Nativity Rocks!

We love all the nativity films, great fun! The only reason I can see for a low score is that some people take life too seriously. It is what it is, a fun Christmas film!

Jerry Poppy arrives at St Bernadette's Primary School looking for his brother Desmond, only to find he has gone to Australia. Jerry immediately feels at home as he gets involved with creating a Christmas rock opera for Coventry. However, egotistical Emanuel Cavendish is directing, so all may not go well. This is the fourth in the series of Christmas Nativity films written and directed by Debbie Isitt, all of them built round the exploits of idiot man-child Mr Poppy at St Bernadette's. We have a new Mr Poppy this time, but he's as much of an idiot as his predecessor. Let's be brutal - these films aren't very good. The stories are naive twaddle, Mr Poppy, whether Desmond or Jerry, is a ridiculous caricature and wouldn't be allowed near a classroom of primary school children, the children themselves are not at the talented end of the scale as child performers, the songs are fairly naff... And it's worth pointing out that Craig Revell Horwood as baddie Cavendish, is lucky that he didn't have acting judges commenting on his performance. But there is a gauche naive charm to these films. They are full of heart, there is no harm to them, and they are often funny, albeit on a lowest common denominator level. I could have done without the vaguely leftists "Support illegal immigrants" subtext in this one, but the family message is a good one. These films are a guilty pleasure.

Pretty painful to watch but I can imagine it appealing to some children as pure pantomime. The acting is generally terrible and the story is quite preposterous. If you have nothing else to watch and don't need to dedicate more than a few brain cells to this then it's OK but otherwise you'll never feel like you've missed out on not seeing this.

I don't get the bad reviews of this film at all. Yes it won't win an Oscar but these films are just what you want at Christmas. A story with a lot of heart and lovely catchy cheesy songs and cute kids. Simon Lipkin adds more heart to the story and I'm always amazed at how they make these films almost completely improvised.

Terrible film, nothing like the original 3 films. Really bad plot, irritating cast who can't act, (except for the dog). Pro illegal immigration, of father and son who are supposed to be Syrian. Terrible PC twaddle. Avoid at all costs.

Hmm I don't think I've seen any of the previous Nativity films, or maybe I've blocked them out, but this isn't very good. To be fair it gets better during the second half but that's not saying much. The lead character is terrible, some of the supporting cast are OK though and the kids enjoy themselves with childlike abandon of what's happening around them. The best thing is the music, it has some songs that do stick in your head, whether you want them to or not. And it's all very PC with subplots about immigration, be kind to everybody, spirit of Xmas etc... OK if you've got easily pleased kids or a spare couple of hours, otherwise wait for the DVD next Christmas..

Technicaly very good filmmaking made with iphones probably and edited on a laptop. I am actually very pro amateur filmmaking. So this gets a 6/10 for that. It gives us all hope that very good talents and an iPhone is all you need to make a good movie. One that even gets released in the cinemas accross the country. It gives young and new filmmakers a hope for the future. Great! As a parent I found it tedious to sit through but enjoyed the occassional silliness. My children, however, absolutely loved it. It is a very British, locay identifiable movie for them. Now the hugely leftist agenda of the movie. Nothing wrong with that. Except that it is very clever to package it within a conservative sounding movie title such as 'Nativity Rocks'. Interestingly, the immigrant Syrian is very 'christian', occidental (looks very much like a Norwegian or Swedish), rock song singing, guitar wielding, etc. etc. It was all very bizzare... and Christmassy. So its all good. Look, it might feel like torture, but the children are going to love it. We were forced to choose this as The Grinch had run out of tickets. Actually, I keep thinking that the children seemed to have enjoyed this more than the multimillion dollar Grinch as we eventually got to see that a week later. Interestingly, the Grinch is also played by a Brit. There are a couple of tear jerkers in the Grinch but the sheer silliness and constant verbosity and action of Nativity Rocks made it a winner with my chidren. Thanks for reading.