The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 16, 2025

Reprehensible characters receiving a potent dose of saving grace have been part and parcel of holiday stories since time immemorial, probably most memorably with regard to Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol. That venerable story of course featured only one reprehensible character getting some spiritual "advice" courtesy of a bit of supernatural phenomena, but The Best Christmas Pageant Ever offers a whole cohort of reprehensible characters, all rather young, and their "spiritual transformation" is achieved largely through actual human interaction, albeit with a liberal dose of that invisible but still potent "Christmas spirit" in play, though they're not the only ones experiencing profound changes. This is probably an unavoidably cliché ridden Hallmark Movie Channel-esque adaptation of Barbara Robinson's best selling 1972 novel, but that doesn't mean it's not big hearted (almost to a fault) and rather sweetly nostalgic in its own "templated" way.

In that "template" category, one might include the kind of beautifully scenic snow laden small town with an iconic church that few probably ever grew up in, and a whole plethora of seasonal set decorations ranging from (of course) light laden trees to light laden houses, not to mention other accoutrements in both houses of worship and individual homes. It's therefore kind of interesting to contrast films like this with Dickens original tale of redemption, which after all is rather surprisingly free of "overt" Christian imagery. Sure, there's the Fezziwig party and other allusions, not to mention the setting of Christmas Eve, but you don't see things like churches or other Christian iconography in many adaptations, whereas they're pretty much front and center here. If there is a tether to Dickens' work (other than the general "redemption" aspect), it's a salient socioeconomic subtext, here perhaps a bit more subtle than in the contrast between Ebenezer Scrooge and the Cratchit family, but still very much there for eyes open to see it.

The "juvenile delinquents" in this case are a sextet of miscreants from the Herdman family, who are viewed with distaste by the locals, including by the film's narrator Beth Bradley (Lauren Graham in that voiceover role as an adult, with Molly Belle Wright on hand as the character in child form). And in fact there's a kind of intentional contrast between the seemingly "normal" Bradley family and the Herdmans, though of course this being an all around tale of not judging books by covers, both sides of the equation may end up learning something when the Herdmans more or less take over the annual Christmas pageant.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever might have done better with a bit more snark, but it will probably provide perfect family entertainment for the supposedly upcoming but evidently (based on this release and a glut of advertising crossing my particular feeds) already here holiday. Pete Holmes, a kind of "Christian comedy adjacent" comedian, and Judy Greer capably portray the Bradley parents. All of the kids are quite winning, whether or not in "misbehaving" mode.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDB lists the Arri Alexa 35, but as of the writing of this review fails to specify the resolution of the DI, which I'm assuming was 2K. This is a nicely burnished presentation that tends to be on the dark side a lot of the time courtesy of appropriately wintry settings and especially a lot of indoor material. The palette can therefore be slightly subdued at times, emphasizing browns in the church in particular, but of course with some bright pops of festive holiday decor enlivening the proceedings. A lot of the grading looks slightly "golden hour" yellow, to evocative and nostalgic effect. Detail levels are typically great throughout, especially on things like the hardscrabble Herdman kids' unkempt appearances.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever features a Dolby Atmos track which is frankly probably not strictly necessary for a film with the limited surround ambitions of this one. Most of the immersive capabilities of the track involve some of the music, which has both the expected Christmas carols as well as tinkly glockenspiel (?) suffused underscore, and scenes with several characters benefit from some discrete channelization of ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Dallas Jenkins & Producer Kevin Downes


• Herding the Kids (HD; 5:34) looks at "kid wrangling" on set.


• Director's Diary (HD; 7:49) offers some candid footage with Dallas Jenkins.


• All About the Pageantry: Creating the Look (HD; 6:01) looks at elements like production design.


• Legacy of the Christmas Pageant (HD; 6:39) offers memories of pageants by cast and crew.


• The Least of These (HD; 6:58) has some history of how Dallas Jenkins came to know about the property and what the message of the story means.


• Bloopers (HD; 7:03)


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 7:32)


• Trailer (HD; 2:24)

DVD and digital copies are included. Packaging features a slipcover.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In some memories of Christmas Pageants of yore, director Dallas Jenkins mentions how he remembers the parents being more excited at times than the kids, but I have to say as someone who was a longtime music director for a large Methodist congregation that had an annual Christmas Eve pageant with the kiddos, I can still remember the screeches of delight as various kids got to dress up as, say, the animals or angels in particular. Anyone with similar memories is almost sure to find some sweet enjoyment here, even if the overall story can't help but feel predictable. Technical merits are solid and this has some appealing supplements as well. Recommended.