Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Expected more

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

I'm not religious in the slightest, but you don't have to be to enjoy this wonderful feelgood musical. I can't understand any bad reviews on here. I bet they were still foot-tapping away to the songs. I've seen several different versions of this on stage as well, but the film did the stage musical justice and, with the era, it is locked in time with the whole hippie scene and a more carefree look on life, on love and hope for the future, something that's missing in many ways today.

It's an adaption of Gospel of St. Matthew as a hippie musical in present day NYC. John the Baptist gathers a disparate group of young people from all walks of life. Jesus (Victor Garber) leads his disciples through the city as the stories of the bible are reenacted with songs.As a stage musical, this continues to be a favorite of the theatrical set. As a movie, this fails to transcends the stage onto the big screen. The limited cast and scale reduces its cinematic potential. It does have the great Victor Garber at the lead. However the transfer from live theater to a movie loses the immediacy. The movie needs to replace it with greater scale which a theater doesn't have.

A musical based on the Bible. Jesus (Victor Garber) and his followers (who are VERY energetic) wander around a completely deserted NYC and sing and act out lessons from the Bible. There's excellent use of NYC landmarks (although the WTC footage might be troubling for some) and all the songs are excellent. Everybody is good in their roles especially Garber and David Haskell (as John/Judas). I have a few minor complaints. The cast goes all out in their roles...sometimes TOO all out! Occasionally they're overacting to an embarrassing degree. I realize they were all stage actors and were trained to play it to the rafters but I wish someone had just told them to tone it down. Also they cut out "We Beseech Thee" which, for my money, is the best song in the play! I realize why they did it (they didn't need to stop the movie like you do in a play) but it still hurts. Still the rest of the songs are great and "Day by Day" was a HUGE hit. And, even though I'm not a religious person, I found the ending very moving. Well worth seeing.

I come back to this movie every decade or so of my life, and I always walk away in love with it again.While in content it might diverge a bit from standard canon, in its soul i have always felt it was the BEST and truest to the essence telling of the Christ story ever made.Jesus after all, WAS a peace-loving, communal-living, drug-sharing hippie. (What drugs you ask? I remind you that the drug of choice in the time and place was alcohol, and refer you to a certain marriage scene in Cana.) Just like the hippies of the 60s, he violated the social and moral conventions of his day in order to say that there was a better way to live.JC Superstar is a far more impressive literary work. But Godspell to me says it all without the confusion and pretension that has crept in in the past 2000 years.