The Prince of Egypt

Film: The Prince of Egypt
Director: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells

MPAA Rating: PG

Release Year: 1998

It's strange, that despite my Mormon upbringing, my family didn't often watch movies based on stories from the Bible. I grew up with some VHS Bible shows like "The Flying House" and "Superbook," but while the latter had an episode that dealt with the story of Moses, I didn't have a movie version to watch. Come 2018, I finally got the chance to watch The Prince of Egypt, Dreamworks' take on one of the most famous biblical stories. With praise coming from some of my online peers, I guess I had a chance that I needed to take. It's been a while, since my last review, so I hope I still have it in me to write one after such a long time.

The Prince of Egypt centers around Moses (Val Kilmer), who has been living with his adoptive Egytian royal family, after he was sent flowing down the Nile River by his mother so he would be spared from the mass killing of Hebrew children, ordered by Pharaoh (Patrick Stewart), who feared the mass increase in population would overthrow the power of the Egyptian dynasty. While he is out one night, he encounters two Hebrew slaves (Sandra Bullock and Jeff Goldblum), who tell him that they're his siblings. After seeking and finding out the truth of his origins, at the behest of his supposed siblings, and accidentally killing an Egyptian taskmaster while trying to save a slave, Moses flees from his home. After wandering the desert, settling in Midian, and assimilating into their culture, Moses encounters a burning bush which speaks to him that it is the god of the Hebrew people, and commands Moses to free the Hebrew slaves from the hands of his Egyptian brother, Rameses (Ralph Fiennes), who has now become Pharaoh.

The Prince of Egypt is certainly grand in scale, from Hans Zimmer's score accentuating the biblical scale. The opening song, "Deliver Us," really sets the tone of the film, very much akin to Disney's animated films, which, in of themselves, are musicals, and are who Dreamworks' are directly competing with. However, while all the songs in the film help with the story telling, they don't entirely match the tone, and/or are completely forgettable. "Deliver Us" overshadows the rest of the songs, for better or worse, as the others are unable to match the scale and memorability. Songs like "All I Ever Wanted" certainly help explain Moses' inner conflict, but it's just so forgettable lyrically and musically, as it feels like a song that is put in just for the sake of moving the plot forward, even with the reprise with his adoptive mother.

I did enjoy the cinematography in this film. The grand shots of Egypt helped match the epic tone the film was going for. Some of my favorite shots include when Moses is talking to his adoptive father, and in the background, the statue depicting Pharaoh is much larger in the shot, with Pharaoh "inside" the statue as Moses talks to him. A shot like this communicates Pharaoh's status in the culture of Egypt; a larger than life figure, that is god-like in stature, along with a seeming disconnect between him and his adoptive son. There's even a reprisal of the shot later on in the film, with Moses' brother, Rameses, having statue in the background that is smaller than his father's. Not to mention, Rameses is "inside" his father's statue, almost as if he is stuck in his shadow, looking to hold up his father's wishes to keep the Egyptian dynasty alive.

Speaking of Moses and Rameses, I enjoyed the tragic relationship between the two. I like the pacing of their relationship, as they go from close brothers in the beginning, to tragically strained, to utterly severed, that is almost Shakespearean in writing. However, I wish the relationship between Moses and his adoptive father was more fleshed out, as it could have made Moses' finding out of the truth much more tragic when he discusses it with Pharaoh. I also wish that more of the characters were a little more engaging. Moses' wife and biological siblings get sidelined in writing, probably to leave in more room for Pharaoh's sorcerers, who I didn't really care for, as their personality I found  distracting from the tone and weren't very menacing in their song number. Also, while the performances were pretty great from Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes as Moses and Rameses respectively, the rest of the performances overall were pretty inoffensive, with the exception of Jeff Goldblum as Aaron, who I thought was a complete miscast, as his awkward delivery and monotone voice didn't seem to mesh well with the character at all.

Since The Prince of Egypt is an animated film, it would make sense to talk about it, and wow is it spectacular. While I do feel that a lot of 2-D films in Dreamworks' catalog do tend to look too similar in style, I do find that The Prince of Egypt has a lot going for it to stick out among its studio contemporaries. Some standout examples include Moses' dream sequence, where we get a reprisal of the opening scene of the film, this time stylized in hieroglyphic imagery that is imaginatively animated along the walls and pillars of the temple. Of course the climax, where Moses parts the Red Sea is a highlight as well, with computer generated water effects looking spectacular, along with the silhouettes of sea creatures shown along the walls of water as the Hebrew people walk along the newly created path. My favorite scene however has to do with the final plague that occurs in Egypt, that wipes out the first born of the Egyptians. The wispy, ghost-like plague effect is wonderfully animated, and with no music accompanying the scene, it gives a tense atmosphere to the scene, giving a sense of terror to the power of God. If there is one nitpick I could have is that sometimes the 2-D and 3-D animation could have been meshed better together, like in the beginning where baby Moses is being sent down the Nile River.

Overall, I found The Prince of Egypt to be a very enjoyable film, with spectacular animation, good cinematography, and the relationship between Moses and Rameses to be a highlight. While the acting was good, I do think some performances could have been better executed or completely recasted, and the songs, while relevant in a musical-like film such as this, could have done more to be memorable, and utilized more than just tools to move the plot forward. I did find the ride to be enjoyable while it lasted and I felt it did the story of Moses justice on a grand scale, especially for a movie made for kids. If I have kids of my own, I do plan to show them this movie both as a film for children's entertainment, and from an artistic standpoint.

