David

Rated PG • Theaters

Have you ever wanted to ask David, “Why?” The man after God’s own heart had so much going for him when he set his eyes on something—on someone—he shouldn’t have. I’d like to put the same question to the writers of the new animated film David because its finale strays into inappropriate territory in what is otherwise a Scripturally sound and entertaining dramatization of the rise to power of Israel’s second king.

The Angel Studios production picks up where its prequel miniseries Young David leaves off. With breathtaking animation, directors Phil Cunningham and Brent Dawes smoothly connect significant events in David’s life, from the prophet Samuel (voiced by Brian Stivale) anointing Jesse’s youngest son to David’s first moments of royal power after the deaths of Saul (Adam Michael Gold) and Jonathan (Mark Jacobson). CCM stars Phil Wickham (adult David), Lauren Daigle (Rebecca), Brandon Engman (young David), and others perform the film’s splendid music. In song and dialogue, David rightly names Adonai and El Shaddai as the only sure source of help in this life.

“We see the cost of putting our faith in man,” Samuel laments in a conversation about Saul’s moral decline. A humorous moment after the defeat of Goliath reinforces this point. “Don’t look at me,” David admonishes a jubilant crowd. “Look at God.” A female admirer pops up and gushes, “Just look at him, the way he looks at God.”

David keeps its focus on the impending collision between the reluctantly heroic shepherd and the increasingly desperate monarch. True to the Bible’s characterization, the relationship between the harpist and would-be harpoonist runs hot and cold, and Saul isn’t a total villain. The film ends before David’s egregious sins and errors in judgment.

You can’t miss the film’s errors, though. The most conspicuous one comes near the end when the story departs from the Biblical narrative. David goes to Ziklag to free the city from the Amalekites. He gives a speech urging the captured Israelites to resist their oppressors, but the Amalekites seize him and string him up with ropes in a position resembling a crucifixion. But this extra-Biblical foreshadowing of Calvary confuses the typology, fixing the viewers’ eyes on the wrong person. To make matters worse, this scene cuts straight to the new king standing before a cheering Jerusalem throng. The only possible explanation is that David’s followers rescued him from execution. What’s the intended message?

Other questionable elements include a musical number with the line, “There’s a reason for the colors in my story,” set against rainbow-shaded scenery. Given our current cultural context, the scene could be open to misinterpretation. Also, a repeated refrain to “follow the light” remains too vague: Is this a charge to obey God’s Word (the lamp unto one’s feet and light unto one’s path) or to navigate life guided by some personal effulgence? The film also contains some insensitive jokes: One of David’s brothers is portrayed as obese and always scrounging for food, and another named Ozem (see 1 Chronicles 2:15) is extra gaunt, perhaps a puckish reference to the popular weight-loss drug Ozempic?

The film’s a good reminder about the folly of putting our faith in man—or entertainment. But we can never go wrong fixing our eyes on the Son of David—as the Bible presents Him.