Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's Son of God's brings a simple, viewer friendly portrayal of the life of Jesus Christ, and ends strong with a powerful message of salvation.

The last time a big budget movie was made about the life of Jesus was almost 50 years ago in the 1965 film The Greatest Story Ever Told, and it has been ten years since Passion of Christ shattered Blockbuster office records, depicting the emotional account of the last three-days of Jesus' life, and now Son of God provides an all-around acceptable, cliff notes version of the saviors life.

 The film kicks off with a prologue covering creation, and a glimpse of a several Biblical patriarchs that came before Christ. Then viewers get a brief version of the birth of the messiah, and it then moves along quickly to a 30-year-old Jesus on his quest to "save the world." The Biblical drama Stars, the well-kept model/actor Diogo Morgado, playing the role of Jesus and it mostly focuses on the teachings of Christ as an adult.

Viewers are then taken on a flipbook journey of some of Jesus greatest Miracles. The Loaves and fishes, saving a woman from being stoned to death with the famous quote let he who has no sin "cast the first stone", resurrecting Lazarus from the dead, walking on water and a few others.

What the audience doesn't see is His very first miracle of turning water into wine, or giving a blind man his sight. I suppose adding every miracle He did would not fit in this 138 minutes cinematic feature, although it did feel longer.

For many it will serve as a well-done introduction to who this man Christ Jesus was and what he did in this world, for this world. For others who are familiar with the Gospel accounts of Jesus life it may leave a desire to want to see more. Like, the controversial temptation in the wilderness scene with Satan (which the producer decided to pull due to Obama comparison to Satan), or Jesus humbly washing the feet of His disciples, and Mary spreading an expensive fragrance on the feet of Jesus, all of those accounts were left out of the Biblical Epic. All scenes that could spark controversy seemed to be left out on purpose giving the film a very seeker friendly appeal.

The film takes place in the historical context of the time when Jewish oppression was at the hands of Roman authorities in first-century Palestine. We are shown some violent scenes of the Jewish people falling victim to the hand of Roman authorities in an effort to display who is in charge. The movie clearly portrays Roman governor Pontius Pilate (Greg Hicks) and high priest Caiaphas (Adrian Schiller) in their Biblical context, according to the antagonistic roles they play in the crucifixion of Jesus.

As Jesus' popularity grows, and his teachings conflict with his Jewish leaders, both Pilate and the Jewish high priest condemn Him to death, a death, which is illustrated in a much tamer dramatization than Mel Gibson's Passion of The Christ. Perhaps the most emotional character in the film is that of Mary, mother of Jesus, played by co-producer Downey who weeps for her child throughout the entire picture.

What did stand out, unlike other Biblical features is the reasonable amount of time spent on the resurrection of Jesus. Which brings home the message of a forgiving God that comes back to remind the viewers that all have redemption in the Son of God.

"Son of God" hit theaters today, for more information visit the film's site.