Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie

However, big or little, I've long had a weakness for these things. For the uninitiated, Veggie Tales is a series of CGI videos released by the demented geniuses at Big Idea. They are chiefly the brainchildren of Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki and feature the odd retelling Bible stories or illustrations of biblical teachings, all done by a cast of vegetables led by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber.

I know. It sounds uninspiring on paper, if you haven't seen them. But you gotta trust me on this these guys are really funny, a sort of strange brew mixing Monty Python, MTV, your third grade Sunday School teacher and a tiny bit of Robin Williams all with a G rating. And now, they've done a very funny movie (Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie) that introduces kids to the story of Jonah while keeping grownups entertained as well.

The story you know: Prophet (played by Archibald Asparagus [voice: Phil Vischer]) told to go and warn Nineveh of impending doom. Prophet hot foots it out of there because he wants Nineveh to fry. Hops boat to Tarshish (captained by the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything). Big storm. Thrown overboard. Becomes ingredient in a Whale Big Gulp (along with the not-exactly-biblical sidekick Khalil, his half worm/half caterpillar buddy). Prophet says he's sorry. Urrp. Goes to Nineveh and prophesies. Nineveh repents. He's ticked. God tells him he loves everybody, not just the Chosen People. This is a story that's full of comic possibilities, given the right demented genius, and the movie exploits them, often with an eye on contemporary secular and Christian culture.

For instance, Jonah takes what could have been a boring and saccharine tune about obeying God's laws ("A Message from the Lord") and turns it into a cunning lampoon of comfortable suburban religiosity. Jonah's self-satisfaction is so thick you can cut it with a knife, but it is the self-satisfaction of the platitudinous American pietist ("Don't do drugs. Stay in school! A Message from the Lord!"). Prophetic oracle as Public Service Announcement. These guys have no intention of letting their suburban Evangelical "base audience" get away with looking down on Those People Over There. It's wickedly subversive--like the book of Jonah.

The great thing about Jonah, like all Veggie Tales, is the playfulness of the writing. Nawrocki simply has an ear for the goofy. ("I'll hoist the mainsail!" "I'll pop the popcorn!" "And I'll get the moist towelettes!") The film is littered with odd little ditties giving vent to Nawrocki's quirky gift for nonsense verse and whimsical dialogue (Be sure to stay all the way to the end of the closing credits to hear "The Credits Song"). Nawrocki and composer Kurt Heinecke have a knack for coming up with music that somehow manages to be faithful to "the message" yet which you like so much that you don't feel preached to. It is also well-animated, with an abundance of visual gags that reward a second viewing.

The story is framed (a frequent device in Veggie Tales) with a quarrel between a couple of the Veggie kids that relates to the problem in the biblical story. Kids can track with this and can see how the story relates to them.