NATIVITY! (2009)

DIRECTED: Debbie Issit

STARRED: Martin Freeman, Marc Wootton, Ashley Jensen

AGE RATING: U

I found myself watching this in a makeshift fort, swaddled in duvets and surrounded by pillows with my flatmates the other night. Warm tootsies, full of gingerbread-hot chocolate and the four of us all snuggled up, it was awesome. And the film's pretty good too.

A festive film for the big kids as well as the little kids, Nativity! is about, no points for guessing, a nativity. Martin Freeman plays his usual role, as the grumpy and pessimistic but ultimately good-hearted lead, this time as Paul Maddens, a primary school teacher given the task of directing the school nativity. He really doesn't want to do it, Christmas isn't his thing. Which is where Mr Poppy comes in, the man-child disguised as a classroom assistant.

Whilst the whole lead-character-hates-Christmas-but-then-good-things-happen-and-lead-character-has-seen-the-light-Crimbo-is-brilliant-again thing is done in pretty much every Christmas film ever, I feel that Nativity! has more to offer. Kids are singing! Badly. It's like watching X-Factor auditions, they're adorably rubbish. The kids in this film are all really good, I was impressed with all of them. Child actors are notoriously iffy, but these kids had it under wraps and brought Nativity! together more than the adult actors if I'm honest. Their line delivery and physical performance was ace, especially as it was improvised, which gave the characters, young and old, a very natural feel, their performances were consistent and believable throughout.

I enjoyed the realism of the film, something not seen often in films aimed at kids. Obviously realism isn't a word that can describe the overall film, it's not often that -spoilers- an average primary school teacher can lie their way to getting a Hollywood film crew to fly to England and watch a school play. But the rest of it, the dialogue, the fact that the Christmases aren't all snowy and white. And I loved that each kid was allowed to showcase their own talents – I've never been able to burp the alphabet.

In general, Nativity! is a wonderfully heart-warming, cute little film, just right for getting you into the spirit of Christmas and I will be more than happy to take some of the younger family members to see the sequel this December.