David, Angel Studios’ second feature-length animated film following this year’s Easter hit The King of Kings (2025), is pretty much exactly what you think it would be. A sequel to their short, five-part streaming series Young David (2023), it follows the familiar Sunday School narrative of David, the teenage shepherd boy who is anointed king of Israel, proves his faith in God by protecting his sheep from wild animals and the Israeli army from the giant Goliath, and then spends years being hunted by Saul, the tragic-corrupt Israelite king who first loves David and then loathes him out of fear and jealousy.

In the Bible, the arc of David’s narrative is immense, taking up the entirety of I & II Samuel, as well as part of I Kings, with a massive roster of supporting characters and tons of political upheaval. So, it makes sense that writer/directors Brent Dawes and Phil Cunningham (who previously collaborated on kids television series like Munki and Trunk and Jungle Beat) have limited the story, which serves the dual purpose of keeping things manageable from a narrative perspective and also allowing them to keep the focus on David’s heroism, fidelity, and faith in God (none of that messy adultery and murder that complicates his later years).

We begin with David as an adolescent, successfully protecting his flock of sheep from a hungry lion, which establishes the bravery and determination that will define his character for the rest of the story, which ends with his inspiring the Israelites to rise up against the Amalekites, a roving clan of fearsome warriors in heavy armor and demonic horns who look like they would be right at home in a Mad Max movie. In between he earns the wrath of Saul once the king figures out that David has been chosen to supplant him, befriends Saul’s son Jonathan, and earns the adoration of a group of Israelites who recognize him as their true king. Those familiar with the story will recognize all the beats, although quite a bit of it is truncated or compressed for the sake of time (Jonathan, for example, is given much less to do here than in the Biblical account). Being a musical, David features a half-dozen major songs, some of which sound like they were written for the Broadway stage, while others have the distinct qualities of contemporary worship music. None of the songs are particularly memorable, but they work well enough within the parameters of the story (the rousing, climactic “Follow the Light” is the best musically and thematically).

Visually, David is quite impressive, with the computer-animated rendition of the ancient world evoking both beauty and danger. Some of the choices give new life to overly familiar scenarios, such as the decision to depict the Valley of Elah, where the Israelite army faces off against the Philistines and Goliath, as a beautiful expanse of colorful flowers (which is geographically accurate). Goliath himself is depicted as a pale-skinned behemoth with sharp features and a booming voice, which marks him as strikingly different from traditional portrayals (which is usually dark and heavily bearded). King Achish (Asim Chaudhry), the leader of the Philistines, is portrayed as hedonistic and gender fluid, with an absurdly coiffed beard and blue eye shadow that was no doubt intended to connect with conservative viewers. David, on the other hand, who is voiced as an adolescent by Brandon Engman and a young adult by Phil Wickham, is conventionally handsome and resolute in all his actions, marking him as an incorruptible hero for the ages. And, while that certainly simplifies the arc of his Biblical narrative, it plays into the film’s ultimate goal of being spiritually uplifting and confirming of the power of faith.

Copyright © 2025 James Kendrick

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