David (2025)
Summary
David (2025) is an animated musical — and box office hit — about the life of David from his boyhood as a diligent shepherd up to his coronation as King of Israel. Drawing direct events, messaging, and inspiration from the Old Testament (and, in some ways, the New Testament as well), the movie brings out David’s story in a way that is both approachable to children, theologically rich, and artistically beautiful. From the incredibly detailed animation to the heartfelt, classic Disney-style music, and loveable characters, this movie presents itself as a masterpiece for the ages.
Assessment
David (2025) is one of the highest-quality Biblical movies released in the past few years, with stellar animation, a fantastic cast, and solid theology. The first half of the movie does a good job of setting the stage for David, his context, and establishing his character not only as a man after God’s heart, but also as a poet, a shepherd, a psalmist, and a fellow human being. It also sets the tone for a variety of other Biblical figures, such as Samuel, Saul, and Jonathan. The movie also includes some characters that were indirectly mentioned or presumed to have existed with little Biblical reference or context, such as David’s mother and a younger sister named Zeruiah.
The second half of the movie compresses David’s timeline significantly, combining events together to create a more cohesive ending for the story and the message they were intending. While this does stray from literal Biblical history, it does still seek to highlight David’s overall role and purpose in Scripture as a figure whose life ultimately points towards Christ.
For the music, none of the songs are quite Disney-level catchy or memorable, but they are beautiful and relevant to the movie. Many of them are taken directly from the Psalms, adding a layer of depth to the overall storytelling.
In terms of cleanliness, the movie is suitable for all ages. It does touch on the topics of war and death (such as briefly covering Saul and Jonathan’s deaths and the death of Goliath), but the violence is not graphic or bloody. There is no romance or related adult themes.
Light-o-Meter
Overall — 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Story: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Voice Acting: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Animation: 7 out of 7 Little Lights
Music: 5 out of 7 Little Lights
Quality: 6 out of 7 Little Lights
Theological Message: 7 out of 7 Little Lights
Age Appropriateness — Appropriate for children.
Talk
This movie is amazing!! Two exclamation points type storytelling! From the animation to the theology, this is one of the most solid, Bible-based movies to come out, even in recent years where we’re kind of getting some good stuff on the regular.
I think one of the most mind-blowing things about the animation is the textures. There is this underlying theme or thread of “tapestry” throughout the whole movie; sometimes the tapestries are used literally as artwork that tells the story of David and Saul, sometimes they are metaphorical, such as in the song “Tapestry”, explaining God’s great design for our lives, both the good blessings He brings and the suffering He allows for our benefit. Regardless of how they were used in a storytelling capacity, the animations of the fabrics, clothing, and fibers were mind-blowing. You can almost see the individual fibers that make up each thread and the individual pieces of hair on the heads of the characters. Absolutely amazing and I think it really added to the movie’s Disney-level quality without making it feel like a Disney knockoff or wannabe. The movie never felt like it was copying Disney directly, but that it was just setting itself in the same category of animation.
In terms of the story, I thought it was one of the richest “for children” Bible movies I’ve seen in a long time. A lot of times Bible stories are presented to kids are incredibly watered down or sanitized way that technically gets the point across, but is often missing deeper elements of the original message. While this movie did change some of the events of the two books of Samuel — mostly just compressing them together for the sake of the movie’s length — it also put in the effort to keep theological message present and accounted for.
I do have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the ending. On the one hand it really did a good job of expressing that overarching message of David’s life, which is to point towards Jesus Christ. On the other hand I felt it was really rushed and I could never quite get my footing with the Amalekites. They were both a past trauma and a present danger — which makes sense — but then there were also the Philistines taking up a lot of the “bad guy” screentime and leaving the Amalekites without a lot of time to develop or establish themselves as the villains they were.
Setting aside that one nitpick, however, I absolutely loved this movie. If you are looking for a Disney-level, Biblically-based animated movie for your kids with lovable characters and beautiful artwork, definitely check out David!
Where to Enjoy
Streaming:
Angel Studios: DAVID (2025) | Official Website | Now Streaming on Angel
Amazon Prime: Watch DAVID | Prime Video
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