Animated Movie ‘David’ Underwhelming, But A Good Step Forward For The Industry
(REVIEW) This year has been a major year for faith-based films. Before, one can hardly even say there was such a thing as “faith-based animation.”
This year, we’ve had three major faith-based animation outings: “King of Kings”, “Light of the World” and “The Chosen Adventures”. Likewise, faith-based films have traditionally focused on appealing to female audiences. But in 2025, not only are “The Chosen” and “House of David” leaning toward male audiences, but announcements for shows like “Pendragon Cycle” and movies like “Young Washington” in 2026 show that the industry is beginning to broaden its appeal.
“David” as a film sits at the intersection of both of these trends. The film is an animated musical adventure movie from Angel Studios about the life of the Biblical hero David that follows him from his boyhood days tending his father’s sheep to when he’s crowned king. That means that while the film itself is rather underwhelming, its very existence is cause for celebration and optimism.
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“David” begins when the prophet Samuel visits David and his family to anoint him king. From there, David’s faith is tested as he must learn to trust God to defeat a giant, escape King Saul, and ascend to the throne of Israel without losing his soul. The film stars Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning modern worship artist Phil Wickham as David and is directed by Phil Cunningham and Brent Dawes of Sunrise Studios.
The movie had a winding road to the big screen. Initially made by Slingshot USA to be distributed by Angel Studios, Slingshot sued Angel for breach of contract and ended their relationship. But months later, Angel Studios partnered with 2521 Entertainment to buy the film from Slingshot USA outright. They quickly moved “David” to a December 19 release, pushing back their Nativity film “Zero AD.”
The studio clearly has a lot of confidence in the title. Hence, moving “Zero AD” and putting it on “Avatar: Fire and Ash”’s release date. According to Angel, “David” has already reached $3 million in pre-ticket sales. So that confidence may be justified.
(Of course, longtime Angel Studios followers know that $3 million in ticket sales doesn't necessarily equate to $3 million in individual purchases. Angel historically encourages its members to pay for other people's tickets in bulk through its "pay it forward" option.)
On their website, they argue the film has “the biblical authenticity of ‘The Prince of Egypt’ and the musical chops of ‘Moana’ and ‘Tangled’. But does the actual film live up to the hype?
There’s a lot to like — even love — about “David”. The animation can be beautiful. It’s often very funny, and even dark at times, particularly in its portrayal of King Saul’s desperate attempts to hold on to power. (Just like the “House of David” show.) Characters like Goliath, King Saul, and Jonathan are surprisingly well defined.
The movie goes from David’s life tending sheep, to David and Goliath, to becoming king, and manages to do so without feeling rushed and giving each part of the story an adequate emotional weight. It feels fresh enough that it can stand on its own even when the excellent “House of David” is still on TV.
One of the best scenes, not just in this movie, but any faith-based movie this year, is the confrontation between David and Goliath: it was visual theology matched with expert filmmaking. The right combination of close-up and wide shots gives the scene plenty of anticipation and expertly captures the moment Goliath realizes he’s not just fighting David, he is fighting God. My jaw was literally on the floor. That was visual theology matched with expert filmmaking.
Unfortunately, the film is wildly inconsistent in its quality. Much of the dialogue sounds more like a Sunday school lesson than a quality family film. As many of the jokes land, just as many feel recycled and cringe. (“Fat brother of David who eats a lot” is an actual running gag.)
As often as the film feels genuinely dramatic, it feels toothless and watered down. (Fight scenes in particular are awkward.) Like “House of David”, David is the most boring character of the bunch; he’s more of a series of protagonist tropes than a real person. The character models are often too angular to be appealing. The lyrics are largely sermon notes strung together against forgettable music. (Just compare the “David” song “Tapestry” to “Heaven’s Eyes” from “Prince of Egypt”).
But while most of “David” is a war between its good and bad sides, the ending falls apart and never quite recovers. The film contrives a bunch of implausible scenarios so David can rediscover his need to trust in God over himself, and inspire the rest of his people to do the same.
The thing is, they never show a time when David ever stopped trusting in God and relying on himself. So suddenly “discovering” he needs to “turn back” to that feels extremely forced and hollow. The climax it leads to is also largely a bunch of preaching and singing and shoehorned Christ imagery, so the lack of thematic or emotional catharsis is hard to overlook.
It’s clearly possible to make movies with good dialogue, good jokes, and real stakes that are still enjoyable and safe for kids. Just this year, we got “Bad Guys 2” and “Zootopia”. “Moana” and “Tangled”, which Angel’s marketing compared this movie to, are also excellent examples. “Prince of Egypt” is an incredibly dark film, yet it is a family classic.
That said, it took faith-based live-action films over 20 years to start getting good. Animated faith-based films are only in their first year as a real presence within the industry. “David” may not be anywhere close to the quality parents have come to expect for their family content. But its presence makes it very possible we’ll get such a film sooner rather than later.
“David” will be released in theaters on Dec. 19.
Correction: The original article misspelled Cunningham’s first name. It should be Phil. The article also referred to a character incorrectly. It should be “brother of David.”
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.