"The Miracle Maker" is such a great film. It is easily one of the best movies inspired in the gospel. While the script it's very faithful to the Bible, the life of Jesus of Nazareth is portrayed in a very artistic, poetic way combing stop motion animation with some traditionally animated sequences and the result was simply outstanding. Ralph Fiennes gives a great voice performance, and the rest of the cast made a great work as well. The plot of this film describes the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of a young girl, Tamar, the daughter of the Jairus (Which is not named in the Bible) and the result is beautifully made, being a great movie for the whole family. I think that even those aren't Christian would be able to enjoy this film due to the high quality of this film.10/10

I first caught a glimpse of "The Miracle Maker" several years ago while traveling. I only saw about ten minutes, but what an interesting ten minutes. The story was so familiar - probably because it was as straight out of the Bible as it could be.I didn't even catch the name of the film... Thankfully, I was able to search in IMDb and found it. I rented it last week and, wow, magnificent - especially the "making of..." special feature. Several key things (my opinion) that put this film above all other Bible epics (and, listen up, Hollywood, a lot of what you adapt to film):1. The ethnicity of the actors isn't a distraction. That is, they're Semitic for the most part. Charlton Heston, in "In the Arena" expressed some bewilderment regarding his reply to Messala in "Ben Hur," "…because I'm a Jew…" The bewilderment stemming from the fact that Chuck Heston is a white Anglo/Scot American from the north-midwest. He doesn't look like he's of desert stock in "Ben-Hur," no matter how good he was. Max Von Sydow as Jesus in "The Greatest Story Ever Told," along with other performers like Shelly Winters and Chuck Heston (as John the Baptist), is asking a lot and borderline offensive. (I say "borderline" because the producers of the film weren't trying to offend anyone with a bunch of white people playing Arabs, those were the stars they used, etc.) With the models in "The Miracle Maker," it's not even an issue. Now, sure, everyone's speaking English, and most likely Peter didn't speak like Scotty from Star Trek… But why mess up the movie with subtitles? On top of that, the Bible has been published in modern English since the 1500's, and diligently compared, etc., etc.; and the place-names and characters' names are known – what I'm saying is that the voices do not distract. 2. Playing it straight. "The Miracle Maker" is right out of the Bible. Jesus performs miracles. He is the Son of God. There's not an inkling of anything trying to explain away a miracle or anything else. The effect I came away with after watching the film was joy at seeing a great, great visualization of what's in the Bible, not, say, reservation or contemplation pertaining to this or that director's interpretation of the Bible. Note, though, a lot is left out – but it's tough to do it all in an hour and a half. It takes place off-camera, no? This is a plus, though, as the film would simply be five seconds of this, five seconds of that. Instead, the producers concentrated on what they considered key stories from the Gospels. At any rate, the continuity is good. 3. The resurrected Jesus is powerful, confident, relaxed, and even happy. This is the resurrected Jesus I know. 4. Highlight: Luke 24:25-31 is in the script word-for-word (to my best recollection).

This is a great production which is far superior to any of the 'epic' real life re-tellings of the life of Jesus. If you look at the list of theological advisors in the credits at the end of the film you will see part of the reason why - rather than a dramatic Hollywood interpretation of the story, this work is part based on the thoughts of people who have spent a lifetime reflecting on what Jesus meant. That means rather more depth than we get with, for example, John Wayne as a centurion in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Plus the puppets and animation mean that the audience (or at least myself) aren't distracted by the sets and the actors. It's real, but has an other worldly edge that makes it different. Very strongly recommended.

Of the many life of Christ films, this should be rated as one of the best. Some viewers have called it a "claymation" film, it is not. This is a stop motion puppet film. Anyone who has the DVD version can view the "making of" film and see that the figures are flexible puppets made of foam and plastic and not the crude figures done for "claymation". There is a vast difference in stop motion puppets and claymation figures.What sets this film apart is that through the puppet medium, the figures look like people from the time and place of the original happening, not Hollywood actors in costumes and make up. Since the viewer does not associate a certain actor with the part, it is much easier to accept the puppet as the "real" character. You don't see Jeffrey Hunter, the actor in "King of Kings", playing a part but see more acceptable versions of Christ and the apostles. The combination of 3D and 2D animation works well in separating the parable stories from the "real" action. It is a jolt at first, but becomes very acceptable as the film goes on. Don't let the "puppet" idea keep an adult viewer away from this wonderful film. It is a concept that makes the Bible stories wonderfully accessible to all age groups.