Metacritic Movie Ratings
The Nativity Story Reviews

A sample of reviews from critics across the country.

• 80

  out of 100

  The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt

  Unfolds in a scrupulously accurate historical adventure story that depicts the world of Jesus' birth with an exciting you-are-there verisimilitude.

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• 70

  out of 100

  The New York TimesA.O. Scott

  At its best, The Nativity Story shares with "Hail Mary" an interest in finding a kernel of realism in the old story of a pregnant teenager in hard times. Buried in the pageantry, in other words, is an interesting movie.

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• 50

  out of 100

  VarietyTodd McCarthy

  Memories of dreary Sunday school classes come flooding back courtesy of The Nativity Story.

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• 50

  out of 100

  Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan

  This is not a chance to "experience the most timeless of stories as you've never seen it before" but just the opposite: an opportunity, for those who want it, to encounter this story exactly the way it's almost always been told.

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• 42

  out of 100

  Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman

  The Nativity Story is a film of tame picture-book sincerity, but that's not the same thing as devotion. The movie is too tepid to feel, or see, the light.

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See all The Nativity Story movie reviews at Metacritic.com