The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure (1986 TV Movie) User Reviews

"Hey! That's my Yarmulke!"

[nofriggingway · 8/10 · 27 July 2005]

This is a very odd little movie. Christopher is skeptical and believes in Science. Little Mary Ann believes in Jesus and helps wounded birdies. Sauli is a clumsy, spineless Jewish kid with a big nose and glasses. He is picked on by bullies. A magical star or something transport the gang back to Olden Times to meet the movers and shakers of the Bible. The kids meet Jesus, who is represented by a lion in a bathrobe, and Magical Moses, who is represented by a gay tiger in a purple magician's hat. Moses sounds somewhat like Jeremy from "The Yellow Submarine". Jesus and Moses sing a duet. Then a sheep tries to eat Sauli's yarmulke.

Then the kids meet young David, who provides the rest of the movie's musical numbers. David is a panda dressed up like a ninja. I don't know if it's a **SPOILER** to mention that David kills Goliath, but there you go. Seeing the events of the Bible unfold gives Christopher a renewed faith in the Book. Seeing awesome Jews in action gives Sauli the confidence to give those bullies the what-for. Mary Ann doesn't learn anything because she was already perfect.

Watched this one bored morning

[Peter-171 · 6/10 · 23 August 2022]

Where do I begin? This has to be one of the most bizarre and saccharine 80's cartoons I have ever seen. Comparisons to the Care Bears are pretty much justified. The human characters are fogettable and most other characters are bizzare animal interpretations of Bible characters fighting against stereotypical stock villains. A few positive notes: the special is silly but harmless, two songs are actually pretty good if you can get past the saccharine moralizing and as much as I don't want to admit this, I would be lying if I didn't think Little David's design was kind of cute. Also one can't ignore the well intended message of the story no matter how clumsily presented. Also, while I thought almost every animated character's design to be weird, the landscapes presented during the "child of god" song looked pretty good. Too bad the animals (especially their faces) looked weird. Before I forget, the voice acting is decent, my one gripe is the jarring contrast with David's speaking and singing voice. This could have been a better than just oddly "meh" special if things had been thought out better.

Sanitized Bible Story With Care Bear Cousins Rip-Offs

[jeremycrimsonfox · 5/10 · 8 March 2021]

Made in a time when most cartoons would debut that later became legendary, Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure is one of those that failed. Intended to start a new series, this only got one sequel before being abandoned. In this, three kids, Peter, Mary Ann, and Sauli, are warped into their computer by a strange constellation, alongside Mary Ann's stuffed animals, who become the Kingdom Chums. Soon, the kids find themselves with the raccoon Little David, experiencing the story of David and Goliath.

Yeah, this is pretty messed up for what sounds like a blasphemous spawn of Care Bears and Superbook. Basically, this was not very well received. One of the main problems critics had was how the special toned down the more violent aspects of David and Goliath, and I have to agree. The Bible does not shy away from having stories that contain intense violence, but it seems with The Kingdom Chums airing as a special on the ABC network, they had to make it kid friendly, even to the point of leaving the fate of Goliath (who is a warthog) unknown. Also, one of the animals is called Magical Mose, and is a magician, which was also a source of criticism and biblical disputes, leading to him becoming Marvelous Mose in the sequel. To me, it feels like a poor attempt to try to turn important people from the Bible into Care Bear Cosuins wanna-bes for the purpose of selling merchandise like plush toys and videos. In fact, the only reason this gets a five is because of how one of the humans, Sauli, is of Jewish faith and the special does not go into bashing his faith, instead opting to have him learn from the story as he is having problems with a bully tormenting him, and the fact it has notable voice actors like Scott Menville as Little David and even Jim Cummings as the voice of Goliath.