Verdict: 7/10 

La La Land: Stroking Hollywood's Ego

Film: La La Land

Director: Damien Chazelle

Rating: PG-13

Musical films are not necessarily my go-to film genre. While I do appreciate the choreography, set design, and music that helps carry the story, as a whole, the genre is not my cup of tea, glass of chardonnay, what have you; which is why I ended up skipping out on La La Land when it was in theaters. I got to watch it with my parents when they ordered it on Netflix, and while I enjoyed it at first, I felt like I needed a second viewing of the film to get all of my thoughts on the film figured out. My experience during my second viewing of the film was much different than my initial experience, especially with its myriad of Academy Award wins and nominations it received and the multitude of rave reviews from critics. After my second viewing, I felt like I dropped off the acclaim train this film had gotten. La La Land has quite a bit going for it: I found the cinematography for this film to be pretty fantastic and the performances from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were great as well. However, I found the story unoriginal in execution and unengaging at times, the songs to be hit and miss, and the ego of the film very distracting.

Mia Dolan (Emma Stone) is an aspiring actress that's struggling to breakthrough into film and television and Sebastian Wilder (Ryan Gosling) is a struggling jazz pianist who wants to revive classical jazz music. They cross paths with each other in Hollywood, develop a friendship, help each other pursue their dreams, and fall in love. As both pursue their dreams, however, they eventually feel each other growing farther apart in the relationship. After calling off the relationship, Mia moves back home, looking to give up on her pipe dream of making it big in Hollywood, when Sebastian shows up and tells her that she got an audition from a big director, which ends up getting her a leading role in a successful film in the end.

The basis of the story and theme is by the numbers cliched. With the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" formula, and the "follow your dreams message" that could easily be mistaken for a Disney World ad or an ad on early 2000s Disney channel. The film makes little effort in shaking up the formula at all, other than Mia and Sebastian not being together in the end. The story takes very few risks, and could have made attempts to subvert the formulaic story. As such, I found myself getting sucked out of the story and getting preoccupied at other tasks, like looking at my phone or pacing the room as the film plays in the background.

I do commend the performances from Gosling and Stone, especially the latter's. Together, their characters have pretty great chemistry with each other, and the dialogue between the two flows naturally. I found Emma Stone's performance great, especially with her character doing multiple auditions for different roles. There's this imperfection she brings to each scenario that makes it look like an audition; flawed, but full of potential, which I'm glad Stone is able to provide. 

The highlight for me in this film is the cinematography, which I was thoroughly impressed by. I found the shots of Hollywood at night to be beautiful, along with expressive colors utilized in the lighting and costume work as well, granted there are only so many variations of spirits being poured into glasses that I can take before I feel like you're advertising your drinks in a television ad. The shots were also impressive during the music numbers, mostly done in long/single takes. My personal favorite scene in La La Land has to be at the planetarium. No dialogue is spoken from the characters, as we get just their dancing within the planetarium, including floating up into the "sky" inside the observatory with music accompanying them as they dance, as the lighting and effects look stunning, though not without a few hiccups on the green screening at times. The scene is cheesy as cheddar, but I could not help but smile throughout it. The brass instruments blaring as Gosling and Stone kiss was also super corny, but enjoyable.

I just wish the choreography accompanying the music and scenes was as spectacular as the cinematography. The long takes for the music numbers, while impressive shot-wise, are also an Achilles heel for the choreography, which I found to lack polish at times. I don't want to flack the countless hours put into the dance sequences, but at times, the imperfection is hard to ignore when some get off sync, and when I find the dance numbers themselves slightly uninspired to, at times, uninspired numbers.

Speaking of which, the music in La La Land is very hit and miss, be it the themes of the songs themselves, the vocals, or in some cases, the mixing, the last case being apparent with the lead vocals in the opening music number, where her voice is barely audible among the loud instrumentals. When the extras and supporting cast provide their singing voices, it's commendable, but when played next to Gosling or Stone's singing, the latter are clearly outclassed. Not to say that their singing is bad, per se. Gosling and Stone unfortunately provide fairly average vocals that also don't have much personality to them, having their singing also coming off as dull. The songs mostly center around dreams of success and stardom, with the exception of the instrumental tracks and "A Lovely Night" (personal favorite track) and "Start A Fire" (provided by John Legend). 

I'm going to have to harp on probably my biggest issue with the La La Land, which involves the music and theme of the film. I find La La Land to be a very egotistical film that mainly strokes the ego of the Hollywood culture that permeates nastily from this film. I get that Damian Chazelle was trying to make this movie as a celebration of up and comers, like himself, making it big in the industry, but the execution comes off as giving a blowjob to Hollywood. It's shown as subtly as an explosion with the multitude of movie posters within Mia's apartment and the lyrics of the songs as well, "City of Stars" being the biggest culprit, with it coming off as worshiping the stars of the entertainment industry, especially, despite being a mediocre song, won the award for Best Original Song. Curious!

I find La La Land to be more of a stylistic inflation to Hollywood's ego with little substance to hold it up. Not to say there aren't enjoyable aspects and moments in this film, like the cinematography, acting, chemistry between the two leads, and planetarium scene, but when taking into account the lack of polish in the choreography, the hit and miss music, and mediocre, unengaging story, this film really starts to get on my nerves at times. The film has its competent moments, but the flaws and the overarching narrative of celebrating Hollywood culture hold it back from what could have been more. I think if Chazelle is going to do a story like this again, I think he'll need to show a little bit more respect to his audience as opposed to looking for brownie points from Hollywood.

Final Verdict: 5/10 (City of Stars beating out Audition [The Fool's Dream] for Best Original Song? Really!?)