Nativity 2 Danger In The Manger Preview - May contain spoilers!


Back in September we were lucky enough to be among the first to see David Tennant's new film Nativity 2: Danger In The Manger. The press screening was held at the Odeon in London's West End and Christmas came early for us as upon arrival we were greeted in the snow covered cinema by Christmas trees, carol singers and even donkey rides!
Our reporter for the event, Judith, loved the film and we're happy to say we give it a rating of 10/10 for festive family fun!
Read her full preview of the film below, but be warned there may be a few spoilers!



Nativity 2 is a sequel to the 2009 film "Nativity", in which Paul Maddens (Martin Freeman) is a failed actor who has fallen into teaching as a backup plan and ends up reluctantly directing a school nativity play of increasingly epic proportions.
In this follow-up, the class has been struggling with supply teachers ever since Mr Maddens "went to Hollywood" - a problem not aided by the fact that the class are largely under the supervision of Mr Poppy - a child-like classroom assistant who holds farting contests (rated on the fartmetre) and encourages the behaviour that has sent every other supply teacher running. Enter Mr Peterson (David Tennant) and his heavily pregnant wife Sarah (Joanna Page). 
Mr Peterson barely has time to unpack his books (and when he tries, he finds a shrine to former teacher Mr Maddens) when he finds himself unwittingly involved in a madcap quest involving a duck tour bus full of children, several creative uses of scarves, adversaries old and new, a group of concerned parents, and a national Song for Christmas competition with the chance of a single being released.
David is, of course, superb as the teacher thrown into a surreal set of circumstances at the worst possible time. And he even does double-duty, playing his not-quite-evil-but-definitely-up-to-no-good twin brother. Moments of note include a fabulous Christmas jumper, white water rafting in a suit, bouncing around like a loon in a giant snow-globe, and generally any time he tries to reason with the logic of Mr Poppy's insane world view. There are other excellent moments, many of which come via previous collaborator Jessica Hynes as the compere of the Song for Christmas competition - and the vast range of songs within the competition itself, including my favourite "All I Want for Christmas is Stuff".
And of course, there's a Christmas element to it all. The Nativity story comes shining along just as you least expect it, and there's an overall heartwarming sense of the importance of family - as well as the importance of having fun. It seems safe to assume that fun was definitely had by all in the making of this film, and the audience in the screening definitely shared that enjoyment.


Comments

Post a Comment