‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ review: sweet, cute, bland season kick-starter

With the nail firmly in Halloween’s coffin, it is time for a parade of holiday season fare. In theaters this week, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” wants to get on your merry ol’ to-do list ahead of buying the Thanksgiving turkey and stringing all those lights. An adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s 1972 children’s novel of the same name, “Pageant” is the latest bit of output from the Kingdom Story Company, the Christian-based affiliate of the larger Lionsgate studio responsible for offerings including 2021’s “American Underdog,” last year’s “Jesus Revolution” and “Ordinary Angels,” which landed in February, pushing all the intended [...]