Really. One of the best movies I have seen. My wife and I enjoyed it and thought it would be a great movie to take seekers to go see. Very well done and treats my Lord and Saviour Jesus with respect. Going to go see it again.

I liked it better than Passion. I found that it was a good, clean, simple telling of the story with some good characterization. Honestly, the nativity story is such a rich narrative, you can just let it speak for itself. So I'm glad they didn't try to do all sorts of weird artsy stuff with it.

Are there parts too violent for a 7 yr old girl?

I would say yes, age appropriate for may 11 and up.

scifi, thanks! I will go see it myself but will get the DVD and wait a few years before the kids see it. And a lot more after that before they see The Passion of the Christ.

no worries. It was a great movie. I haven't yet seen the Passion of the Christ, is it good?

I can't believe no one else has any thoughts on this movie?

I thought the movie was okay...but the timing on some stuff seemed messed up (in other words, contradicted the Biblical accounts...), and it just felt sort of like a filmed version of a kids' Christmas Eve pageant to me.

Two things that really touched me in it, though, were what I thought seemed like examples of foreshadowing for Jesus' adult ministry...the first was when Mary was washing Joseph's feet -- made me think about Jesus washing His disciples' feet -- and the second was when they were going through Jerusalem and vendors are trying to sell them stuff and take their money and Joseph made a comment along the lines of, "This is supposed to be the Holy City..." or something like that...it reminded me of the time when Jesus went to the temple right before Passover and saw the makeshift market of vendors trying to rip off foreigners who needed to exchange currency and buy sacrificial animals and such...and He overturned the tables and got angry with them for doing that in His Father's house...

I'm doing an essay on the movie, though, and I was wondering...did it have a personal impact on any of you in any way, or was it just a nice, touching version of the story brought to the big screen?

You could certainly say it had an impact. It raised several questions in my mind about Jesus and his life. This movie has inspired me to write a fictional book, but I won't tell you what it's about until it's about to be published. Needless to say, I've got my research cut out and I;m currently reading the bible and i'll be interviewing rabbi's and priests. The movie was definetly inspiring and made me feel humble briefly.

Oooooh, I'm intrigued...and now you're going to leave us hanging in suspense!?!?! :-)

Seriously though, that's really something to hear it inspired you to that great an extent...good luck!!

I think it's intriguing that the very young actress (15 yr old?) who played Mary has now turned up pregnant out of wedlock....

And some people think God doesn't have a sense of humour lol

THe movie was definetly inspiring. I wish I could tell you about the book, but I will definetly let you know when I've got it finished and off the publisher. The movie made me ask questions about the society of today and question the real message of Jesus and the purpose behind his life.

scifi - "I can't believe no one else has any thoughts on this movie?"

Haven't got around to seeing it yet, but I will weigh in after I do. Newspaper reviews are pretty positive so far.

As to the Passion of the Christ - is it a good movie?

Personal opinion alert!

Yes, in the sense that it is a very well MADE movie:

- Very realistic and gritty looking. You feel like you are in an ancient city, with all the dirt and crud and filthy clothing. What they call the "mud and rags" school of moviemaking.

- The acting is fine. Jim Caviezel does a nice portrayal of Jesus.

- The decision to have all the dialogue in Aramaic and Latin (with English subtitles) was brilliant (although many of the Roman soldiers probably would have spoken Greek, which was the common language around the Mediterranean, but that's quibbling). I think you hear some Hebrew from the Jewish priests (it was still used in the Temple), but I'm not sure. It is kind of weird to hear Jesus conversing with Pilate in Latin. Where did he learn that, I wonder?

- The crucifixion and the beatings leading up to it are very realistic. It was in fact an extremely cruel form of execution/torture, and you can see why Jesus would die so quickly, in a matter of hours, as opposed to several days of hanging there. In fact, the beating is so brutal that it is amazing he lasted that long.

Therein lies a good bit of the problem with the film. The beatings and nailing are so graphic that it becomes a splatterfest after a while. I've got a pretty strong stomach when it comes to that sort of thing, and I had trouble watching this. It was just plain over the top.

This was one of the top rated splatter movies of the year, according to many magazines and Web sites devoted to that genre.

Which leads to the other problem I have with the film. A great many people found it to be a beautiful and uplifting thing, something that strengthened their faith in a loving God who sent his Son to endure suffering and death for our sakes, and so on.

I found it to absolutely incredible that anyone could believe in and worship a God who, out of LOVE, demanded such a gory blood sacrifice for the expiation of mankind's sin.

So, that's my opinion. The film is worth watching. You can form your own judgment. I wouldn't show it to kids by any means, and not some adults.

thanks, i will have to rent it. THe Nativity story is beautiful, and I don't belong to any particular denomination and i'd add this movie to my dvd collection.