Creative quotient
Crusade In Jeans is based on a Dutch subject. It is a fantasy film about 16-year-old Dolf Wega (Joe Flynn). Dolf screws up an important soccer match and he tries to use a time-machine to go back in time to fix it. He ends up typing in the wrong data and lands himself in the 13th century.
Dolf is mugged by two thieves but is later rescued by a young girl Jenna (Stephanie Leonidas). Jenna takes him to join a children’s crusade heading for Jerusalem. Thanks to his modern sensibilities, Dolf is able inspire the group of 8000 children and ends up becoming their leader.
The premise is woven around a Biblical story, that of St Nicolas and the thousands of children he took to Jerusalem hoping that the seas will part for them just as they did for Moses. In Crusade In Jeans, Dolf leads these children on a similar journey but an evil man tries to put them in harm’s way.

Technical expertise
The film is essentially made for children and young teens. The characters of Dolf and Jenna are perfect caricatures of the 21st century teens seen more often in high-school films and teen dramas.
Joe Flynn does a decent job with his character portrayal, but he looks a little too young for the role of a 16-year old. Emily Watson gives a good performance as Dolf’s mother.
Certain scenes in the film with big crowds lend an epic feel to it. Fantasy and epic-based films need a lot of visual- effects backing and that is completely absent from Crusade In Jeans. It is a small-budget film and as a result it does not have any striking or impressive visuals.
The plot of the film had room for a lot of action, but keeping the films’ ‘U’ rating in mind, the filmmaker chose to have almost no action at all. Nonetheless, the film has a well-paced screenplay and new story elements unfold with good effect.
Where the film falls flat on its face is its direction. The filmmaker does nothing more in the film than recreate an already well-known fantasy.

Verdict
The film is worth two stars. One star for its innovative take on the mix of contemporary 21st century culture and medieval reprise and another star for its innocent charm that comes straight from its cast of young actors.