Lewis Wallace's story about the origins of Christianity focuses on the Jewish prince Judah Ben Hur, who is terribly wronged by his childhood friend, a Roman named Messala.

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2006)

I simply love these historical flicks, so this was of course a must-see for me. And I don't regret seeing it either. I would like to give it a smashing 10 out of 10, but I settle for 9 out of 10, since the famous race scene is way too long in my opinion, and there are also two things, which bother me. First of all, in the book, Arrius dies before Judah leaves him, but in the movie, he still seems to be alive. I would prefer it if Arrius would have died in the movie too, instead of Judah giving him his ring back. I suspect he got it back one way or the other, but still! And also, I think the love story between Judah and Esther should have started way before it did, so that she never was supposed to get married to someone else. But in the book, (Okay, I haven't read the novel, except a comic book version, but I have browsed through the novel, and the comic book version is more true to the novel than this movie), Judah doesn't think about Esther that way before he returns from his years on the galleys. But still, the length of the race scene is still the main reason why this movie gets a 9 out of 10 instead of a full 10.