Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger

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Nativity! 2: Danger in the Manger
Nativity 2 movie poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Debbie Isitt
Written byDebbie Isitt
Produced byNick Jones
Starring David Tennant
Joanna Page
Marc Wootton
Pam Ferris
Ian McNeice
Jason Watkins
Jessica Hynes
Rosie Cavaliero
Grace Hollis
CinematographySean Van Hales
Edited byNicky Ager
Music byNicky Ager
Debbie Isitt
Production
companies
Mirrorball Films
Moviehouse Entertainment
Media Pro Six
Premiere Picture
Distributed by Entertainment One [1]
Release date
  • 23 November 2012 (2012-11-23)
Running time
105 minutes [2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£3 million

Nativity! 2: Danger in the Manger is a 2012 British Christmas comedy film written and directed by Debbie Isitt, an improvised Christmas comedy and the second instalment in the Nativity film series. [3] The film focuses on Donald Peterson, an anxious primary school teacher, who embarks on a wild and heartwarming adventure with his class and teaching assistant, the childlike Mr Poppy, as they travel to Wales to perform in a Christmas singing competition.

Contents

The film stars David Tennant playing the dual role of twin brothers, [4] with Joanna Page as the wife of one of the brothers and Ian McNeice as the father of the brothers. Pam Ferris and Marc Wootton reprise their roles from the first film. [5]

The film, which was the official Children in Need film of 2012, had its first public screening on 11 November 2012, when 42 Cineworld cinemas in the United Kingdom held one-off charity screenings with all proceeds going to Children in Need. The film's official premiere was at the Leicester Square Odeon on 14 November 2012. It went on a wide release on 23 November 2012.

Plot

Three years after the first film, it's revealed that Mr Paul Maddens (Played by Martin Freeman) who taught the children in the first film, has left for the United States; leaving Mr Desmond Poppy in charge of the class while the school's headmistress and Desmond’s aunt, Mr. Bevan (Pam Ferris), finds a new teacher. However, Desmond's cheeky antics and lack of any discipline with the children causes any trial teacher Mrs. Bevan has found, to leave. The class wants to enter a competition called "A Song for Christmas" presented by Angel Matthews (Jessica Hynes), in which each school produces their own Christmas song, with the winning song earning its school £10,000 and the chance at being a Christmas number 1. However, Mrs. Bevan refuses the class permission due to the lack of school funds and the class not having a qualified teacher, and worries Desmond’s behaviour is so inappropriate that no teacher will ever stay in the job.

Meanwhile, Donald Peterson (David Tennant) is an anxious teacher who has just moved to the area with his heavily pregnant wife Sarah (Joanna Page). He lives in the shadow of his domineering father (Ian McNeice), and his estranged, 'name in lights: star child' identical twin brother Roderick (also played by Tennant), who is an infamous composer and conductor. He is soon interviewed for a teaching job at St. Bernadette's primary school and on his arrival is appalled at the behaviour of Desmond and his badly behaved class. After being promised to be made headmaster when Mrs. Bevan leaves, he accepts the job and takes over the problematic class.

Desmond soon persuades Donald to sign the entry forms for the National 'Song for Christmas' competition which he soon retracts due to Mrs. Bevan's disdain for the idea and the realisation that his brother is also competing with his choir. This leaves Desmond and the class to fake attendance, with the help of some of his students who stay behind to ensure the plan isn't foiled, and kidnap Donald for a roadtrip to Castell Llawen ("Merry Castle", not a real place) in Wales, where the competition is being held. Desmond uses a Duck Bus for the school bus (more specifically DUKW Desdemona from the London Duck Tour fleet), and ends up in a lake after making a wrong turn, orchestrated by rival school, Oakmoor who are also competing, and reveals the bus's secret ability to swim. Unfortunately, the Duck Bus runs out of fuel after exiting the lake leaving the class to go on foot.

Donald and Desmond then take their class through the wilds of Wales, where they get past obstacles such as exhaustion, rivers and baby nappies (for a baby that one of the children smuggled into the group) and end up faced with a mountain, which they have to climb over to reach the Castle in time for the show. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bevan, Miss Rye and the parents find out about Desmond’s plan resulting in her and the remaining students, as well as Donald's father and Sarah, going to look for the class at the Castle but they aren't there; causing further panic. At the castle, Sarah berates Donald and Roderick's father for his treatment of Donald and goes out to find her husband and the class by any means necessary. Back at cliffside, the children are dangled down the edge to reach the bottom but the rope breaks just as, 'quiet kid' Tommy is descending, resulting in him teetering on the edge of a thin ledge. Donald in a heroic effort reaches him just as a helicopter carrying Sarah approaches, who subsequently rescue Tommy and the other children.

