Based on 80 votes and 36 reviews
Yes the syncing was off, ESAH theee we’re a lot of black singers, if the music was to loud I didn’t pay it any attention. I really enjoyed the whole movie because the entire time my focus was on the story and nothing else.
I love this movie the music was great it was touching I felt God's presence it broke me down to tears of hope and joy it reminded me what Christmas is all about. Some say the music was too loud but when we listen to rap and hip hop it's never too loud. I know that God was pleased.
First of all I love KLG’s heart and pray she continues to use her talents for the Lord. And I thought much if not all of the songs were amazing! But what distracted me was I couldn’t always tell who the singer was supposed to be as the costumes and everything about them (glasses, Mays’s pink nail polish, haircuts, makeup and false eyelashes were all just too unrealistic. And as others stated, using the same actors without dramatic change in their costumes was hard to place who they were now in that scene. Also, the all black cast (with just a few lighter skinned) also added to the inauthenticity. A more broader mix of ethnicity would have been more realistic. But perhaps the musical group of all black singers could have just been a part of the package. They were all extremely talented, but again that along with the other too contemporary staging and costumes were just too confusing for me. But would love to see the musical scores and narrations redone in a more authentic way - which could be very powerful.
The music was beautiful but it was way to loud! We missed a lot of what was being said along with the singing because the music was so loud. We were disappointed in the sound.
The musical score was beautiful. The singing was stellar. What a wonderful experience! I cried many times! Very moving! I am shocked by the bad reviews! These people must’ve seen a different movie or they have the attention span of a flea! Each science segued seamlessly with the next. It was a musical of vignettes from the Bible. Bravo to Kathie Lee. Her love for Jesus shone through! Spectacular scenery and this was meant to be a contemporary look in terms of the costumes! I just don’t think the rest of these reviewers got it! Don’t let these bad reviews drive you away see this movie!
I was hoping to see Jesus in the scenes especially at the scene of the woman at the well! The orchestra, singers, and songs were top notch, but the orchestra was so loud that it drowned out the singer's voices! It's too bad that critics didn't observe the film and give their advice before it went to the theaters, otherwise the sound issues would have been worked out beforehand! I would have given a higher rating if it wasn't for the technical issues involving the sound!
The musical score was beautiful. The singing was stellar. What a wonderful experience! I cried many times! Very moving! I am shocked by the bad reviews! These people must’ve seen a different movie or they have the attention span of a flea! Each science segued seamlessly with the next. It was a musical of vignettes from the Bible. Bravo to Kathie Lee. Her love for Jesus shone through! Spectacular scenery and this was meant to be a contemporary look in terms of the costumes! I just don’t think the rest of these reviewers got it! Don’t let these bad reviews drive you away see this movie!
I liked EVERYTHING!
The sound and the lips not matching up was so bad, I walked out of the theater to speak with a manager… I thought it was just something they could fix in-house. They said it was coming in by satellite and they would see what they could do. It did seem that they attempted to kind of reset it very briefly after I spoke to them, but it still remained a disaster. I was very excited for this production, invited a friend, and now so embarrassed that I took her, and told others about it! Now looking back, we should’ve left, and asked for our money back.
I’m giving it 2 stars for the musicality and cinematography. The syncing was very lacking and distracting. It was too much Kathie Lee but she does love to perform with all her being. And her heart is in the right place. I thought some of the attire and accessories of the performers was odd and unusual. At some point I wondered if she was going for “Jesus Christ Superstar” style. I thought the prodigal son scene was really strange as it looked like it was filmed at a state park in Texas in the pavilion area. Why?? And how they were dressed??? Why?? We thought the movie was going to be about 3 hours long but were very happy it was only 75 min long!!! It was very disjointed. I don’t feel like this will speak to a non Christian at all. And if it’s true what another reviewer stated that the show was on TBN 2 days later, then I’m really not happy! I feel like we all got taken advantage of and misled. And I’m going to mention one other thing that no one else has, but I’m quite sure many others have the same thoughts but aren’t going to say due to todays culture sensitivities, but there was a definite great imbalance of blacks which is not what the true depiction in reality would’ve shown. Don’t get me wrong, they were all talented, but it was not accurately representing the Bible characters. And I’m not saying all the performers should be Caucasian. Now if this was a praise and worship video, then YES!, bring all colors into it and praise on! My husband left as soon as it ended while I kept watching to see if there was more to it. He heard everyone coming out of the theater talking about it and not one person had a positive comment on it. Everyone was disappointed. Should KLG release another event, I won’t be going.
