David Movie: Recap & Review
- Kevin Keating
- 40 minutes ago
- 12 min read
The animated David movie follows the biblical story of David’s rise from shepherding flocks in the hills of Bethlehem through his battle with the Philistine champion, Goliath and on to the start of his kingship. It’s probably the most anticipated biblical film in over a decade and is almost certain to give Angel Studios another big win at the box office. But does it actually live up to all the hype? Below, I’ll give a recap of the David movie and review it both as a Bible adaptation and as an animated film.
See how David stacks up to other recent Bible movies and shows in our discussion of the Best Bible Shows and Movies of 2025.
What is the David movie about? (Plot Summary)
The David movie begins with the titular figure demonstrating his bravery by defending his flock from an attack by a lion. Returning home, he is surprised to find the prophet Samuel, who anoints him as the new king, despite David’s hesitation – and the protest of his envious brother Eliab, who warns that they are committing treason against Saul. Eliab’s anxieties seem to be confirmed when Saul’s men arrive immediately after the ceremony, having heard about David’s “gift.”
Arriving in Gibeah, it quickly becomes clear that what Saul has heard about isn’t David’s anointing but rather his ability to play. A whole line of musicians have been summoned to try to please the depressed and irritable King Saul. Most are fearful and so David ends up at the head of the line and bravely faces the king, opening him back up to light and peace, while inspiring the other musicians to have more courage too.
Having been saved from the darkness by David, Saul is eager to face King Achish and the Philistines in battle and sends David back home. Saul’s renewed courage quickly disappears when the Philistines reveal their champion, the beastly Goliath, who challenges the Israelites to find a man to face him.
Back home in Bethlehem, David struggles to make sense of his confusing situation, as someone who has been called to be the new king and yet also is serving under the old king. His Eema encourages him to trust that God is weaving his story, even if the threads currently look messy, and gives him a bracelet as a reminder. Inspired, David agrees to take the town’s supplies to the battlefield.
Arriving, David hears Goliath taunting God and insists that even he could fight the giant with God on his side. With Jonathan’s encouragement, Saul permits David to go and orders him to be armed – be David slips out of the armor and goes to face his foe with nothing but some river stones. At first Goliath is insulted and not interested in fighting a boy, but he likes the idea of facing the Israelite deity and arrogantly challenges God to show himself – and is immediately hit in the skull by David’s stone. The victory inspires the Israelite army to charge and the Philistines to flee.
Returning victorious to Gibeah, David is hailed, although he points the people to God and not himself and calls them to follow the light. Over the next few years, David builds a friendship with Jonathan and gains more reputation, while Saul uses the victory to build statues to his own glory, eying David suspiciously. Eager for a victory, he orders a strike against the Philistine city of Ziklag but finds it abandoned and cursed by the sorcerous Amalekites. Driven back into darkness, Saul flees back to his throne room and broods on how God promised to tear the kingdom from him, just like he once tore off a piece of Samuel’s robe. He finally realizes David must be God’s intended successor and attempts to pin him with his spear, forcing David to flee. David is almost caught and Jonathan has an opportunity to shoot him but instead helps him escape, reminding his father that the throne belongs to God.
At the news of David’s “betrayal,” all of David’s friends and family are forced to go on the run (except Eliab, who willingly betrays his own brother). After retrieving Goliath’s knife, David escapes into the desert, where he wanders alone and nearly dies of thirst. Fortunately, he is found by Abishai and some other outlaws, who bring him back to a cavern complex where his family and other enemies of Saul have gathered. David is exhausted and downcast but his Eema once again encourages him to trust that God is weaving his destiny and he realizes he needs to shepherd the people and lead them to freedom, just like he did for his flock.
Determined to eliminate the threat, Saul leads his army into the desert. When Saul enters their cave to mope, David’s men encourage him to kill him but he refuses. Instead, he cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe and confronts him outside of the cave. Saul is briefly forced to admit that he is in the wrong but quickly scuttles off with his army.
Unable to stay in the same place, David leads his people to Ziklag, the one place Saul is too afraid to check. Meanwhile, having heard that the Israelites are unraveling and Saul is depressed, Achish masses the Philistines for war. When David finds out, he disguises his men in Philistine armor and they join the enemy host, in the hope that they can turn on Achish and prove their loyalty to Saul. Jonathan rallies Saul’s men and defiantly tells Achish that God will use the battle for his purposes no matter what – either by defeating them or by clearing David’s way to the throne.
Just before the battle commences, black smoke signals an attack by the Amalekites on Ziklag. As the Philistines and Israelites charge at one another, David and his men are frozen. After Jonathan salutes him one last time, before falling in battle, David decides to go back to Ziklag and finds that all his family and the other citizens have been taken. The men are mad at David but he doesn’t despair, trusting that God is weaving his fate and wants him to shepherd the people, and so he chooses to go face the Amalekites “alone” (knowing that God is in fact with him and so are the people).
