6 Inspiring Bible Movies about Jonah
- G. Connor Salter Contributing Writer
- Updated Aug 15, 2024
Few Bible stories are better known in Sunday School than the story of Jonah. Few Bible stories are harder to adapt than the story of Jonah. As Bible Films Blog writer Matt Page puts it, the main problem may be that it takes some strong special effects to depict a giant fish, and then there’s the fact it’s a very short story (just four chapters).
It’s also perhaps a more complicated story than we remember from Sunday School. We can understand God sending someone to tell a city to repent and the happy fact that they do repent. It’s harder to think about Jonah’s anger that the city repented and what that tells us about how even God’s prophets were fallible people who had to learn things. However, Jonah movies that lean into that complexity are highly memorable.
The following list looks at six memorable adaptations of Jonah’s story, from short cartoons to feature films. Links are included to find out where to see each movie and advice for parents on the best age group for each movie.
Further Reading: Why Is the Story and Meaning of Jonah and the Whale Often Mistaken?
Photo Credit:©Getty Images/kevron2001
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1. Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002)
Slide 1 of 6One of the few full-length movies based on the Jonah story, this was also the first ever full-length movie in the VeggieTales series.
Since the VeggieTales’ 30-minute episodes always had a “story time structure” where the animated characters tell the Bible story, the movie doesn’t dive directly into the Bible story. It opens with VeggieTales characters stopping at a motel for help when their car breaks down. Their bickering from the road prompts a band in the motel to tell them Jonah’s story—complete with the usual songs and dances and various pop culture jokes. By the end, the travelers have learned something from Jonah’s story about resisting resentment and trusting God even when he gives unexpected directions.
Some of VeggieTales’ charm will always be keeping things short, a compact package of Bible lessons and humor. However, this movie does a good job of translating the series’ style to 83 minutes without feeling bloated. It also takes time to tell the complete story, including Jonah’s unexpected selfish moment at the very end, instead of focusing on the big special effect moment when the fish arrives.
Further Reading: How Did God Use Jonah’s Disobedience in the Bible?
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2. Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Jonah and the Whale
Slide 2 of 6Like the earlier Hanna-Barbara TV show The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible, this video series told Bible stories with occasional interludes from a narrator. The 48-minute episode on Jonah works in a few songs, highlighting the story’s themes, and includes the final scene of God using Jonah’s anger about a dead vine to teach a final lesson.
Its animation may not be as detailed as other movies on this list. The celebrity introduction, in which actor Charlton Heston explains the story, may not have the same pop culture appeal today when many kids aren’t familiar with Ben Hur or The Ten Commandments. However, it is widely available and covers the full Bible story with minimal additions and decent storytelling.
A fun, easy-to-find Jonah movie for Sunday School or introducing children to the story.
Further Reading: What Happens When You Run From God?
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3. Jonah: A Great Fish Story (2005)
Slide 3 of 6Plenty of short Bible movies are basically children’s storybooks set to images. Jonah: A Great Fish Story is unusual because it has that format, but it wasn’t based on a storybook. Instead, it’s a stop-motion movie with a visual look inspired by the artwork of painter James C. Christenson (1942-2017), who often included fish in his artwork.
During the roughly 20-minute movie, viewers listen to a rhyming narrator tell Jonah’s story, from his call to go to Ninevah to eventually reach Ninevah. The story works with some cute elements, like a pet crab that keeps signaling Jonah to do the right thing and getting upset as Jonah keeps running. While the movie ends prematurely, with Jonah landing on Ninevah’s shore and resolving to do the right thing, it does an excellent job of capturing Jonah’s emotional journey without going outside the text too much. It also offers some terrific animation and set pieces, making it one of the most beautiful-looking Jonah movies available today.
Further Reading: What Jonah and the Whale Teaches Us about God's Unchanging Plan
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4. Sight and Sound: Jonah (2020)
Slide 4 of 6Sight and Sound began as a group of theaters producing Bible stories on the stage, emphasizing big special effects and tongue-in-cheek storytelling that the whole family can enjoy. Multiple Sight and Sound stage productions have been filmed (including stories about Esther, Moses, and Jesus).
The filmed stage experience does miss one of the fun elements of attending a Sight and Sound production: the moment when live animals and actors race down the aisles to the stage, letting the audience feel close to the action for a moment. However, the filming style finds clever ways to highlight the massive sets, capturing the spectacle. While the writing style is cheesy, it has a major advantage over many Bible movies: the tone makes it clear that the cheesiness is on purpose. While the script makes a few additions to the story (Jonah hates the Ninevites because they killed his family), these are plausible additions that fit the history well (Ninevah was part of the Assyrian empire that invaded Israel, so Jonah had personal reasons to fear and hate its people).
One of the few live-action Jonah movies, and one that will not offer any unpleasant surprises when the whole family watches it.
Further Reading: What Jonah Teaches Us about the Danger of Cliques
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5. Beginner’s Bible: Jonah and the Big Fish (1995)
Slide 5 of 6Based on the famous Beginner’s Bible storybook published by Zondervan, this 26-minute cartoon is geared toward younger viewers than most of the Jonah movies on this list. The dialogue carefully lays out the lessons from the story: Jonah telling sailors on the ship how foolish they are to trust in pagan idols, Jonah’s friends commenting that he must decide whether to follow God or what his friends will approve of, and a narrator underscoring Jonah’s message to Ninevah. It also provides a few silly jokes: Jonah talks about loving fish in his first scene, then comments as he returns home that he’s looking forward to a meal, but “it will be a long time before I have fish again!”
The animation style may be a little old-fashioned today, but it is made in a style that has aged well, filled with the round-edged figures and bright colors we still see in TV shows like The Simpsons. It covers much of the same territory as Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: Jonah and the Whale but with fewer songs and a shorter runtime. Easy to find, well-told, and a great option for introducing the littlest audiences to Jonah’s story.
Further Reading: How is the Sign of Jonah Connected to Jesus' Resurrection?
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6. Testament: The Bible in Animation: Jonah (1996)
Slide 6 of 6Testament: The Bible in Animation was one of the most ambitious and best-written Bible animation series ever. Many people still know the series today for its spinoff movie about Jesus, The Miracle Maker.
The Testament episode on Jonah is more radical than most of the Jonah movies on this list. Most adaptations emphasize that the Ninevites were bad people without getting too much into the details, making them sound like school bullies. This Jonah movie opens with the Ninevites (including some clothed dancers) offering a sacrifice to a pagan god, highlighting that their idolatry and all the creepy practices that went along with it made Ninevah so evil.
Most adaptations assume that Jonah was a very nice person because he was a prophet, making him seem nice-selfish-nice-again. Testament: Jonah images him as a grumpy man that God used to accomplish an important task, which may be far closer to the truth. Many of the judges and prophets that God used had rough edges.
While other adaptations try to make the story realistic (making the big fish a blue whale), this one doesn’t mind including some fantastic imagery. The fish looks more like a mythological creature than anything else, and Jonah’s eyes glow with fire as he tells people about the coming judgment if they don’t repent. The fantastic details may worry parents who want to emphasize that the story of Jonah is historical. However, a strong case could be made that since we’re not sure it was a whale that swallowed Jonah, it’s a bigger embellishment to try and make the story ultra-realistic. Marty Solomon observes that the story’s point is not what fish swallowed Jonah; it’s how people repented and what Jonah had to learn about compassion and forgiveness as the story ended.
Testament: Jonah may be a little complex and strange for younger kids, but older ones and adults will appreciate its clever, intelligent take on the material.
Further Reading: How to Return to God after Rebellion: Jonah's Story
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