Film about group of schoolchildren in a Christmas carol contest attracts huge crowds at box office despite savage reviews
It was described by one critic as a "Christmas turkey" and suffering from "abject lousiness" by another, but Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger is set to become the biggest British independent film of 2012.
Its critical drubbing has not prevented hundreds of thousands of parents and children from going to see the film about a class's chaotic journey to a carol competition.
Nativity 2, which stars former Doctor Who actor David Tennant, is the third most popular film this week after The Hobbit and The Rise of the Guardians. It is expected to make £9m by the end of the Christmas holidays.
In comparison the critically acclaimed film Shadow Dancer made around £1m at the box office in 2012.
The Telegraph's review described Nativity 2 as a film that "very young children might enjoy ... in the same way they might extract hours of amusement from a cardboard box that used to contain a washing machine".
The Daily Mail's assesment was even more blunt: "Around me, I noticed jaws hanging open in disbelief at how a film this excruciating could get made. The Christmas turkey has arrived." Critic Chris Tookey singled out writer-director Debbie Isitt "for co-writing the atrocious songs that bring the proceedings to a grisly climax".
But Isitt is somewhat mystified by the extreme reactions to her film, some of which she described as violent and frightening. She said: "I don't mind that some adults won't like it. It's the level of anger and vitriol that is so bizarre. I was fascinated by that but I really don't understand it.
"Some of the Twitter rants were very child hating. I saw a couple of comments that said things like I'd like to punch those children in the face. It makes you feel sick."
Fortunately for Isitt, the critics have been ignored by parents and children alike, and the film's distributor, eOne, said it wants another sequel.
"I only test-screen for children and I haven't met one that hasn't enjoyed it," Isitt said. "Children like to see their lives reflected back at them as we all do. We are finding that children are choosing Nativity over the big well-known American animations because they identify with these children, because they wear the same school uniforms as them."
Isitt also believes that British audiences' nostalgia for the tradition of carol singing, which she believes is dying out, has helped boost the film's appeal. "Carols and songs are the magic of Christmas. Me and my cousins and sisters and a little gang of us spent hours going around carol singing in the pitch black. We loved that and singers turning up at our door," she said.
Isitt's 13-year-old daughter and her friends are reluctant to go out in the evening to sing carols. "It doesn't happen any more. It's such a shame. You would want to send them out in numbers for safety but there is a lack of confidence in the children. We were fearless as children but society has changed and fear is contagious."
Isitt's own Christmas will be rushed as she prepares to film a television series, a comedy drama for ITV about a big family set in her adopted home of Coventry in the new year. But anxious critics will have to wait and see whether there is a third Nativity film.
Isitt said: "I have to be really sure that there is enough life in the story and children will enjoy it. If I feel it can be done then I'll do it."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/dec/22/nativity-2-audience-critical
Alexa Rae Alexander Korda Alexander Mackendrick Alexander Payne
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