I thought this is a great adaptation of the young story of Jesus of Nazareth . Although e-discovery poor reviews and I MB Di thought it was a good story.

A lot of people are rating this low because it's not biblically accurate. I am a Christian, but I usually HATE Christian movies; they are usually so cheesy and poorly made. But this movie pleasantly surprised me. Here's the thing: In the bible, we are given VERY little detail about Jesus' childhood. This movie is an exploration on a short time in Jesus' childhood and what it might have looked like. It's an interesting take on what it MIGHT have been like, but probably wasn't and that's fine. Just go into this movie knowing that the creators took a lot of artistic liberties. And I think those artistic liberties worked very well. It was moving and exciting and at times, very funny. The acting was great and the script was better than any Christian movie I've ever seen. It's an impactful movie that is loosely based on historical figures, but mostly an imagined tale rooted in the Savior of the World's innocent youth.

In the bonus segment of the DVD version of "The Young Messiah," the screenwriter described how the goal of the script was "informed conjecture" about the life of young Jesus bar Joseph. In turn, the conjectural screenplay was based on the Anne Rice novel "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt." One of the strengths of the film is the choice of shooting sites, especially the town of Matera in Italy, which stood for Jerusalem. The roads, rivers, and mountain locales were also stunning.

But the heart of the film is the story of a year in the life of the young Jesus bar Joseph. The two main strands of the narrative are: 1) the action scenes in which the young messiah is pursued by the Roman centurions, seeking to kill the boy at the behest of King Herod; and 2) the drama of determining the precise moment when the kind parents will reveal to the boy that he is son of God.

The actors are uniformly earnest in their roles. The child actor playing Jesus is excellent, and the performers playing Mary and Joseph are also very convincing. Jane Lapotaire turns in a good character performance as Old Sarah. And Christian McKay as Cleopas, the uncle of Jesus, is a scene-stealer in his robust and slightly cynical character.

If there is a criticism to be aired about the film, it would be in the one-dimensional treatment of the story and the characters. There is a highly melodramatic rendition of a creepy devil, lurking in the background and taunting the boy Jesus at every turn. And the over-the-top interpretation of King Herod was cloying. Even Joseph and Mary were somewhat saccharine in their one-dimensional wholesomeness. At one point, Mary is praying and asks forgiveness for her sins that day. But there is nary a blemish on her spotless character evident in the entire year encompassed by this motion picture.