David

While there haven’t been too many examples, turning biblical stories into musical is a really good idea. It could be said that bringing an over-the-top theatricality to what should be elegant stories of faith might seem demeaning, but as shown beautifully by the 1998 DreamWorks film, The Prince of Egypt, something very special can be brought to these famous bible stories when presented through the lens of not only a musical (with examples like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Jesus Christ: Superstar being prime showcases) but also in animation. Sadly, this hasn’t really been taken advantage of (even DreamWorks only did one more direct-to-video attempt with Joseph: King of Dreams), but the newly blossoming Angel Studios may’ve provided a second wind with their animated musical rendition of David and Goliath released in 2025, David.

Set in the city of Bethlehem where Israel is ruled by King Saul (voiced by Adam Michael Gold) who was chosen by God to rule yet has fallen out of grace with him, a young shepherd named David (voiced by Brendan Engman) is told by a prophet named Samuel (voiced by Brian Stivale) that God has chosen him to be the next king of Israel. Although his older brother, Eliab (voiced by Jonathan Shaboo) is jealous of David’s seemingly undeserving title, the rest of the family are overjoyed for their son, leading the young shepherd to Saul’s palace who (unbeknownst that David is the one destined to overthrow him) takes a liking to the young boy’s spirited nature and musical skills, making him a close friend of both the kingdom and his son, Jonathan (voiced by Mark Jacobson). When the hostile neighbouring Philistine army led by King Achish (voiced by Asim Chaudhry) threatens to overthrow the Israel empire with the help of the colossal titan known as Goliath (voiced by Kamran Nikhad), David with his trusty sling and faith of God, is able to vanquish the mountainous figure and becomes a hero for Israel. However, once he’s grown into a young man (now voiced by Phil Wickman), Saul starts to suspect David is the one prophesized to end his reign, sending the mad king into a spiral that could claim the life of the humble shepherd.

Performing well critically and doing solid at the box office for a film from a still-developing studio, David brings more insight into a legend most people don’t know about beyond the basics, managing this with very good animation, likeable characters, and a peppy pace, although the awkward storytelling, overly modern humor and supporting cast, and music better suited for a Christian rock radio channel than a movie musical, holds its back from really being godly.

Based on his life experiences within the Book of Solomon as part of the Old Testament, David actually acts as a follow-up to a five-part miniseries, Young David, also made by Angel Studios and led by the same creatives, and while only really known by non-bible readers for his status as the small believer who toppled a giant, it was a really good idea to make this into an animated musical for that very reason. Everybody can get behind an underdog story, and with the iconic duel happening around the end of the first act, it means audiences won’t entirely know where the story is heading and hopefully be intrigued by where things end up. It’s not an overly complicated story and has hilariously had any form of complexity erased in exchange for something heavily toned down and digestible, but it is still mostly good at what it does. Watching this very simple story that manages to be large-scale and small-scale at the same time is very enjoyable, and with the involvement of a lot of Christian creatives as well as a distributing company tailor made to make faith-based content, there’s no risk of the film missing the biblical teachings present in the story. It definitely feels more child-leaning and not every modern element works like the dialogue and some of the designs for the supporting cast, but as its own thing, it’s well made, keeps your attention in spite of its simplicity and is visually and audibly very engrossing.

With that said, there’s a reason this film doesn’t hold a candle to something like The Prince of Egypt, and it comes down to intent. While The Prince of Egypt was made by a more neutral film studio who used a bible story to present something grand, musical, mature, and authentic to its scripture while still being a mainstream feature, David is led by a studio and creatives whose sole interest is to push forward their beliefs without any wiggle room, causing a clash between what would work best for an entertaining feature and what works best for marketing their religion and hyping themselves up. Even the format feels kind of uncinematic from a layout perspective, with the story and script written by one of the directors, Brent Dawes, and fellow screenwriters, Kyle Portbury and Sam Wilson, being written in a way that’d work better for a series than a film, jumping through time without much build-up, developing and resolving conflict without much fanfare, and having a climax centred around a threat only hinted at throughout the story rather than the continuous threat that’s been present since the beginning. The direction from Dawes and Phil Cunningham does have decent scale, and really uses its animated format effectively through memorable transitions, angles and lighting, but the manner in which the plot is told somewhat splinters the juicy drama that could come from these events in exchange for something more run-of-the-mil and stops entirely at ‘’lead fully on faith’’, which will appease fellow devotees, but not regular movie goers.

