Decent movie but not as good as I hoped

djansen24

I am a very big fan of Veggie Tales. But hearing they had a motion picture, I had some doubts. Sometimes movies based on TV or video series feel like just one long episode. And that is what I did feel was the case with Jonah. The animation has improved (though nowhere near Pixar level of course), song writing is just as great as ever, and the editing is all fine, but it was a story that could have been greatly shortened to have made standard video show length. And that's the problem with Jonah: pacing. It feels long even though it has a modest running time. Sideral elements have obviously been added to pad out the time (side characters and plots) to feature length, and so everything feels forced.

Kahleel (spelling?) is one of the most annoying side characters I have met mostly because he rarely adds anything to the movie. Random side comments from characters for laughs are all fine and well, but they shouldn't distract from the flow of the movie. The scriptwriters threw in large jokes that took a long time to set up, but left us with lame pay off lines. Some of the plot transitions to get us from one scene in the movie to the next are also heavy handed.

That being said, it is a movie that will delight children; it's principle target audience. It's message is easy to understand and it contains enough goofiness and action to keep them riveted (as it did with my boys). My critiques are mainly geared towards the adult viewers, whose tastes are more refined. But Jonah is a children's movie with pop culture in jokes for adults. And that is very refreshing considering that many animated features these days can't make up their minds if they are for children or adults (Dreamworks studios being the biggest culprit). If you have kids, definitely let them see this. If you are an adult, look elsewhere.

score 5/10

djansen24 9 November 2010

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2336460/