Publication Date: 12-24-2025

David (2025) review

Dir. Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

Even a godless heathen like myself can’t resist a faith-based animated movie. Growing up with DirecTV, with way too many channels for my impressionable mind to process, sometimes I would venture over to the 10-or-12 religious channels we had and watch something like Davey and Goliath, a cute claymation series created by Art Clokey, the man behind Gumby. And, of course, summer camps I attended showed us VeggieTales to keep us quiet for an hour or two.

So on that note, I was drawn to David — a new film from the South African studio Sunrise Productions, distributed by Angel Studios — like a moth to a flame. It’s a gorgeously animated picture that tells the linear story of a young shepherd predestined to be the King of Israel.

Initially, David (voiced by Brandon Engman as a boy; Phil Wickham as an adult) is just a boy who tends to his pregnant lamb, Shira, and fends off hungry lions from harming his flock on his family’s Bethlehem property. Enter the prophet Samuel (Brian Stivale), who visits David and anoints him as the next King of Israel. David’s reluctance, Samuel tells him, only makes him more qualified.

Of course, David’s challenges will seemingly only grow when faced with the gargantuan Philistine giant known as Goliath (Kamran Nikhad), whom he will have to fight, something that would be impossible without the power of God. Eventually, David’s adulthood will see him clash with King Saul (Adam Michael Gold), a power-hungry leader who sees more wars and conflicts as a precursor to obtaining more power.

Because it would probably be a bit too dry and formulaic otherwise, David is also a musical. That predictability is offset in part due to a surprising number of the songs being memorable. The big winner is the inspirational and invigorating “Follow the Light,” along with “Tapestry,” sung by David and his mother (Miri Mesika). Writers Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham don’t overdue it with the volume of musical numbers either. Minus the reprisals, the soundtrack clocks in at under 30 minutes. Having listened to it, I can attest the songs stand on their own as a gaggle of well-produced, sharply performed power ballads.

Maybe the biggest surprise of David is the quality of its animation. Early, pre-release stills of the film appeared unpolished and in need of a couple more renders. The film itself is striking in quality; many of the backdrops are borderline photorealistic. A variation of lighting effects are employed with conviction too, and not just the usual breed of a heavy dose of heavenly light inexplicably emanating through a window. It’s a truly gorgeous production.

Like all Angel Studios movies, the film ends with someone involved (this time, Phil Cunningham, co-writer/director of David) urging audiences to “Pay it Forward” and cough up money to purchase additional tickets so others, specifically children, can see this movie in a theater. Cunningham states in North America alone, as many as 20 million children may never step inside a movie theater in their lives. Surely sounds like a noble opportunity for the producers of David to step up and offer, say, a few thousand free children’s tickets to the movie for use over the holiday season. My cynicism for this ongoing method of cinematic panhandling aside, Angel does deserve credit for continuing to prioritize the theatrical experience. This is the same company who got the notoriously difficult-to-reach 40+ demographic to come out to the theaters to watch multiple episodes of an episodic series. And yes, David is best seen on a screen bigger than your television.

Voiced by: Phil Wickham, Brandon Engman, Miri Mesika, Sloan Muldown, Mark Jacobson, Adam Michael Gold, Asim Chaudhry, Mick Wingert, Will de Renzy-Martin, Lauren Daigle, and Kamran Nikhad. Directed by: Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham.