This is almost a musical, in several cases characters break out in song where we would normally expect dialog. But it isn't excessive and it works well.I saw this on DVD, now I wish I had seen it during the Christmas season for its message. A teenage boy in Baltimore with an unavailable dad and a single mom unable to pay the bills. So he is sent to stay with his grandparents in New York (Harlem). His grandfather happens to be a charismatic preacher, but with issues of his own.I became interested in seeing this for the superb cast, mostly actors I have seen and enjoyed in a number of roles. Forest Whitaker is the grandfather, Reverend Cornell Cobbs. His prize possession is a gold pocket watch with an inscription, a gift from MLK. The grandmother is Angela Bassett as Aretha Cobbs.But my favorite is Jennifer Hudson as the single mom, pregnant at 15. Naima is working at a couple of jobs but needs to come up with $5000 to avoid eviction, and has no way to get it legally. Her acting is spot-on and her singing superb as always.The 15-yr-old son is played well by 16-yr-old Jacob Latimore as Langston. The movie's title refers to a Christmastime Black Nativity presentation at grandpa's church. The ending and reconciliations work a bit too easily at the end, but the message of family and forgiveness is clear. Good movie, better then its IMDb rating (4.0 right now) would indicate. But it has a religious theme so people who object to that will not like it.SPOILERS: When Naimi became pregnant she became a family outcast, and the Reverend paid the dad $5000 to agree to never see her or the baby again. All this alienation ended up with Naimi in Baltimore and not speaking to her parents. At the end of the movie the Reverend confessed his "sin" to the whole congregation and his family, they forgave each other.

For one I can't believe such racial titles and movies are even allowed these days. Secondly - the same cast/crew that did this movies past movies have bombed beyond belief so - WHY is everyone shocked?This is certainly no surprise.Let's actually take a moment to analyze this...1) The obviously unnecessary racist title - REALLY guys? The very ones always stating "let the past go", etc is the ones who keep bringing it up and even throwing into the title of a movie - major shock there. Where's Asian Nativity, Caucasian Nativity? Oh that's right, that would be a law suit.2)Casting - Jennifer Hudson? PUKE!!!! she can't even sing much less act. Mary J? SAME THING hahahaha she has what 2 good songs and trying to act? PUKE AGAIN!!!! and yeah the list goes on and on.Just reason after reason for disaster on this abomination of a wannabe movie.

Very well told story based on the widely performed Langston Hughes play, Black Nativity. The music, acting and story captured me in a way I wouldn't have expected. I loved Jennifer Hudson's singing and Jacob Latimore's acting. He's one to watch in the future. And where did Grace Gibson come from? Fantastic acting from Forest Whitaker, Angela Basset and Mary Blige. The story line is intentionally unreal but beautifully matches the spirit of the season. As an upper middle class white Jewish guy, with nothing directly in common with these characters, I was moved and completely absorbed by this movie. I'd recommend it for every one of all ages. Take your kids, you'll have something good to talk about.

I think that this was well put together but it was not at all what i expected. A lot more singing and the story line could have been explored a bit more. It is sad when my wife who is not an avid movie goer is able to answer all the questions that should be discovered over the entirety of the movie.Plus:Great music and top notch singers and performers.Introduction to new artist coming on the scene.Negative:Movie never develops a rich story line in my opinion and some of the scenes were hard to follow. overall:Great movie for fellow music lovers it was like watching a long music video.