Review 454: The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt is a simply marvellous animated film, one of DreamWorks best and a fantastic way to introduce the story of Moses to children.
In an animated retelling of the Book of Exodus, Egyptian Prince Moses (Val Kilmer) upon discovering his roots as a Jewish slave, embarks on a quest to free his people from bondage.
When his plea is denied by his brother Rameses (Ralph Fiennes), the new pharaoh, a series of horrific plagues strike Egypt, that will ultimately lead to Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt to freedom.
Of course, we’ve heard this story before but it’s enhanced with some DreamWorks magic
The way DreamWorks tells this age old story
As the saying says: Any story worth telling is worth telling twice and The Prince of Egypt certainly delivers on that.
Telling the story of Moses in animated form is a chance to make the characters in the story more human and relatable. Where The Prince of Egypt greatest strength lies is in its depiction of the relationship between Moses and Rameses. The film does a great job of building their relationship as brothers. They were best friends, they were family, they bickered about like normal brothers do, they stood by each other’s side. So when the moment comes when Moses must embrace his tue heritage
In an animated retelling of the Book of Exodus, Egyptian Prince Moses (Val Kilmer) upon discovering his roots as a Jewish slave, embarks on a quest to free his people from bondage.
When his plea is denied by his brother Rameses (Ralph Fiennes), the new pharaoh, a series of horrific plagues strike Egypt, that will ultimately lead to Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt to freedom.
Of course, we’ve heard this story before but it’s enhanced with some DreamWorks magic
The way DreamWorks tells this age old story
As the saying says: Any story worth telling is worth telling twice and The Prince of Egypt certainly delivers on that.
Telling the story of Moses in animated form is a chance to make the characters in the story more human and relatable. Where The Prince of Egypt greatest strength lies is in its depiction of the relationship between Moses and Rameses. The film does a great job of building their relationship as brothers. They were best friends, they were family, they bickered about like normal brothers do, they stood by each other’s side. So when the moment comes when Moses must embrace his tue heritage
Directors Branda Chapman, Steven Hickner & Simon Wells’ animation direction is stellar, the animation is gorgeous, the production design (recreating ancient Egypt) is staggering, the score by Hans Zimmer is spectacular, the songs by Stephen Schwartz are , the character design is immaculate,
With Val Kilmer in the role of Moses, you get a strong sense of the Everyman, someone who has grown up in a higher class society and starts as rambunktious young man, like a collage kid who keeps getting into trouble but who’s been humbled by his experiences with the slaves and a person who fell into his leadership as opposesed to seeking it out.
Part of the interesting dynamic that he struggles with in this version of the story is that it’s his destiny and the other part is that he has no choice. Inspite of this, he eventually learns to trust the strength of his convictions and proceed on a enlightenment journey
Ralph Fiennes, as always, makes for a thoughroughly entertaining villain as Rameses.
In this film however, Rameses is a much more complex & interesting character who goes much further than just being a ruthless dictator. He’s very much a product of his environment. He genuinely loves his brother Moses but at the same time feels an obligation to live up to his family legacy and not be seen as a weakling. He built up and portrayed as a very tragic character, we can understand and sympathese with the decisions he makes and how it destroys him to declare war on his own brother and Fiennes conveys this very effectively.
Steve Martin & Martin Short are also in this film playing two priests. They make for a simply superb double act.
With Val Kilmer in the role of Moses, you get a strong sense of the Everyman, someone who has grown up in a higher class society and starts as rambunktious young man, like a collage kid who keeps getting into trouble but who’s been humbled by his experiences with the slaves and a person who fell into his leadership as opposesed to seeking it out.
Part of the interesting dynamic that he struggles with in this version of the story is that it’s his destiny and the other part is that he has no choice. Inspite of this, he eventually learns to trust the strength of his convictions and proceed on a enlightenment journey
Ralph Fiennes, as always, makes for a thoughroughly entertaining villain as Rameses.
In this film however, Rameses is a much more complex & interesting character who goes much further than just being a ruthless dictator. He’s very much a product of his environment. He genuinely loves his brother Moses but at the same time feels an obligation to live up to his family legacy and not be seen as a weakling. He built up and portrayed as a very tragic character, we can understand and sympathese with the decisions he makes and how it destroys him to declare war on his own brother and Fiennes conveys this very effectively.
Steve Martin & Martin Short are also in this film playing two priests. They make for a simply superb double act.
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