The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Christian Movie Review) 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a delightful, heartfelt story the whole family will enjoy for years to come.   

About the Film 

Ready or not, the Christmas season is fast approaching. Mariah Carey is warming up her voice, Walmart is stocked with more holiday goods than could fit into Santa’s workshop, and we have our first new Christmas movie of the year. Let it be known that I belong to the “Christmas celebrations shouldn’t start until after Thanksgiving” crowd (here I stand, I can do no other…). But I’ll acknowledge that there’s no better way to kick off the holiday season than with a movie that cuts through the glitz, noise, and commercialization to remind us of what Christmas is truly about. Directed by Dallas Jenkins (creator of The Chosen) and based on the beloved 1971 book by Barbara Robinson, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a delightful, heartfelt story the whole family will enjoy for years to come.     

For the uninitiated who didn’t grow up reading Robinson’s book, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a story about how the six rowdy Herdman children—who are “absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world”— hijack a church’s celebrated annual Christmas pageant by volunteering for all the central roles (and bullying the competition into submission). Directing the pageant for the first time, Grace (played by Judy Greer) must corral the unruly cast members to “save” the performance, rediscovering the true meaning of Christmas along the way. It’s a timeless story with a message that remains as relevant today as it was in 1971. In fact, as Christmas continues its gravitational pull toward commercialization and secularism, it may be needed now more than ever before.   

It’s a charming book, and fans of the source material will be happy to hear that The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is also a delightful film. There’s a certain degree of nostalgia and sentimentality baked into Christmas, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever effectively captures that feel-good warmth. It’s a family film in the truest sense. Many so-called “family” films are really “children’s” movies. But The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a film all ages will enjoy. My 9-year-old twin boys joined me for the screening, and afterwards they suggested that the film should be added to our annual Christmas rotation alongside staples like The Muppet Christmas Carol and A Charlie Brown Christmas. As an adult, I was emotionally moved by the story and would happily watch it again even without my kids in tow.   

Director Dallas Jenkins has built up a lot of goodwill with audiences for his work on the megahit series The Chosen, which makes it easy to forget that he remains relatively unproven as a storyteller outside of that breakout show. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever confirms that he can tell a well-crafted, inspiring faith-based tale beyond the realm of biblical narratives.   

Jenkins appears more comfortable with the emotional drama (which is effective) than with the goofy, lighthearted elements (which feel a bit underutilized). Some of the snappy and whimsical humor that works well during the opening scenes is unfortunately lost as the story progresses. The movie also lacks energy at times, and several scenes feel sluggish. To be clear, it’s never bad. But a more confident comedic touch may have elevated this film from “really good” to something even more special.   

What does elevate the film is the acting. Judy Greer is an easy-to-root-for heroine, balancing her character’s endearing stubborn strength with vulnerability and self-doubt. The movie relies heavily on young actors, and they are up for the challenge. All the kids perform well, but the clear standout is Beatrice Schneider, who is fantastic in the pivotal role as Imogene (the oldest and undisputed leader of the Herdman children). A relative newcomer, she has a magnetic presence every time she’s on screen.   

Christmas movies are a dime a dozen. For each one that makes a lasting impression, there are plenty of others that are quickly forgotten. Only time will tell how The Best Christmas Pageant Ever will be received, but I think it is worthy of inclusion in the first category. The movie may lack the frenetic energy of some other Christmas stories, but maybe that is for the best. As the film reminds us, outward glitz and glamor are not what make Christmas special. Christmas is about people—a baby born in a manger and the people he came to love.   

Overall, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a charming movie. More importantly, it shares a meaningful story that has the power to change how we celebrate Christmas this year.        

Experiencing Christmas Through Fresh Eyes   

In one sense, virtually every Christmas movie touches on the theme of “discovering the true meaning of Christmas” (even if secular and faith-based films differ on what that meaning is). For Christians, an important distinction is typically drawn between the “secular” (Santa Claus, commercialism, “Santa Baby”) and the “sacred” (Baby Jesus, nativity plays, traditional Christmas carols). The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is unique in that it goes a step further, exposing how even a Christmas saturated in religious activity can still miss the true meaning of the season.          

In the movie, the church’s annual Christmas pageant is celebrating its 75^th year and has remained largely unchanged since its inception. It has become a mere holiday tradition, and many townspeople seemingly attend out of duty rather than excitement. During the pageant’s first rehearsal, the church kids grow restless as the director reads the Christmas story from the Bible. Afterall, as one kid shouts, “Everyone knows the story already!”   

But not everyone knows it. The Herdman children pepper Grace with humorously honest questions about the narrative, drawing attention to details and story elements the other kids had failed to notice. Similarly, throughout the film, Imogene Herdman (who has been cast in the role as Mary) repeatedly lingers before a painting of Jesus’ mother, trying to understand who the woman really was. There’s an implication that the church members have long since grown accustomed to the portrait and rarely notice it, much less contemplate it. Like the pageant, it is simply religious imagery detached from what it represents.   

The pageant is not as polished as in previous years, as the Herdman children go “off script” to respond to the story with an authentic sense of childlike wonder. But by doing so, they remind the audience (both of the play and of the film) that the Christmas story is more than just a narrative; it’s about a miraculous historical event that was experienced by real human beings who were scared, confused, and unsure what to do. For those of us who have grown up hearing the familiar Christmas narrative each year, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever should challenge us to contemplate the familiar story from a fresh perspective.