Angel Studios (now simply ANGEL), specializing in the (supposedly) under-served Christian-friendly market, moves into big-time Old Testament animation with what could have been titled YOUNG DAVID. You know the one, shepherd boy; too many brothers (one source lists seven!); lion killer (here, catch & release); slingshot Giant killer (Goliath, not catch and release); singer of song to ailing King Saul; then on the lam as falsely accused usurper; finally hailed as the anointed one/King of what would become, under his forty-year rule, Judea.. Oh, that David. (Serial love-making and personal betrayals saved for the sequels.) All this covered more faithfully than expected here, but, like the promise of David’s beautiful son Absalom, ultimately unfulfilled. But where Absalom’s tragedy is tricky to explain, DAVID’s (the film that is) very easy: ANGEL took the generic route and wound up with Biblical Brand X. The songs, each working overtime to become next year’s church camp sing-a-long hit, faux Alan Menken at best, with glints of Elton John’s LION KING & Lloyd-Webber’s JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at worst; character animation a la 1990s DreamWorks, with a spritz of 1950s hairspray for that stiff finish look; lame lamb jokes for the kiddies/pointless older references to thank the grown-ups for driving them.* A shame, as the bones of the story are there.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Best gag for the adults: when they swap Davids from PRE to POST pubescent, using the mere flick of a cape (Brandon Engman vocals out/Phil Wickham vocals in), suddenly young adult David morphs into Michael Landon. Make that, Michael Landon with the same Groucho Marx eyebrows everyone in the film has. Do co-directors Phil Cunningham & Brent Dawes have them, too?
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