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