As soon as they arrive at the castle, Donald is properly reunited with Sarah and Ms Bevan (Aunt Pat). However, Roderick is determined to win the competition and steals a segment from Oakmoor's song as well as the baby from St Bernadette's to sway the judges. He then locks his brother, Desmond and the class in a giant snow globe and gets St Bernadette's disqualified. But the vengeful Mr. Gordon Shakespeare and his class help them out by having Donald’s class stand in for Oakmoor due to Oakmoor's song being ruined by Rodrick. Mrs. Bevan retrieves the baby and St. Bernadette's sing two successful songs while pretending to be Oakmoor. When Donald’s father and brother come to find Donald backstage, they belittle him once again but Donald brings up the courage to tell Roderick and his father how he really feels and tells them to shut up, which leaves them both gobsmacked. Angel hears the commotion backstage and confronts the group but gets told to shut up by Donald. She threatens to call security and have them ejected from the building, but Donald leaves the building of his own accord with Desmond and Sarah.

As they leave, Sarah suddenly falls into labour and they place her on a donkey they found on the way to the castle and take shelter in a barn (which homages the actual birth of Jesus Christ) where Donald helps her give birth to twin boys. Mrs. Bevan and the rest of St. Bernadette's join them, along with Mr. Peterson and Rodrick's father who finally admits he is proud of Mr. Peterson. Back at the castle, Oakmoor wins the 'Song for Christmas' though it should have been St. Bernadette's.

In the barn Desmond and the class sing another Christmas song, while, in a moment alone with his brother, Roderick places his half of a childhood locket alongside Donald’s half, before wishing him a Merry Christmas.

Cast

Oakmoor

Mr. Peterson's ClassAppeared as Mr. Maddens' class in the first movie:

New children:

Mr. Shakespeare's Class

Release

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger was theatrically released on 23 November 2012 by Entertainment One, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 18 November 2013 by Entertainment One.

When the film was released in the United Kingdom, it opened on #3, behind The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and Skyfall . [6]

Production

Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger! was filmed over the course of six weeks in October and November 2011, being filmed in England and Wales. [7]

Prior to filming starting, writer/director Debbie Isitt and actor David Tennant spent a week in Coventry, [8] spending time in real classrooms and with school choirs and plays, and helping with the auditions for the child roles. Filming began in Coventry on 15 October 2011 and filmed there for a fortnight.

On 29 October, the production moved to north Wales [9] for another fortnight, filming in various rural locations, including at Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant, Pistyll Rhaeadr and Lake Vyrnwy. The stable scenes were filmed at Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire. [10] The production then moved to its final location in Warwickshire, where they filmed at Warwick Castle (standing in for St. Cuthbert's College) and in Stratford-upon-Avon. [11]

The film was originally going to be called Nativity 2: The Second Coming, as of January 2012 but the title was changed later the same year to Danger in the Manger!

The competition scenes were filmed in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Courtyard Theatre. Filming ended on 29 November 2011. The film was shot in the improvised style, with no proper script, and the actors not being told the narrative ahead of time, but having the plot revealed to them bit by bit as filming progressed. [3]

Reception

Critical response

The film received generally negative reviews from critics. Robbie Collin from The Daily Telegraph rated the movie one star out of five claiming "this sequel pushes the amateurish angle much harder and seems to wear its abject lousiness as a badge of honour." Mark Kermode of BBC Radio 5 Live criticised the film's humour among the irresponsibility of the Mr Poppy character, suggesting the character "had enough of a CBeebies appeal but was more threatening and weird than funny and entertaining".[ citation needed ]

Sequel

A third film in the series began filming in November 2013, entitled: Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey? . It was released on 14 November 2014 and starred Martin Clunes. [12]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Creative England Oversee Screen West Midlands Projects". 4rfv.co.uk. 25 November 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "NATIVITY 2: DANGER IN THE MANGER! (U)". British Board of Film Classification . 10 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 Coventry University Today (11 December 2011). "Debbie Isitt – The making of Nativity 2". Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  4. ↑ Variety (28 October 2011). "David Tennant sees double" . Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  5. ↑ The Film Catalogue. "Nativity 2 The Second Coming". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "Weekend box office 23rd November 2012 - 25th November 2012". 25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Shropshire Star (1 November 2011). "Christmas comes early as David Tennant lands to film Nativity 2" . Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Coventry Telegraph (28 November 2011). "Coventry lads hit right notes with David Tennant for Nativity 2" . Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "David Tennant filming 'Nativity 2'". Walesonline.co.uk. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  10. ↑ Bromsgrove Advertiser (2 December 2012). "Avoncroft Museum to star in British comedy this Christmas" . Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  11. ↑ "Dr Who returns to Stratford". Stratford-herald.com. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  12. ↑ "Nativity 3: Dude Where's My Donkey?", IMDB, Retrieved on 19 September 2014.
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