David approaches the Amalekite base and is soon captured and strong up (crucified, you might say) and prepared for execution while the enslaved people watch. Singing out, he inspires the slaves to not be afraid and they soon join him in singing out defiantly. Just before the Amalekites can kill him, Eliab and David’s men show up, defeating the Amalekites and saving the day.
Waking some time later, David is reunited with his family and hailed by all of Israel. As the people clothe him with a purple robe, David cuts a corner off of it and releases it into the wind, a sign that he is giving ultimate kingship back to God.
David Movie Review
There’s a lot about the David movie that is excellent – and I imagine that most Christian viewers and reviewers will offer glowing praise of it. Still, I had mixed feelings about the film as a whole. For every part that I really enjoyed or at least appreciated, there were parts that I struggled with. Part of that may be because of taste (I’m not a big fan of musicals, 3D animation, and the latest CCM), but there are several objective issues that keep David from being all that it could be. Before I get into the problems though, let me give praise where praise is due:
Animation: Even as someone who isn’t a big fan of 3D animation, I have to admit that the animation in David is beautiful. This is not cheap Christian knock-off animation. It’s executed with precision, and the character designs, world, and imagery are all gorgeous. The Amalekites have the most effective design – they were truly terrifying to my daughter. In general, it was easy to distinguish the various characters.
Music: The music of David has the feel of modern animated music crossed with CCM – not just in terms of the theological themes but also in terms of the upbeat, highly-produced, fullness of the sound. Again, I’ve outed myself as someone who’s not a huge fan of either genre, so it’s not really for me. But it seems well-made, so I imagine those who are fans will enjoy it. The climactic remix of all of the songs from earlier in the film is particularly powerful.
Biblical Accuracy: The David film follows the outline of the Book of Samuel fairly closely, making only a few significant changes (e.g. cutting everything related to Mychal and David’s other wives, removing many of his episodes in the wilderness, and changing the nature of David’s time in Ziklag) primarily in order to simplify and streamline the story. Given the parameters of the story, I think most of these choices were wise and effective, even if they may implant some misconceptions (particularly about David’s relationship to the Philistines). Additions to the story are primarily for the purpose of characterization or thematic development (e.g. David’s relationship with his mother and sister, the role of the Amalekites in Saul’s return to madness, David’s “crucifixion” by the Amalekites). All of these additions worked fairly well. I only had a few relatively inconsequential biblical quibbles, which I’ll mention below.
Biblical Themes: David contains several important biblical themes/ideas. The biggest theme is the importance of trusting that God is weaving your story together, even when the threads feel messy or broken. Another central theme is the importance of trusting in the greatness of the God who is with us, even when our opponents seem great or we seem alone. As a corollary, we see David model humble leadership/kingship, giving God the glory for his victories, in contrast to the self-glorifying leadership of Saul. Music is also key to the film, as a tool that helps inspire others to have hope and faith in God in the face of difficulty.
Eema and Zeruiah: My daughter and I both really enjoyed David’s sister, Zeruiah, who is spunky and a bit too eager to be a princess. His mother is also a solid mentor character, delivering some solid insights and encouragement.
Symbolism: I do love how the imagery and symbolism of thread and cloth is woven through the film (pardon the pun). The most obvious use of the symbolism is tied to the “trust God to weave your destiny” theme, Eema’s looms, and David’s bracelet. But the three torn robes also play an important symbolic role in emphasizing how kingship ultimately should belong to God. The extra-biblical third beat in this sequence, where David tears his own robe and surrenders it to God is a really creative and effective device. The use of tapestries to illustrate Israel’s history also ties into the imagery in an effective way.
With all of those positives in mind, let me try to put a finger on some of the problems that I had with the film that weren’t solely related to taste:
Scope: Most of the problems I had with David flow out of the decision to cover so much territory. Because the film has so much story to run through, we aren’t given enough time with several key events and characters. We barely get any time to orient ourselves to the world before David’s anointing. As a result, we don’t have a very good grasp of why the past regime was so problematic and what’s at stake. We also don’t get much time with David’s family (I could have used more Zeruiah) or with David’s longings and lifestyle. The build up to David’s fight with Goliath is handled fairly well (although it could easily have been extended to give us more time with other characters), but many of the later stages of David’s story are rushed through with musical montages that can be difficult to follow and engage with. Perhaps the most egregious example of this is Jonathan’s famous friendship with David, which is almost entirely confined to a montage. This decision really dulls the impact of Jonathan’s death later in the film (which is itself rushed by far too quickly). It’s a shame, because David will almost certainly be successful enough to generate sequels, and so there could have been enough time to tell these stories properly over the course of multiple installments.
