Teaching is even more casual. Jesus' Jewishness is practically forgotten after the first Temple visit, where he actually wears a prayer shawl. Nonetheless, Sisto's acting is decent, but casting might have been better. This is one of the few movies where younger plays older, instead of the other way around. Otherwise, acting is mediocre.
Sets are disasters.
The Sanhedrin looks like a Renaissance parlor. A hill of crosses Jesus sees as a child looks like it was taken straight out of the Scorcese's Last Temptation of Christ. If the whole movie was dull and unimaginative, I would've understood. The portrayal of Pilate was incongruous. For mysterious reasons, Gary Oldham plays Pilate as the nastiest, most sniveling villain since his character in The Fifth Element .