The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Parent Guide
Sweet, kind-hearted, and hopeful, this is a good choice for festive family viewing.
Parent Movie Review
What makes a great Christmas pageant? The way it looks or the way it feels?
This is the question at the heart of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. With the local church suddenly in desperate need of a director for the 75th annual Christmas production, Grace (Judy Greer) has bravely (or foolishly) volunteered to take charge. What she hasn’t counted on are the Herdmans.
“The Hermans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world” is the opinion of Grace’s daughter Beth (Molly Belle Wright). Raised in poverty by a negligent mother, the six Herdman children are now the terror of the town. Bullying is their specialty, but they also steal, lie, and commit arson with impunity. When they show up at church, demanding roles in the pageant, the other kids are too scared to stand in their way. Can Grace still produce a biblically-focused pageant with the Herdman children in key roles? Will it be a disaster, or will it give the townspeople of Emmanuel a new perspective on the birth of Jesus?
Parents looking for seasonal family entertainment will enjoy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It’s a sweet movie, kind-hearted and hopeful. Amidst the unsubtle laughs, the story is a reminder that everyone can change. Imogene Herdman (Beatrice Schneider) can become the better person she wants to be, Beth can see the Herdmans through a lens of compassion rather than fear, and even the uptight church ladies can learn to see beyond social class and outward appearances.
But this film is more than that. It’s a warning call to Christians tempted by self-righteous piety, by checklist religious observances, or surface perfectionism. It’s a call to reach out and love the poor, neglected, and dispossessed among us. It’s a reminder that everyone on the margins of society needs a community that sees, recognizes, values, and loves them. The sight of Imogene Herdman cradling the baby Jesus is a reminder to all Christians that Jesus came to this earth for the Herdmans too.
The messages will carry some weight for parents (and possibly encourage some soul-searching), but kids will enjoy this tale of a comical, chaotic Christmas pageant. The young cast frequently overact with gusto, there are plenty of goofy moments, and young viewers will get a kick out of the general mayhem. The festive fun comes with minimal negative moments, consisting mainly of some on-screen bullying and a brief scene of Imogene smoking a cigar.
I’m not saying The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is the Best Christmas Movie Ever. Far from it. But it’s certainly a tender-hearted film, sentimental in a good way, and capable of reminding viewers that love is the reason for the season. And as Christmas films go, that’s a gift.
Directed by Dallas Jenkins. Starring Lauren Graham, Judy Greer, Pete Holmes. Running time: 99 minutes. Theatrical release November 8, 2024. Updated November 4, 2024Watch the trailer for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Rating & Content Info
Why is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever rated PG? The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is rated PG by the MPAA for thematic material and brief underage smoking.
Violence: There are multiple scenes of bullying involving threats and minor violence. An act of arson results in a shed burning down.
Sexual Content: None.
Profanity: A child uses three terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: There is a scene of a child smoking a cigar.
Page last updated November 4, 2024
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Parents' Guide
What impact does being in the pageant have on the Herdman children? How does it change them? What do they learn?
What do the church members learn from the Herdmans? Does this change the way they treat others? How does it influence their perspective on their Christian faith?
Loved this movie? Try these books…
This film is based on the book The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, published in 1972 by Barbara Robinson. It’s also available as a picture book, illustrated by Laura Cornell.
For a lighthearted story about a Christmas pageant in England, you can turn to Nativity Play, written by Nick Butterworth and illustrated by Mick Inkpen.
Gwynne Watkins does a mash up in A Very Mixed Up Christmas Pageant, the tale of a nativity play in which kids use Halloween costumes and familiar characters to stand in for more familiar Biblical figures.
When the baby Jesus is stolen from their family’s nativity, Megan is sure she knows who did it. In Carol Lynn Pearson’s The Christmas Thief, she learns important lessons about compassion, forgiveness, and the mission of Jesus.
Home Video
Related home video titles:
In A Charlie Brown Christmas, the titular hero isn’t happy with the direction of the Christmas pageant. It takes his sad little tree to help everyone rethink their priorities.
When a single mom sends her son to spend Christmas with his estranged grandparents, he experiences a Black Nativity that changes his life.