Initially a magazine short story, then expanded to novel form in 1972, Barbara Robinson’s “ The Best Christmas Pageant Ever ” has remained a holiday staple ever since. Its enjoyable central conceit of Roald Dahl-style comedic nastiness — the first sentence pegs principal figures as “absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world” — no doubt explains an enduring popularity among young readers, while there’s just enough inspirational uplift by the end to earn parental approval. That equation gets reversed to a degree in this first big-screen version from Dallas Jenkins , whose Biblical-times series “The Chosen” set a high mark among faith-based entertainments for the small screen in recent years.
His “Pageant” goes a little too sentimental and instructive too soon for those viewers whose attention spans are better suited to the antic earlier going. Nonetheless, this is a well-cast, well-crafted diversion for the whole family that’s already done well for Lionsgate (racking up $10.8 million on more than 3,000 screens) in its initial week of theatrical release, and will surely prove a perennial for Yuletide seasons to come.
The tale is narrated by one Beth Bradley, a grade schooler whose peers in the town of Emmanuel are terrorized by the dreaded Herdmans, a half-dozen brats whose neglectful-at-best parents are never seen or heard from. (Lauren Graham does the voiceover as a reminiscing adult Beth, appearing only in an epilogue sequence, while Moll.
