his element as Nero, truly evil. Sheryl Lee Ralph as Risa was a delight as well, as was Debby Boone as Helena. Kudos to everyone else as well, particularly Adam Wylie as Justin. The songs were among the best I have heard in an animation. Robert Guillaume singing the title song was a rare gem. He was about 70 when he did that, amazing. Glory be to Me, was brilliantly sung by Tim Curry. That is a truly difficult song to sing, and Tim Curry made it sound easy. the animation in this segment was wonderful, and showed how truly horrible Nero was. Debby Boone sang her song and reprise with so much feeling and heart, and I was blown away by the beauty of it all. For once the lyrics were well written, and told the story, and even gave us an insight into the character. This cartoon is a must-see! 10/10. Bethany Cox

I was watching this when I was like 4 and it's criminal I couldn't fully appreciate the masterpiece it is. Amazing work from Tim curry (I had no clue he was a good singer), Adam Wylie did an amazing job as Justin, the song Debbie Boone sang was amazing. It all made for the perfect first half of the finale. It would be a crime if I didn't highly recommend this and frankly any other story keepers movies.

The Story Keepers as a series is pretty good but suffers from a low budget, middling voice acting at times, out-of-place music, and some janky animation, especially in the earlier episodes. The Easter Story Keepers doesn't have any of these issues.

The story holds up really well. As a kid I liked it but re-watching it, I saw the great pieces of character development in it. In a lot of Christian shows, they make evangelism seem easy, which it really isn't, and in Roman times it certainly wouldn't be. There is an exceptional moment in the Easter Special involving Ben telling the story of Jesus to a Roman Centurion named Capella, who is properly set up as cunning and evil (willing to burn children alive, no joke). Justin also has a good mini-arc, and Ben is a great character all around.

The Special gets all the background music right to a T. Which is important because it helps invest you in the drama and action. The voice acting is great, with Tim Curry playing Nero (great casting choice), and getting a great villain song. Adam Wylie and Debby Boone are great too. Robert Guillaume (Ben) also sings the opening song and his voice is fantastic.

It was also well-researched in terms of history. For example, during a trial scene, a Roman senator is mocking the idea that Ben, an overweight baker, has been able to outsmart the Praetorian Guard. The other senators are amused and laugh at his joking. Nero takes notice and laughs himself, because he wants to be seen as humorful by the Senators (whom he is in a rivalry with in history). There are also slaves in the story, but no characters are whining about how unjust this is because in ancient Rome slavery was just a fact of life.

Overall, very good. Would recommend. I would like to see it remade with a budget and perhaps in live action.