DISCOVERING AN EMPTY TOMB: THE STORY OF EASTER

Here's the decision in plain terms. This is the first episode of the Great Bible Discovery Series, a well-meaning effort to teach children the Easter story on video — and its heart is exactly where a Christian parent would want it. It walks children from Palm Sunday to the empty tomb, with a host who tries to make the meaning clear through questions and explanation.

The trouble is the making of it. A meager budget and a script that was never child-tested undercut the whole thing. The host needs far more direction, and children are unlikely to stay with it.

So watch it at home, where you can pause, add your own words, and fill the gaps this video leaves. As a family or church teaching aid it may still serve — but temper your expectations, and be ready to do some of the teaching yourself.

The most familiar story in the world, told for children. A host named David Mead follows Jesus from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday toward the events of that first Easter.

Along the way, he pauses to explain the action and to pose questions, hoping children will understand not just what happened but what it means. Original storybook-style artwork carries the drama, and the journey leads, as it must, toward a tomb and the promise waiting there.

One star, and honesty requires saying why. The intention is genuinely good — children do learn from video, and there's real need for tools like this. But this one doesn't work. The lack of a budget shows throughout and undermines the quality at every turn.

The host, David Mead, needs much more direction than he's given, and the script needed a rewrite and real testing with children before it ever reached tape. The mix of live action and storybook-style animation is a sound idea poorly funded. Reworked with care, the source believes it could become a helpful tool for families and churches. As it stands, it falls short of that promise.

There's nothing hidden here to weigh — this is a straightforward Christian teaching video, and it means every word of it. It sets out to tell children the truth at the center of the faith: that Jesus entered Jerusalem, went to the cross, and rose again on Easter morning.

What it exalts is exactly what Scripture exalts. The empty tomb is not a plot point but the whole point, and the video presents it as the answer to God's promise. That aim is worthy, and a parent can trust the destination even where the craft disappoints.

The gap here is one of skill, not soundness. Where the film stumbles is in helping children actually receive the story it loves — and that is a place a watching parent can gladly step in.

The empty tomb the video points toward is the hinge of everything the church believes: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile" (1 Corinthians 15:17). This little video, for all its limits, is trying to hand children that very hope.

The heart of this one is right where it should be — it wants to hand your children the Easter story, and it points them toward the empty tomb and the hope inside it. The making just doesn't match the mission. So our answer is wait for home, where you can pause, explain, and add what the video can't. Hunting for more family viewing? Try our latest family-friendly picks.