The topic of this page has a wikia of its own: The Prince of Egypt.
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The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American traditionally-animated musical biblical epic semi-historical drama film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks Pictures, and DreamWorks' first animated film. The film is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows Moses' life from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. The film was directed by Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, and Steve Hickner. The film features songs written by Stephen Schwartz and a score composed by Hans Zimmer. The voice cast features several major Hollywood actors in speaking roles with professional singers replacing them for songs, except for Michelle Pfeiffer, Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Ofra Haza (who sang her character's number "Deliver Us," in over seventeen languages, including her native Hebrew language [which was partially used in all dubs] for the film's dubbing), who sang their parts.
Jeffrey Katzenberg had frequently suggested an animated adaptation of The Ten Commandments while working for The Walt Disney Company, and he decided to put the idea into production after founding DreamWorks in 1995. To make this inaugural project, DreamWorks Animation employed artists who had worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation and the recently disbanded Amblimation, totaling a crew of 350 people from 34 different nations. The film has a blend of traditional animation and computer-generated imagery, created using software from Toon Boom Animation and Silicon Graphics.
The Prince of Egypt was released in theaters on December 18, 1998, and on home video on September 14, 1999. Reviews were positive, with critics praising the animation, music, and voice work. The film went on to gross $218,613,188 worldwide in theaters, making it the most successful non-Disney animated feature at the time until The Simpsons Movie in July 2007. The film's success was the development of a stage adaptation. The song "When You Believe" became a commercially successful single in a pop version performed by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey and went on to win Best Original Song at the 1997 Academy Awards.
Synopsis[]
In order to save her infant from being killed by the Pharaoh, a desperate mother throws her newborn son down a river. The Israeli child is found by the kings of Egypt, who name the boy Moses and raise him as the brother of the heir to the throne, Rameses. But when, years later, Moses' Hebrew origin is discovered, the brothers become estranged.
Plot[]
In Ancient Egypt, Yocheved, a Hebrew slave, and her children Miriam and Aaron watch as Hebrew babies are taken and ruthlessly killed by Egyptian soldiers, as ordered by Seti I, who fears an increase in the Hebrew population could lead to rebellion. To save her newborn son, Yocheved places him in a basket and sets it afloat on the Nile. Miriam follows the basket to the Pharaoh's palace and witnesses her baby brother adopted by Queen Tuya, who names the baby Moses.
Twenty years later, Moses and his foster brother, Rameses, are scolded by their father for accidentally destroying a temple during one of their youthful misadventures, though Moses tries to take the blame and says that Rameses wants their father's approval. That evening at a palace banquet, Seti, deciding to give Rameses this opportunity, names him Prince Regent and gives him authority over Egypt's temples. As a tribute, the high priests, Hotep and Huy, offer him the captive Tzipporah, and Rameses gives her to Moses. Moses debunks Tzipporah, and Rameses appoints him Royal Chief Architect with a ring.
Later that night, Moses helps Tzipporah escape from the palace and is reunited with Miriam and Aaron. Despite Aaron's attempts to protect her, Miriam tries to tell Moses about his past, but he refuses to listen to her and returns to the palace until a familiar lullaby starts echoing in his mind when Miriam sings it. The truth about his past is later confirmed in a nightmare, and finally by Seti himself. The next day, Moses accidentally pushes an Egyptian guard off the scaffolding of the temple while trying to stop him from whipping a Hebrew slave, and the guard falls to his death.
Ashamed and confused, Moses flees into the desert in exile, despite Rameses' pleas to stay. After Moses defends Tzipporah's younger sisters from bandits, he is welcomed into the Midianite tribe by their father, Jethro, the High Priest of Midian. After assimilating this new culture, Moses becomes a shepherd and marries Tzipporah. While chasing a stray lamb, Moses discovers a burning bush through which God instructs him to guide the Hebrew slaves to their promised land and bestows Moses' shepherding staff with his power. Moses and Tzipporah return to Egypt, where Moses is happily greeted by his brother Rameses, who is now Pharaoh and a father.
The fifth plague; sheep and cattle all immediately perish due to pestilence.
