José: El rey de los sueńos

A generally good effort, which, as the introduction noted, took certain liberties, but was largely "faithful" to the story. One major difference was the handling of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (the scene was comparatively tame, which I appreciated, given that I was watching with a six and an eight year old): Joseph is spared death because Potiphar's wife declares to him that he does not deserve it. Potiphar immediately understands that she was lying, but has Joseph imprisoned anyway (apparently an act of bad faith on his part, despite his otherwise virtuous portrayal). Joseph nonetheless treats him as a "bro" when released from prison, apparently feeling solidarity because they both suffered familial betrayal. An interesting touch.

The music was not great, but the animation was decent, especially the dream sequences, which remind of van Gogh.

It also effectively conveyed the emotion of the story, especially Joseph's anger, pain, and mixed feelings upon seeing his brothers. So much so that Sebastian didn't want to keep watching it at first because he said it was too sad!

The movie is a sort of companion piece to The Prince of Egypt. The art style is the same, but it is obvious that this was made on a far smaller budget. The animation is pretty rough in some places, but not so much that it really bothered me while watching it. There are some very beautiful backgrounds and landscapes.

Especially noteworthy are the dream sequences, which use some more experimental animation. Joseph's two dreams have a style like a van Gogh painting, which works very well. The Pharaoh's dream uses CGI, and looks like a video game cutscene. I didn't like that one, but kudos to the creators for taking a risk.

The songs are all very enjoyable and well sung, but none of them really stuck in my memory.

I definitely enjoyed rediscovering a biblical story that I had almost forgotten. I think anyone who liked The Prince of Egypt will enjoy this movie as well, as long as they keep in mind that this was made on a more modest budget.

This is Dreamworks' 2nd attempt at an animated movie based on a Biblical story (note the word "based"...plenty of artistic liberty is taken). Though it can't hold a candle to "Prince of Egypt", it is a fair attempt and a pleasant movie to watch.

The animation doesn't seem to be top notch (or at least as well as Dreamworks demonstrated in PoE), but it was easy to get used to. The songs were not particularly memorable (ie: I couldn't tell you more than a line of lyrics used), but I can't really complain because the music was very nice and the singing was good. Not enough to blow me away, but a pleasant background to the story.

Perhaps what I liked best were the characters themselves. After experiencing Andrew Lloyd Webber's take on the Joseph story, I was eager to see how someone would take it seriously. I found that the movie made Joseph to be a rounded character. I mean, he had character flaws! Good for him! The brother's sudden change (well, I guess there were 20 years...) wasn't bothersome, and I thought Potiphar was particularly well done. Asenath was a nice addition as well.

Overall, a nice way to get kids to enjoy the story. A good execution of the story, which did make me care about the characters. Okay animation and music. 7.5 out of 10.

I really liked the respect DreamWorks showed respect towards their biblical epic The Prince of Egypt and their biblical source material. Disney should be ashamed of themselves ruining their beloved classics!

While Joseph: King of Dreams is nowhere near the intensity of PoE it still does a pretty good job with what they had to work with. Personally, the only thing I felt was noteworthy is the look of the animation. You know a smaller budget when you see it, but hey, direct-to-video stuff.

Even by those standards the animators really did their best, because once in a while we are presented to these wonderful Van Gogh stylized dream sequences which were highlights along with some of the hieroglyphs in the palace.

The central theme of the movie of family and heritage is a bit similar to PoE, but different enough to make it its own. The voice actors also did good jobs conveying the emotional drama unfolding. I think all involved gave us their ultimate offering considering their limited resources.

In short, less heavy-weight on the drama and the music, but respectful of its source material. Recommendable.

Genre: Cartoon Bible story Musical

My thoughts: To admit the plain truth, I was a bit shy of watching this because we had watched the "Prince Of Egypt" by the same makers and DID NOT like it! We watched this just over a month ago and I really like it! Since then I've watched it about four or five times (including once yesterday) and I'm STILL not bored of it (I think my bro's a bit bored of it. He keeps saying this film is "barking religious" but then he thinks that about anything that's religious). I like this film because of the beautiful songs (I can't stop singing "You know better than I", but of course my bro's bored of it because he's changed it to "I know better than you" and he gets a good laugh. I'm more bored of that version than the original!), stunning animation, good characters and it does a good job on the bible story.

What it all adds up to: Beautiful songs + Stunning animation + A good job on the bible story + Memorable characters = The beautiful film that is "Joseph: King Of Dreams. Enjoy! :)

What happens: Joseph is the first born of Rachel, which makes him a miracle child. In a way he is! He outshines his half-brothers and makes his father and mother happy. He even receives a beautiful, shining coat...