Adapting the story of Moses seemed a risky venture for Dreamworks to use as its foray into the lucrative family animation market dominated by the Mouseketeers. Dealing with a religious icon, especially in a film intended for children, is bound to offend lots of people. (By contrast, 20th Century Fox made a much safer bet by doing "Anastasia.")
The resulting work, however, is beautiful. It treats its subject with the due respect and resists the urge to sugarcoat the politically incorrect elements of the biblical story. "The Prince of Egypt" does make changes in the story for dramatic purposes, as is stated in a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie. (The disclaimer gently advises interested viewers to seek the biblical Moses in the Bible.)
The movie focuses on Moses transformation from a Prince of Egypt to the leader of an enslaved people. Moses' mother sets the infant Moses adrift in a basket to save him from the slaughter of Hebrew children ordered by the Egyptian pharaoh Seti (Patrick Stewart). Ironically the foundling is adopted by the pharaoh's wife (Helen Mirren) and raised as a prince. Moses is close to his older brother Rameses (Ralph Fiennes), the heir to the throne. They are a rumbunctious pair constantly in mischief; when we meet them they are engaged in a chariot race that floods a temple with sand.
Prince Moses (Val Kilmer) is spoiled but basically a decent guy. When he is given a slave woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), Moses allows her to escape. He also follows her and runs into his real siblings (Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum), who reveal the truth about his heritage and the horrible crimes of his adoptive father. The revelation propels Moses into a moral crisis that will lead him to murder and a flight into the desert. There he receives a message from God and returns to Egypt to free the slaves.
"The Prince of Egypt" has many elements of the Disney model. It's a coming of age story about a misfit having an identity crisis. It teaches the power of positive thinking (specifically, that your life may seem meaningless to you but it has great significance from a divine perspective). It is a musical and includes comic relief. Those last elements seemed forced to me. I've never been a fan of musicals (animated or otherwise) and could have done without characters bursting into song. And, while some comic elements (like the chariot race) are important for character development, others (like the high priests voiced by Steve Martin and Martin Short) seem inappropriate.
Regardless of those flaws, though, "The Prince of Egypt" is a magnificent spectacle. Egypt's palace is gigantic sprawl of monuments. The miracles of God, particularly the parting of the Red Sea, are beautifully done.
A word of caution: some of the actions of God may raise troubling questions for children, especially His slaughter of the first-born sons of Egypt. But I think "The Prince of Egypt" deserves applause for having the guts to raise those questions.
The resulting work, however, is beautiful. It treats its subject with the due respect and resists the urge to sugarcoat the politically incorrect elements of the biblical story. "The Prince of Egypt" does make changes in the story for dramatic purposes, as is stated in a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie. (The disclaimer gently advises interested viewers to seek the biblical Moses in the Bible.)
The movie focuses on Moses transformation from a Prince of Egypt to the leader of an enslaved people. Moses' mother sets the infant Moses adrift in a basket to save him from the slaughter of Hebrew children ordered by the Egyptian pharaoh Seti (Patrick Stewart). Ironically the foundling is adopted by the pharaoh's wife (Helen Mirren) and raised as a prince. Moses is close to his older brother Rameses (Ralph Fiennes), the heir to the throne. They are a rumbunctious pair constantly in mischief; when we meet them they are engaged in a chariot race that floods a temple with sand.
Prince Moses (Val Kilmer) is spoiled but basically a decent guy. When he is given a slave woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), Moses allows her to escape. He also follows her and runs into his real siblings (Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum), who reveal the truth about his heritage and the horrible crimes of his adoptive father. The revelation propels Moses into a moral crisis that will lead him to murder and a flight into the desert. There he receives a message from God and returns to Egypt to free the slaves.
"The Prince of Egypt" has many elements of the Disney model. It's a coming of age story about a misfit having an identity crisis. It teaches the power of positive thinking (specifically, that your life may seem meaningless to you but it has great significance from a divine perspective). It is a musical and includes comic relief. Those last elements seemed forced to me. I've never been a fan of musicals (animated or otherwise) and could have done without characters bursting into song. And, while some comic elements (like the chariot race) are important for character development, others (like the high priests voiced by Steve Martin and Martin Short) seem inappropriate.
Regardless of those flaws, though, "The Prince of Egypt" is a magnificent spectacle. Egypt's palace is gigantic sprawl of monuments. The miracles of God, particularly the parting of the Red Sea, are beautifully done.
A word of caution: some of the actions of God may raise troubling questions for children, especially His slaughter of the first-born sons of Egypt. But I think "The Prince of Egypt" deserves applause for having the guts to raise those questions.
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