When Moses requests the Hebrews' release and changes his staff into an Egyptian cobra to demonstrate his alliance with God. Hotep and Huy boastfully re-create this transformation, only to have their snakes eaten by Moses' snake. Rather than being persuaded, Rameses is hardened and doubles the Hebrews' workload, as he feels Moses abandoning their brotherhood is a sign of betrayal. After that, Moses and Tzipporah live with Miriam, who convinces Aaron and the other Hebrews to trust him. Later, Moses inflicts the First Plague of blood upon the Nile, which makes Rameses unconvinced. As it begins, Moses then inflicts the next eight plagues of Egypt, but Rameses refuses to relent. Throughout the crisis, Moses finds Ramses as they talk face to face, recollecting old memories of their brotherhood, wishing things were back to how they loved each other. Moses prepares the Hebrews for the tenth and final plague after Ramses decides to carry out Seti's will in ridding Egypt of the Hebrew children and refusing to give in. The Hebrews are instructed to paint lamb's blood on their doorposts as the final plague will not enter. That night, the final plague kills all the firstborn children of Egypt, including Rameses' son, while sparing those of the Hebrews. The next morning, as he grieves for his son, Rameses permits Moses to free the Hebrews.
The Hebrews leave Egypt, led by Moses, Miriam, Aaron, and Tzipporah. At the Red Sea, they discover that Rameses is closely pursuing them with his army. Upon their arrival, Moses uses his staff to part the sea while a pillar of fire blocks the army's way. The Hebrews cross on the open sea bottom; when the pillar of fire disappears and the army gives chase, but the water closes over the Egyptian soldiers, sparing Rameses alone, who screams Moses' name in a fury of despair. Moses leads the Hebrews to Mount Sinai, where he returns after receiving the Ten Commandments from God.
Voice Cast[]
- Val Kilmer as Moses and God
- Ralph Fiennes as Rameses
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Tzipporah
- Sandra Bullock as Miriam
- Eden Riegel as Young Miriam
- Jeff Goldblum as Aaron
- Danny Glover as Jethro
- Patrick Stewart as Seti
- Helen Mirren as The Queen
- Steve Martin as Hotep
- Martin Short as Huy
- Ofra Haza as Yocheved
- Bobby Motown as Rameses Son
Additional Voices[]
- James Avery
- Stephanie Sawyer
- Aria Noelle Curzon
- Francesca Smith
Additional Voices (uncredited)[]
- Jack Angel - Egyptian
- Rodger Bumpass
- Mary Kay Bergman
- Bob Bergen
- Debi Derryberry
- Jennifer Darling
- Paul Eiding
- Bill Farmer
- Jess Harnell
- Sherry Lynn
- Danny Mann
- Mona Marshall
- Mickie McGowan
- Patrick Pinney
- Phil Proctor
- Jan Rabson
- Cree Summer
- Marcelo Tubert
- Billy West
Release and Reception[]
The Prince of Egypt had its premiere at UCLA's Royal Hall on December 16, 1998, with its wide release occurring two days later. Despite being the inaugural production by DreamWorks Animation, it wound up the first to get a theatrical release, as Antz was rushed to theaters in October. The international release occurred simultaneously to the United States, as according to DreamWorks' distribution chief Jim Tharp, opening one week before "Christmas" of '98, audiences all over the world will be available at the same time.
The accompanying market campaign aimed to bring more adults, usually averse to animated films. Merchandising was limited to a line of collectible figures and books. Wal-Mart served as a promotional partner and offered in stores a package featuring two tickets to The Prince of Egypt, a storybook, and the film's soundtrack.
Box Office Performance[]
On its opening weekend, the film grossed $14,524,321 for a $4,658 average from 3,118 theaters, earning second place at the box office behind You've Got Mail. Due to the holiday season, the film gained 4% in its second weekend, earning $15,119,107 and finishing in fourth place. It had a $4,698 average from 3,218 theaters. It would hold well in its third weekend, with only a 25% drop to $11,244,612 for a $3,11 average from 3,202 theaters and once again finishing in fourth place. The film closed on August 28, 1997, after earning $101,413,188 in the United States and Canada with an additional $117,200,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $218.6 million. The Prince of Egypt was the first non-Disney animated feature to gross over $100 million in the U.S. first Paramount/Nickelodeon's The Rugrats Movie. It remained the top-grossing non-Disney animated film until being surpassed by the 2000 stop motion film Chicken Run, also distributed by DreamWorks, and remained the highest-grossing traditionally non-Disney film until 2007, when it was out-grossed by 20th Century Fox's The Simpson's Movie.