Utah is NOT Israel! I hope the Utah Chamber of Commerce paid Kathy Lee Gifford well. It totally lacked authenticity. The final 10 minutes of music and Utah scenery was bizarre!
P.S. To my above review. Utah is NOT Israel! I hope the Utah chamber of commerce paid Kathy Lee Gifford well for the last 10 minutes of Utah scenery. Bizarre!
Absolutely a disaster. Story line was extremely disjointed and incomplete. Had it been on tv, I’d have turned it off! Background music was loud and the voices were out of sync. Twelve people in the premier showing and everyone expressed disappointment. Will never again attend anything Kathy Lee Gifford produces and narrates. We paid primer price to see it in the theater and two days later it was free on TBN. Not very ethical. Felt like we got ripped off and should given a refund.
So disappointed in it all...the lack of continuity was the worst factor. The singing was very good, I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help laughing out loud at the Virgin Mary's pink acrylic nails. One word to summarize - bizarre.
I will not belabor the comments already given. I too was most disappointed by the fact that the movie’s story jumped around so much even I found it hard to track the story and I have been a Christian for many years. The orchestra was way too loud. It drowned out the excellent voices which were hard to follow anyway given the their words weren’t in sync with the music. What a shame. The movie stopped short of talking about Christ’s return which is the hope of every Christian. I was surprised that it seemed no one previewed the final version before letting it hit the screen. It could have been such a great testimony to Christ and a message of salvation all need to hear.
Just awful. Doesn't deserve one star. Kathie Lee Gifford had to make it about her, with overly dramatic narration, weird facial expressions, and loud music drowning her out.bPlus, the video didn't match the sound. And what was that with the changing white costumes and a camera angle that made her head appear too large? The sound never matched what the singers were saying--not even close. The stories were out of order and out of context. But it's impossible to get past the horrible audio/video syncing and bad sound mixing. Just horrible.
The narration & songs were not synced. It was hard to look at & follow. Not what we expected out of Kathie Lee Gifford. Very disappointed. Does Kathie Lee Gifford know that it was out of sync the entire movie\musical?
If I could I'd have given it -3 stars. First of all, it was NOT a movie, it was an opera...and not a good one. The voice and action were out of sync. The narration couldn't be heard because the background music was SOOOOO loud....even the singers couldn't be heard. We couldn't understand anything that was being said or sung.
Wasn't what I expected but it was ok not great. The music and singing was really good bugcwt some of the times the orchestra was louder that the singing and you could not hear the words
I just wanted to say that I wrote the long review with positive comments and clicked 3 stars, but after posting saw only one. So I’m adding a star here which will hopefully compute as a FOUR STAR. Because I really did like the film —even the costuming being inauthentic, I found it creative and loved the modern twist. I keep thinking about the themes and songs even this morning. (2 days later)
Like most of the one star commenters, I was disappointed in the fact that the lips weren’t synced with the narration or lyrics. But, unlike many commenters, I began to understand the disjointed stories were categorized under each theme song. And for me, the songs and visuals were very meaningful. (I was overlooking the flaws and looking for the intended meaning of the art) … and I found the themes to be very rich and meaningful. What I saw in scene 1 was how difficult FAITH is, and how God completed what He started and enabled those men of flesh (Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Joshua) to TRUST HIS WORD and conquer the ground He promised to give. It fueled my faith and encouraged me greatly. The other glorious theme was “the other side” … I’d never considered the categorizing of “going to the other side” of the Red Sea (deliverance from bondage) the Jordan (for attaining the promised land) and crossing the Sea of Galilee to deliver the demoniac … all pointing to our CROSSing the sea to HOME in the Lord. I also want to ponder further The God of the How and When. There’s so much in that song that makes me want to watch it again. My closing thoughts: I’m so proud of KLG for investing and putting herself out there. I saw in her promotion of the film and in her narration her deep love for Jesus and her genuine desire for humanity to see and know they are LOVED and WELCOMED into the arms and home of God. Also, if the voices could be heard a bit better over the orchestra, they were stunning. I’m praying that the technical issues can be repaired and that many will get to see and hear the heart of God in sending Jesus to deliver us from slavery to sin and self, and get us HOME!
