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Movies / On DVD / The Nativity Story
The Nativity Story

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The Nativity Story (2006)

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Reviews Counted:33

Fresh:18

Rotten:15

Average Rating:5.8/10

Consensus: The Nativity Story is a dull retelling of a well-worn tale with the look and feel of a high-school production.

Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some violent content.

Runtime: 2 hrs 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2006 Wide

Box Office: $37,617,947

Synopsis: A cinematic journey into the heart of history's greatest story, The Nativity Story is poised to come to the big screen for the first time in a major motion picture event. New Line Cinema's The... A cinematic journey into the heart of history's greatest story, The Nativity Story is poised to come to the big screen for the first time in a major motion picture event. New Line Cinema's The Nativity Story chronicles the arduous journey of two people, Mary and Joseph, a miraculous pregnancy, and the history-defining birth of Jesus. The dramatic and compelling film traces the perilous journey of a young couple who must travel from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem, Joseph's ancestral home, to register for a census ordered by King Herod. It is a journey of over 100 miles, through treacherous terrain, made much more difficult by the fact that Mary is nine months pregnant. A New Line Cinema Presentation of a Temple Hill Production, The Nativity Story stars Academy Award® nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) as Mary, Oscar Isaac (upcoming Guerrilla) as Joseph and Academy Award® nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog) as Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The international cast also includes Hiam Abbass (Munich, Paradise Now), Shaun Toub (Crash), Alexander Siddig (Syrianna), Nadim Sawalha (Syrianna), Eriq Ebouaney, Stefan Kalipha, Said Amadis, Stanley Townsend and Ciarán Hinds (Munich). The film is directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) from a screenplay written by Mike Rich (The Rookie, Finding Forrester). The producers are Wyck Godfrey (I, Robot) and Marty Bowen.The executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Cale Boyter, Tim Van Rellim, Mike Rich and Catherine Hardwicke. The co-executive producers are Judd Funk and Michael Disco. The film also features an outstanding production team which includes cinematographer Elliot Davis (White Oleander, I Am Sam, Out of Sight), Production Designer Stefano Maria Ortolani (Art Director on Gangs of New York and The Talented Mr. Ripley), Film Editors Robert K. Lambert, A.C.E. (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, Ask the Dust) and Stuart Levy, A.C.E (Any Given Sunday, Jesus' Son), Costume Designer Maurizio Millenotti (The Passion of the Christ, Tristan and Isolde, Immortal Beloved) and composer Mychael Danna (Little Miss Sunshine, Capote, The Ice Storm). New Line Cinema will release The Nativity Story (rated PG by the M.P.A.A. for "some violent content") in theaters nationwide on December 1st, 2006. -- © New Line Cinema [More]

Starring: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Eriq Ebouaney, Ciaran Hinds

Starring: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Eriq Ebouaney, Ciaran Hinds, Alexander Siddig, Shaun Toub, Tim Van Rellim, Oscar Isaac, Stanley Townsend, Star, Stefan Kalipha, Farida Ouchani, Alessando Giugglioli, Said Amadis

Director: Catherine Hardwicke

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Producer: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey
Composer: Mychael Danna
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Release:

Mar 20, 2007

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Reviews for The Nativity Story

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Of course there is nothing inherently wrong with preaching to the converted -- secular Hollywood does it all the time. But I confess I wish the movie had some of the passion of The Passion of the Christ.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
07/09/07
Tom Charity
Tom Charity
CNN.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

We just haven’t had too many films that concentrate on this story.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
12/04/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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I have to hand it to Hardwicke: I was a lot less bored by The Nativity Story than I feared I'd be.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
12/01/06
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
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It's not exactly the dullest story ever told, but it's certainly not the greatest.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/01/06
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Nativity Story may prove just idiosyncratic enough to alienate the doctrinaire believers but not quite weird enough to appeal to revisionists, cultists or regular holiday moviegoers.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/01/06
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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One of the incidental points of the film, particularly powerful, is that doing the right thing isn't easy, even in the face of divine assurance.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/01/06
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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Yes, there is something about Mary. Something inspiring. Something hopeful.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
12/01/06
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer
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While Mel Gibson's epic was a divisive film, it had a visceral impact the new movie lacks.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/01/06
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
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Even some of the many nuns at the screening I attended were shifting uncomfortably in their wimples.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/01/06
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
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Dull and inert.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
12/01/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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It might not hook nonbelievers, but the choir might sing hosannas.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
12/01/06
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
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Don't expect a Caravaggio, but if your taste turns to Hallmark, this is a good bet -- a straight-up Nativity story as safe as death and taxes.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
12/01/06
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail
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Hardwicke and her cast and crew do remind us that the birth of Jesus is one of the most lyrical and emotionally resonant stories in all of religious literature.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
12/01/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
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I'd call the results of Hardwicke's efforts mixed.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
12/01/06
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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The movie itself is not a miracle. But it's working with pretty good material.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
12/01/06
Michael Booth
Michael Booth
Denver Post
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For families looking for a Christmas outing, it should not disappoint.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
12/01/06
Nancy Churnin
Nancy Churnin
Dallas Morning News
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A refreshingly unadorned example of straightforward storytelling.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/01/06
Bill Zwecker
Bill Zwecker
Chicago Sun-Times
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At the very least, it's refreshing to see a holiday film that doesn't involve Tim Allen wearing 80 pounds of rubber padding.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
12/01/06
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
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Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) makes an appropriately soulful Mary, and the movie's most engaging scenes involve her mortified parents and mystified husband, Joseph (Oscar Isaac), trying to come to terms with her miraculous pregnancy.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
11/30/06
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
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This is not a chance to 'experience the most timeless of stories as you've never seen it before' but just the opposite: an opportunity, for those who want it, to encounter this story exactly the way it's almost always been told.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/30/06
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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This week at the movies, we've got a new take on the first Noel ("The Nativity Story," starring Keisha Castle-Hughes), endangered Americans in Brazil... More...

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