Angel Studios’ new animated musical, David, based on the biblical story of King David, is one of the best Christian animated films that has come out since DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt. Nonetheless, the film still has its flaws.

David was highly anticipated, especially by Christians. Since its release, it has accumulated $78 million worldwide, with $77.5 million of that coming from the U.S. It was the second-highest grossing biblical film, second only to The Prince of Egypt, which tells the story of Moses.

The film’s animation style is similar to that of modern-day Disney, but it is still a beautifully animated film. The design of the characters is faithful to that of the appearance of the people whom it is portraying. The attention to detail is clearly shown throughout the film.

What really makes this film unique is that it does not just follow the story of David and Goliath, but follows David into adulthood, which is a part of the Bible that people often forget about.

The movie begins with establishing David’s childhood as a 14-year-old shepherd boy in Bethlehem. It is in the opening scene that David sings the first song of the movie, “Adventure Song.”

Something to note about this film is that the songs, while good, are not memorable. Angel Studios made an apparent effort to make them a showpiece with their casting of Phil Whickam, a popular Christian singer, as adult David. However, even then, the music in this film is clearly geared towards children.

The Prince of Egypt, to which this film has often been compared, featured songs that were not only extremely moving with their beautiful songwriting, but also songs that all ages could enjoy.

The songs in David have some lyrics that are pulled right from the book of Psalms in the Bible. King David is credited with writing about half of them. This is especially true in the song “I Will Not Be Afraid,” which appears twice in the film. Unfortunately, this is something that will likely go unnoticed by younger audiences.

The plot, however, fares a lot better. The writers do a good job of emphasizing the importance of God in David’s life without sounding too preachy.

It highlights important biblical events outside of the infamous fight between David and Goliath, while also keeping that aspect a key point in the film. These include David’s anointing as king of Israel, his persecution at the hands of King Saul, and his relationship with supporting characters, notably Saul, David’s mother, and Saul’s son Jonathan.

Even then, the relationship between Jonathan and David is somewhat lacking in comparison to their relationship in the Bible. Their friendship has a lifelong impact on David in the Bible, as he considered Jonathan a brother and eventually had to learn of Jonathan’s death after he was killed in battle. And while these elements of their relationship are condensed in the movie, the writers still do a good job of establishing them in the two-hour run time.

But this “condensing” of David’s story is common throughout the second half of the film. In contrast to the Bible, he is depicted as unmarried. While it is positive that the film does not show that David had multiple wives, the plot’s accuracy could have improved if they included David’s first wife, Saul’s daughter Mychal, who is vital to David’s escape from her father when he realizes David was the one who was prophesied to replace him as king.

The other biggest biblical inaccuracy is the film’s closing sequence. The families of David and his army are taken by an enemy tribe called the Amalekites. That aspect is biblically accurate. What isn’t is the fact that David goes alone to get their families back, and nearly dies as a result. This inaccuracy contributes to the condensing of David’s character.

David was an extremely successful and intelligent military leader. He would have never done something, quite frankly, as stupid as that in reality.

The movie ends as David is saved by his army and is officially crowned as king of Israel. This is a good place to end the movie, as David’s life as king takes a significant turn for the worse.

Overall, the film remains strong and significantly faithful to its source material. It can still be enjoyed by all ages, and is a great effort to further bring awareness to the Bible and its stories.