David may not be on the level of Moses, Jesus, Adam & Eve, or Noah, but with such an iconic image of a small boy defeating a colossal warrior, it feels hard to ignore him and the notion of watching a simple sheep herder turn into a king does carry with it a sense of quiet poignancy expected of most Christian stories, but the way this film handles him and the rest of the cast can be pretty frustrating. From a pure story standpoint, most are actually pretty good, not really having the most complex motivations or arcs, but fulfill archetypes that are comfortably familiar while still retaining their original status and being backed by good voice actors and pretty memorable designs. Where the problem lies is the way they’re written, as most if not all of them are burdened by the faith-first, character-second mentality behind this presentation. Whether it’s because they’re still fresh to the mainstream movie business and aren’t able to hit the demographics, or they just have a specific niche that they need to iron out better, these creatives aren’t able to make these characters as engaging as they arguably should be, and it’s at its worst with the titular character.

While David is an easily likeable youth, and both Brandon Engman and Phil Wickman voice the role very well (with particular praise for Engman who did voice him in the miniseries and does capture a spirited yet gentle nature very nicely), it feels like he’s not allowed to have many motivations, goals or even desires as he’s entirely beholden to the will of the plot, with it even sacrificing personal growth or judgment in exchange for propping their faith up (there’s only so many times he can say ‘’God did everything, not me’’, before he starts to feel like a literal puppet used to spout bible verses). King Saul actually has all the workings of a great tragic villain; being the first chosen king of Israel who has lost favor with God and in his fear of losing his purpose, tries to kill the boy whom he’s come to love like a son, it’s honestly a great character set-up, and his design and voice acting support this, but his delivery becomes more and more basic as the film progress and his literal disappearance by the end feels like a great disservice. People like Miri Mesika, Jonathan Shaboo, Brian Stivale, and Mark Jacobson feel like they should be more important than they actually are, Asim Chaudhry and Kamran Nikhad are also sparingly used but have good enough designs and vocal performances to leave a memorable impression, and every other role feels way too comedically presented and phony.

It’s nice to see an animated film not done by one of the big studios like Disney or DreamWorks, and it’s also nice that it has its own unique look that feels entirely its own, and David is very well handled as an animated feature. This goes beyond just being well animated, with good character designs that are uniquely drawn in a way that’s hard to forget, ambient lighting and texturing, and phenomenal backgrounds that border of realistic looking at times, as this is a movie that feels like it’s done by people who love the craft and know how to utilize it to offer something that can’t be easily replicated in live-action. Whether it’s through the cinematography by Michael Sparber and Dave Walvoord that results in some fun angles and very effective transitions, or the effective use of light and coloration that tells as much of a story as the script, it feels like a movie where a lot of effort was put into how it was going to look and how they could use the medium to best tell its story, which is always nice to see and the effort is all over this production. While this does somewhat backfire as it results in the more typical filming components feeling less effective (David ironically barely talks after the halfway point of the movie), it doesn’t diminish how nice this film looks, and it’d be cool to see how Angel Studios does with their next animated feature.

The musical numbers are sadly not that useful and don’t really hold a candle to other musical-outings for these biblical stories, mainly because while other examples have a Broadway, musical-theatre vibe that brings a booming weight to these very grand stories, David’s music is very Christian pop and barely feels relevant to the story beyond stating a point that’s been presenting. They don’t sound awful, some are a little hummable and all the voice actors are pretty good singers, but they all sound exactly the same and fulfill the exact same purpose (hopeful upbeat tunes about believing in God, no surprise), so they leave very little impression.

David could’ve been another The Prince of Egypt, or at the very least another Jesus Christ: Superstar or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, but it ironically feels like Angel Studios and their religion kind of got in the way of that happening. All these projects have their worth and stand out even without their connection to Christianity, whereas this film is so beholden to it that it can’t be easily separated. Even with that in mind, it still leads to a good movie with some solid scenes (both for well-known and not-so-well-known moments), very good performances, and very strong animation, but the useless songs, poorly handled characters, and script that cares more about preaching gospel than its own merits, means it gets a little lost on the way back to the herd.