Lack of Direction: Because the film is pulling together such disparate stages in David’s life, it struggles to give him a clear, active goal that can unify the plot. For contrast, consider any of your favorite animated films from the past few decades. The plot is almost driven by the main character’s pursuit of something, even if the path to that goal evolves in response to changing events and revelations. Although David has a few smaller objectives (defeat the giant, escape from Saul, save his followers) and a vague vision (freeing the people), he doesn’t really have a clear goal that unifies his actions or the plot. As a result, we don’t know where the film is heading and it’s harder to build a sense of anticipation and tension.
Things Don’t Need Fixing: I found it difficult to invest in David as a character and I think that’s largely because his life feels a little too perfect. He doesn’t really need to grow much – he already has all the courage and faith he needs when the film begins. He also has a pretty good life – he gets plenty of love and respect from his parents and there isn’t much tension in his family (just a little with Eliab). We also don’t get the sense that he lacks fulfillment. We are told that there are problems with Israel, but we don’t really see any evidence of what those are. Because there’s not much wrong with David’s world before the film, his later adventures have less emotional weight and significance.
Third Act Villain Swap: Although the Amalekites are briefly introduced and foreshadowed at earlier points in the film, they don’t really show up in a significant way until the final act of the film. As a result, David’s climactic battle is against an impersonal foe that we don’t really know or care about. Meanwhile, the Philistines, who are the primary antagonists for the first half of the film, don’t really get a satisfying comeuppance. Again, if the film had sliced up the source material in a different way, it could have avoided this awkward and unsatisfying switch.
Tone: David has a few good laughs, but it could use a couple more doses of humor, particularly in the final half of the film. I get that the events involved are serious, but humor doesn’t always come at the expense of drama or weightiness – sometimes it actually creates the space and texture needed for other weighty moments to hit hard. Just watch a classic Pixar movie like Up, which has totally ridiculous moments but also some major tearjerkers. Part of the problem is that David doesn’t have a funny companion who sticks with him – Zeruiah is the closest we get and she only shows up a few times. But I also think the film is just too intent on being earnest and unobjectionable. I was particularly annoyed by how the film excised the humor out of one of the funniest moments in Scripture. In the Bible, when David finds Saul alone in a cave, it’s because he’s pooping (1 Samuel 24:3) whereas the film just has Saul ruminating. I get that if they went too hard on the potty humor, it might have undercut the drama, but they could have at least nodded at it.
More Musical POVs: Even though I’m not a huge musical fan, I have young children and I’ve watched enough Disney to recognize a flaw in David’s approach to music, namely, that it almost always uses songs to teach the theme. A little bit of that is okay. But successful animated films use songs for a variety of purposes. Sometimes, a song is used to capture a side-character’s quirky personality, interests, or perspective (e.g. “(Snowman) In Summer” or “Hakuna Mata”). Sometimes a song is used to convey a protagonist’s early (and ultimately naive/flawed) understanding of the world (e.g. “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” or “Love is an Open Door”). And some of the best musical songs reflect the antagonist’s anti-theme (e.g. “Poor Unfortunate Souls” or “Be Prepared”). David’s use of music exclusively for teaching begins to feel a bit preachy and repetitive and it also prevents us from connecting to other characters in David’s orbit.
Sparing Lions: This is a minor quibble, but I was annoyed by David’s “save the cat” moment in which he spares a lion who just tried to slaughter the flock. I’m all for showing mercy to human foes, but sparing a violent, non-sentient beast isn’t merciful – it’s bad shepherding. That lion is just going to come back again to slaughter more sheep. There are other ways the film could show David’s mercy.
Sons of Zeruiah: Another minor quibble: as much as I liked David’s younger sister, they shouldn’t have identified her as Zeruiah. Zeruiah is a sister of David, but she’s clearly older, since her children, Joab and Abishai, are David’s peers. It’s particularly awkward because the film depicts Abishai as a young adult warrior while it is still portraying Zeruiah as a teenager. I don’t know why they didn’t identify his younger sister as Abigail, the mother of Amasa, who appears to be from a younger cohort. I get that it’s a small thing, but it also wouldn’t have been difficult to get this right.
Goliath’s Design: One final quibble: the only character design I was disappointed in was Goliath. I don’t know why they decided to make him extra pale, blonde, and soft-featured.
David has so much that works – in a way that makes its flaws all the more disappointing. This isn’t a bad film. It's a good film that could have been classic. That being said, I’m sure it’ll keep kids occupied and it will satisfy parents’ desire for a competent film with solid biblical messages and pastors’ desire for a fairly accurate representation of a biblical story and its messages. And for those who are fans of the style of animation and music, it may even exceed expectations. For the work of a small, faithful studio in a world dominated by media giants, I suppose that’s not bad.
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