I will not belabor the comments already given. I too was most disappointed by the fact that the movie’s story jumped around so much even I found it hard to track the story and I have been a Christian for many years. The orchestra was way too loud. It drowned out the excellent voices which were hard to follow anyway given the their words weren’t in sync with the music. What a shame. The movie stopped short of talking about Christ’s return which is the hope of every Christian. I was surprised that it seemed no one previewed the final version before letting it hit the screen. It could have been such a great testimony to Christ and a message of salvation all need to hear.
Hot mess from beginning to end. The words of songs did not match with actors singing. Even Kathie Lee’s narration was off. The sequence of the Bible stories or history was out of order. Although I’m sure this was done intentionally, a new or non-Christian would be thoroughly confused. Big letdown that it was not filmed in Israel but somewhere in a desert?! I knew in advance it was about Jesus and bought buttered popcorn otherwise it would have been a total loss. Really bad!
I love Kathie Lee Gifford however this movie was not good at all. What bothered me the most is the movie was shot where the camera was below the the person singing so you were looking up their nose or even could see the top of their teeth. The movie went back an forth old testament to new testament and then back again. The whole movie is a musical with Kathie narrating. I was not happy I spent $20 a ticket. Positive's- the singing was pretty. Beautiful landscape, thank goodness the movie it was only an hour long.
Horrible
It's hokey, it's cheesy, and Kathie Lee Gifford's hyped-up narration is embarrassing to watch..They probably did a theatrical release to qualify for awards, but this will win no awards for sound editing. The singers look like they're lipsynching to a totally different song, the video is so off. It's generally pretty to watch, and the music is lovely. I paid $16 (no senior discount allowed because it was a "special" showing) to watch a mediocre music video.
First, the music is beautiful and so is the scenery. However, the video/sound sync was so far off I began to wonder if they were lip synching to a different sound track. In movies and music videos, the actors lip synching to a pre-recorded track actually sing so it looks more natural--this looked strange. I couldn't look at their mouths. This was distracting. Kathie Lee's narration was overdone and overly dramatic as well as out of sync. It made me think she wanted this movie to be about her. All that said, this should be licensed as a stage production.
So disappointed and embarrassed for all involved. I hope they can fix this movie/song video and remaster all the sound. I like Kathy Lee very much, and we paid top dollar to see the movie to support it. It is not evangelistic and would not draw younger people. It’s disjointed, you could not hear the narration and you could not hear the people singing, just blasting Orchestra. We know all those singers are professional, Danny Gokey great voice and others. But it didn’t make sense, jumped all over the place, modern eyeglasses on the disciple, using one singer to go through 1000 years, and I don’t think Kathy Lee should have narrated it. She should’ve directed it but left the narration to someone else. We so need revival and I was hoping this movie was powerful and engaging, but honestly I’ve been a Christian all my life and I had to walk out towards the end. Its my hope and prayer that they will get this remastered and the sound corrected before it goes to DVD and streaming. I think they need to add scenes to it. If you did not already know the Bible, you would not have any idea what she is saying. I’m so so sorry. I know how expensive it is to make a film, and I cannot believe there weren’t focus groups and this movie was not critiqued before it aired. I’m going to keep Praying They are able to save it. My heart goes out to her right now. If you are going to make a Christian production, it needs to be engaging and it needs to draw younger people a child should be able to watch that and completely understand it. That would not make me want to read the Bible. I’m sorry to be so honest, I’m praying that they’ll be able to fix this. Good concept, but sort of deceiving in the advertising. This was advertised as a movie it’s not really a movie it’s a music video. All hearts were in the right place it just missed the mark. I haven’t read the book yet but I hope it’s successful
GREAT CONCEPT; STILL POSSIBLE TO SALVAGE IT I wanted this film to succeed. Yet, there are a few things working against its beauty and brilliance. The overtly anachronistic staging of this film took a while for me to accept. Modern vocalists, with modern beard cuts, modern clothes (albeit dressed-down) and sometimes even with eye-glasses, lip-sync to some compelling choral and solo pieces, while re-telling/re-enacting select stories from The Bible. The dramatizations are typically staged in a natural setting, such as a mountaintop, edge-of-the-desert, edge-of-the-sea, on the sea, or even in a village. Two major problems: 1) The singing is all-too-often drowned out by the instrumental accompaniment. I noticed the name of "Kent Hooper(Hopper?)" as the mixing engineer for some of the scenes. He made a poor choice in the orchestral accompaniment level. The orchestra is lovely, but it drowns out the singing and the narration. I strained to understand the lyrics and Kathy Lee Gifford's narration with all that pounding music. It is written, "sing praises with understanding." PS 47.7. THE MIXING ENGINEER SHOULD REMASTER THIS BEFORE DVDS ARE RELEASED. 2) The other nagging problem is the multiple lip-synced musical passages, in which the lips are not synced at all. It's ugly. THE MIXING ENGINEER SHOULD REMASTER THIS BEFORE DVDS ARE RELEASED. Out of four(4) single-theme segments, the easiest to relate to was part 4, "The God Who Crosses to the Other Side." The dramatizations of Bible characters, who experienced Divine Deliverance, were compelling and moving. Another segment, featured a lovely vocalist sequentially playing three roles. It was hard to wrap my head around this performer acting out the experiences of Hagar, Ruth and Mary, with little discernible break between the episodes. This distinguished talent could have been better managed. Looking ahead, I want to get the sheet music.
Extremely disappointed. Invited numerous friends to go, paid top dollar to watch a music video. Lips and singing didn’t even match up. One of my friends even fell asleep. It evidently was a very low budget film with no flow. Save your money.
The only movie I ever got up and walked out of.
While her heart was in the right place, this movie missed the mark. Not presented clearly, choppy storylines. Hope she continues with much better clarity.
Not at all what I expected. Voices were beautiful but very disjointed story line. Anyone not familiar with the Bible stories would have a hard time following. Even those who know God’s word were confused. Beautiful songs and wonderful intent to share the Lord. Love Kathie Lee.
If you read what Kathie Lee’s stated intention is for the movie, it is to remind people today of God’s desire to have a community with us- to be a resource to the faithful. But the commercial descriptions made it sound like a narrated musical presentation of the Bible. What I had expected was Bible stories and what I got was a long music video that seemed disjointed. It started with some basic OT - got to Abraham, then Moses, then a Joseph cameo- and then suddenly talked about Mary. I had to go looking for her reason for making the film to understand if there was a point to what I had watched. The book may accomplish her other stated goal of opening up the Old Testament to today’s Christian and I’m looking forward to reading it. Watch the movie and enjoy a 90 minute music video celebrating God’s love.
The music and cinematography was amazing....top quality Wish is was in the mainstream theaters so more could see this!
The Music with the singers was very powerful. Expected with the Narration to feature the singers at some actual areas of where the Bible stories occurred. My sister said it looked like areas of Utah. Overall enjoyed listening to the singers