Song Sung Blue (in theaters)

The tonal whiplash in this movie feels like a car running into you. While that may be the point – the moment is caused by a car crash – it doesn’t make the shift in “Song Sung Blue” easier to take. 

The first section of the movie feels like an earnest but slightly cheesy party. A rousing celebration of Neil Diamond and the combined charm and vocal talents of Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman, it’s the cinematic equivalent of singing along to “Sweet Caroline.” If you like Neil Diamond, you’ll like this part of the movie. 

Then the tragedy hits, and the party’s over. The sudden downturn is relentless, with awful things happening over and over again until it feels like we’re suddenly watching a Lifetime original movie. I know that the movie is based on the true story of these two Neil Diamond tribute artists, but director Craig Brewer must be piling on the drama. Audiences aren’t given even a moment to breathe between the moments of awfulness, and the timing of a big moment at the end strains credulity.

Jackman is his usual charming self, but Hudson really digs into her role enough to make me wish she was the movie’s POV character. Both of them are excellent singers, especially together, and while I wish we’d gotten a wider range of Diamond’s work the songs we did get are excellent. 

If only the movie had focused more on singing and less on drama. 

Grade: Two stars

David (in theaters)

Anyone who’s read the Bible knows the real stories are messy, often problematic, and would deserve at least an R rating if filmed accurately.

When you make a Bible movie for kids, though, you skip all those bits. That’s definitely the case with “David,” a perfectly pleasant, wonderfully animated movie that cuts all the difficult, complicated bits from the story of its titular hero. The result is a solid but unmemorable animated musical, one that rises to occasional heights but won’t dig terribly deep into your emotions. It’s no “The Prince of Egypt,” but it’s not a bad way to spend an afternoon. 

For those not immediately familiar with the name, this is the Biblical David best known for his battle against the giant Goliath. The fight is the best part of the movie, dramatic and visually striking in all the best ways. The latter is thanks to the animation team at Sunrise Animation Studio, who made the film (Angel Studios is distributing it), who came up with amazing touches like setting the fight in a field of poppies.

Unfortunately, this moment comes 50 minutes into a nearly two hour long movie. The rest of the film follows David fighting for the kingship he didn’t want, simplified and exaggerated by a lot of judicious editing. It’s not bad, story wise, but it feels like any real spark has leaked out of the movie. 

Thankfully, the Sunrise Animation team steps in to save us. A later song about the tapestry of life is only average musically, but animated with gorgeous, detailed visuals that really pull you into the screen. The landscape animation is also really well done, an aspect that’s often forgotten in these types of movies. 

If you can’t tell the whole story, you might as well make it look good. 

Grade: Two and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society and the Utah Film Critics Association. Drop her a line at [email protected].