Critical Reception[]
The Prince of Egypt received generally positive reviews from critics, and at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 80 reviews collected, the film has an overall approval rating of 79%, with a weighted average of 7/10. Metacritic, which assigns a normalized 0-100 rating to reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 64 from the 26 reviews it collected.
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film in his review, saying, "The Prince of Egypt is one of the best-looking animated films ever made. It employs computer-generated animation as an aid to traditional techniques, rather than as a substitute for them, and we sense the touch of human artists in the vision behind the Egyptian monuments, the lonely desert vistas, the thrill of the chariot race, and the personalities of the characters. This is a film that shows animation growing up and embracing more complex themes, instead of chaining in a category of children's entertainment." Richard Corliss of Time magazine gave a negative review of the film, saying, "The film lacks creative exuberance, any side pockets of joy." Stephen Hunter from The Washington Post praised the film, saying, "The movie's proudest accomplishment is that it revises our version of Moses towards something more immediate and believable, more humanly knowable."
Lisa Alspector from the Chicago Reader praised the film and wrote, "The blend of animation techniques somehow demonstrates mastery modestly, while the special effects are nothing short of magnificent." Houston Chronicles's Jeff Millar reviewed by saying, "The handsomely animated The Prince of Egypt is an amalgam of Hollywood's biblical epic, Broadway supermusical, and nice Sunday school lesson." James Berardinelli from Reelviews highly praised the film, saying, "The animation in The Prince of Egypt is truly top-notch, and is easily a match for anything Disney has turned out in the last decade", and also wrote, "This impressive achievement uncovers yet another chink in Disney's once-impregnable animation armor." Liam Lacey of The Global and Mail gave a somewhat negative review and wrote, "Prince of Egypt is spectacular but takes itself too seriously." MovieGuide also reviewed the film favorably, giving it a rate of 4 out of 4 stars, saying that "The Prince of Egypt takes animated movies to a new level of entertainment. Magnificent art, music, story, and realization combine to make The Prince of Egypt one of the most entertaining masterpieces of all time."
Banning[]
The Prince of Egypt was banned in two countries where the population is predominantly Muslim: the Maldives and Malaysia because the depiction in the media of Islamic prophets (which includes Moses) is forbidden in Islam. The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in the Maldives stated: "All prophets and messengers of God are revered in Islam, and therefore cannot be portrayed". Following the ruling, the censor board banned the film in August 1997. In the same month, the Film Censorship Board in Malaysia banned the film "so as not to offend the country's majority Muslim population." The board's secretary said that the censor body ruled the film was "intensive for religious and moral reasons". Malaysia's population is 60% Muslim, their country has strict censorship. Along with nudity and sex, sensitive religious scenes are rare due to the Malaysian film censorship laws.
The film was also banned in Egypt on the grounds of the depiction in the media of Islamic prophets and arguably because it defamed Egyptians, depicted in the film as the oppressors of the Hebrews, and that Moses played more of a role as a liberator than a messenger.
Home Media[]
The Prince of Egypt was released on DVD and VHS on September 2, 1997. The ownership of the film was assumed by DreamWorks Animation when the company split from DreamWorks Pictures in 2004; as of July 2018, the rights to the film are now owned by Universal Pictures via its acquisition of DWA. As with the rest of the DreamWorks Animation catalog, it is available for streaming on Netflix in HD. However, Both the DVD release and the streaming versions used a 35mm print of the film, rather than using the original files to encode the movie directly to digital.
Prequel[]
- Main article: Joseph: King of Dreams
In November 2000, Dreamworks Animation released Joseph: King of Dreams, a direct-to-video spin-off prequel based on the story of Joseph, the dream-seer, from the Book of Genesis. The project began during the production of The Prince of Egypt, employing the same animation crew and featuring director Steve Hickner as an executive producer.
Gallery[]
External links[]
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