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Verdict: A garden-fresh morality tale for the kids, with Monty Python-inspired humor.

Details: VeggieTales creators Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki wrote and directed the film and also provide most of the character voices. Rated G.

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Review: Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie is a computer-animated musical that recounts the parable of Jonah and the whale using the garden-produce stars of the popular VeggieTales video series.

Like the videos, the first full-length feature from Chicago-based Big Idea Productions marries a strong, simple moral message with Monty Python-inspired humor.

Archibald Asparagus portrays Jonah, a prophet who is proud to be a messenger of God — until God asks him to deliver a message to Nineveh, a city where the nasty inhabitants lie, steal and slap each other with huge fish. To reach Nineveh, Jonah sets sail with the Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, who are led by Larry the Cucumber, as lazy Pirate Larry.

Jonah “offers a mixed salad of Bible-based homilies, clever wordplay, antic silliness and vibrant CGI animation,” Variety said. “The religious themes are sounded with unabashed clarity, but not so insistently as to transform the enterprise into a Sunday School lesson.”

— Dave Larsen, (none)