The Prince of Egypt (1998)
Directed by Simon Wells
The strong bond between two Royal Egyptian brothers is challenged when their chosen responsibilities set them at odds, with extraordinary consequences.
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5 films that influenced The Prince of Egypt
What critics say influenced The Prince of Egypt
But in Rameses, in him we can see the pain of being abandoned by a loved one, and while reducing the Exodus story to "Pharaoh was upset at Moses and took it out on the Hebrews" is terribly theology, it's remarkably compelling drama (this is all ultimately taken from the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments , but the DreamWorks version is infinitely more intimate than DeMille's starchy melodrama).
The tale has inspired countless plays, a renowned oratorio (Handel's "Israel in Egypt"), and one of the most beloved epic motion pictures of all time (Cecil B. De Mille's The Ten Commandments).
No one is denying that the parting of the red sea scene from "The Ten Commandments" is a powerful special effect (especially for it's time).
This visionary sequence stands with a handful of the greatest scenes in animation film history (others would include Snow White’s flight in the enchanted forest; the mushrooms dancing to Tchaikovsky in Fantasia; Dumbo’s spectacular "Pink Elephants on Parade" number; the "Bella Notte" spaghetti kiss in Lady and the Tramp; and the ballroom sequence in Beauty and the Beast).
Partially run by former Disney honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg -- who was responsible for films such as "The Lion King" while working for the Big Mouse -- Dreamworks has alleviated half the hurdle of making a good animated flick -- having a decent plot -- by adapting the well-known biblical story of Exodus into this new release.
And if you'd never heard the story of Moses, you could still tell that Moses' half-brother Ramses, who will grow up to be the Pharaoh, is the villain because he's voiced by Ralph Fiennes, and in animated features, an English accent means "bad guy." (Think of Jeremy Irons in "The Lion King.")
Don Bluth's departure from the Walt Disney Company in the late '70s might have been prickly and contentious, but it didn't have anything on the bile-soaked blood feud between CEO Michael Eisner and studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg that came to a head in 1994, shortly before the release of Katzenberg's greatest financial triumph at Disney, The Lion King .
It's a comic-book version of the Book of Exodus with truly affecting music composed by Hans Zimmer, who won an Oscar for "The Lion King."
The visual pleasures feature cartoons have given us in the past, like the beautiful pastel shots of London in "101 Dalmatians," would be considered pretty tepid stuff nowadays.
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This visionary sequence stands with a handful of the greatest scenes in animation film history (others would include Snow White’s flight in the enchanted forest; the mushrooms dancing to Tchaikovsky in Fantasia; Dumbo’s spectacular "Pink Elephants on Parade" number; the "Bella Notte" spaghetti kiss in Lady and the Tramp; and the ballroom sequence in Beauty and the Beast).