Dreamworks Animation Project: Prince of Egypt

Hello viewers! Welcome back to the second installment of:

The Dreamworks Animation Project!!!

This week, we're doing another 1998 film;  The Prince of Egypt

  

               We open in Egypt. In this time, all of the Israelites are enslaved by the Pharaoh and his people. The Israelites have grown to a great amount; there is more of them than there are Egyptians. The Pharaoh orders that all the newborn boys are to be killed. Baby Moses's Mother gets away, puts Moses in a basket, and places him in the river.

While drifting along the river, his older sister Miriam watches him. He soon drifts to the royal palace, where the queen is wading by the river. She picks him up, and decides to take him in as her own son.

We cut to the future, where Moses is now a grown man. He is in a chariot race with is older brother Rameses.

Rameses is to be the future king and is expected to be responsible, though Moses always gets him into trouble. They are late for a ceremony in which Rameses will be promoted to Prince Regent. Moses is also promoted to Royal Chief Architect. Priest Hotep and Huy, are ordered to give Rameses a gift. They give him a Midian woman named Tzipporah. She escapes through the hands of Moses.

But, he chases after. He finds himself at the home of Miriam and Aaron. Miriam explains that he is their brother and that he is to be the deliverer of the Israelites. He gets very mad and threatens by saying she will regret this night. She precedes by singing a song his mother sang to him when he was a baby. Remembering, Moses runs to the palace in confusion. He falls asleep and has a dream of what happened when he was a baby. To confirm this knowledge, he goes in search of the recorded history in the palace walls.

The next morning, Moses goes out to where slaves are building the temples and statues. Ramese, now in command, is telling Moses of his new plans. Overwhelmed by the fact the he could have been one of these slave, he attempts in saving an old man from a slave driver. He accidentally knocks the slave driver off the edge, killing him. Moses runs away into the desert. He comes upon the village where Tzipporah lives.

They bond and get married. Years later, Moses, now a Shepard, tends to his sheep. One wonders away. While following it into a cave, he sees a light. He follows it and finds a burning bush, but it's not burning away. From it, the voice of God comes.

He tells Moses that he is the one to speak to the Pharaoh about letting the Israelites--His people--free. Moses goes to tell Tzipporah (if I have to spell her name anymore I'm going to go crazy!) and they head off to Egypt. Rameses is now Pharaoh, and thinks Moses is here to stay. Moses explains that he is here to tell him what God wants; he wants His people to be free. Rameses says...

No

Moses warns that there will be many plagues to come upon the Egyptians.

1. Water into blood

2. Frogs

3. Lice
4. Flies
5. Diseased livestock
6. Boils
7. Storms of fire
8. Locust
9. Darkness
10. Death of firstborn

Rameses agrees only after his son is killed by the last plague.

Moses and all of the Israelites start on their journey to the promise land.

They soon meet the Red Sea. Behind comes Rameses and soldiers. They have changed their minds. Moses uses his staff and God's power to split the sea.

They walk through on dry ground while the Egyptians are occupied with a ring of fire.

They soon come after the Israelites. They get out, but the Egyptians drown. Giving God the glory, they rejoice in defeating the Egyptians. We end with Moses on the mountain with the Ten Commandments.

Look at those people down there, worshiping...wait, is that a golden cow?

    Pros- If I had to sum this movie up in one word it would be "unbelievable." Imagine going from this:

to this:

They are two completely different movies. One is CGI, one is hand drawn. One is a silly comedy about ants, the other is a biblical retelling of one of the most influential historic events ever. Yet both were made the same year by the same people. It's unbelievable, because from the looks of Antz you could never dream that Dreamworks could make something this serious. But, they did. And quite well I might add.

The story is very true to the original telling in the Bible, while adding things like the amazingly well put together relationship between brothers Moses and Rameses. The animation is absolutely breathtaking! Every inch of this movie is beautiful. It is my belief that art students studying hand drawn animation need to study this movie. But then, you have the music. I didn't mention it while explaining the story--some may say it's "unnecessary"--but it definitely adds to the picture itself. The songs are very beautifully written. But, when you add all of these things together, you get something so brilliant! This movie literally gives me chills, it's that good. Also, the magnitude of this movie is unbelievable. It feels so big that you could actually step foot inside it. The atmosphere feels so real. The story is so real. The music is so real. This movie is so real.

Cons:

These guys

      I really hate Hotep and Huy. I hated their song. I hated that they were very unnecessary. I just hated them.

The only other thing that could be a con is that this movie is kinda hard to watch in some places, preferably the first eight minutes. Mainly the part dealing with the slaves.

 

 It may just be me, but I get depression when watching these scenes. The thought that somebody could do this to a group of people, but mostly because this has happened a lot throughout history. With the Israelites, with the Jews during the second world war, and even here in America with black people. And it can happen to anyone. And is even being practiced today.

I absolutely love this movie. Not only is it a fair representation of this biblical and history event, but also an inspiring film in itself.

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Story- 9/10

I mean, this really happened.

Main Characters- 8/10

I really enjoy Moses a lot. He is a very well voiced and acted character.

Side Characters- 8/10 

Same thing with of the other characters. Very enjoyable. Especially Miriam and Tzipporah.

Villian- 9/10

Rameses could have been handle horribly, but was actually handle the opposite way.

Effects and Animation- 10/10

There was not one thing I didn't like about this animation. I was simply amazing.

Entertainment Factor- 7/10

I had to take away a few points for the depressing scenes, but over all it was very entertaining and enjoyable.

Songs- 7/10

All of the songs (except "Playing with the Big Boys") were quite enjoyable. My favorite being "When You Believe"

Total Score- 83%

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