 season is the 1998 animated classic The Prince of Egypt. Nearly 30 years on from its first appearance, DreamWorks’ debut film remains its premiere, capturing the hearts and minds of viewers the world over.){kind=link}
A good classic film for the family this Easter (or any) season is the 1998 animated classic The Prince of Egypt.
Nearly 30 years on from its first appearance, DreamWorks’ debut film remains its premiere, capturing the hearts and minds of viewers the world over.
Telling the story of Moses, it follows the prophet from his birth as he is forcibly given up by his family to avoid getting murdered all the way to just before he shows the faithful the Ten Commandments.
The plot of the film is well known: he is rescued by the Egyptian Queen Tuya (voiced by Helen Mirren), taken in and treated as one of her own, and grows up to be a devil may care man who likes to play games with his brother Rameses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes).
After an unwilling woman is chosen to be his bride but escapes and he unsuccessfully chases after her, Moses’ (voiced by recently deceased Val Kilmer) life is changed when he finds out he is a Hebrew.
From then on, he wishes to help his people, with his sister Miriam (voiced by Sandra Bullock) immediately accepting Moses back into their family while brother Aaron (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) is less convinced.
The Prince of Egypt is about Moses freeing the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and leading them to the Promised Land, telling the familiar story with style and reverence as filmmakers received guidance from theologians from all three Abrahamic religions.
The film is committed to its religiosity, not shying away from the Biblical truth found in the Book of Exodus, even if some may feel it is a bit extreme for a children’s movie as Moses unleashes the ten plagues onto Egypt, killing countless people and animals, including Rameses’ son.
Looking beyond the spiritual, The Prince of Egypt is also an excellent film in its own right: it’s stunning, it’s well voice-acted, and it’s funny, even though the story of the Hebrew exodus is a serious one.
Most comedic moments come from the Egyptian high priests Hotep (voiced by Steve Martin) and Huy (voiced by Martin Short) as they use smoke, mirrors, and hand magic to try and match the miracles Moses performs.
The animation shines in these humorous parts too, as the tricks the high priests use to pretend they are conjuring something up divinely are shown onscreen—one highlight being where after Moses turns the Nile into blood, the priests are seen adding red dye to a bowl of water.
Indeed, The Prince of Egypt’s main strength out the many it enjoys is its gorgeous animation, with the plague montage and the parting and crossing of the Red Sea being standouts.
The animation in these sequences, especially the latter, almost defies description, for example how fluidly and realistic the water looks as it parts, not to mention the attention applied to many little details such as the sea creatures being visible when lightning strikes.
The Prince of Egypt is regularly listed as one of the best or most beautiful films of all time, and it is not hard to see why as the stunning 2D animation never fails to amaze.
The care put into the film, which took four years to complete, is evident in every frame as the story of Moses is told in perhaps the most beautifully, theologically sound way it could have been told, putting the actions of the Hebrews and their prophet in vivid, living colour.
The Prince of Egypt is rated PG is available on Foxtel and Binge.