Joseph le roi des rêves

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!

No, I'm not a Bible-Thumper. However, Joseph is one of the most precious examples of a man who trusted God with everything he had and did, and how God was with him throughout his life.

Joseph, King of Dreams doesn't quite reflect that total, precious trust in my opinion. However, this is a children's animated story and I know that some liberty has to be taken to get the point across to kids in a way that they will be both entertained, and remember well. This story does achieve that goal in spades. My nieces and nephew are glued to the set whenever we put this movie in, and my oldest niece can almost recite it verbatim.

I can just imagine how hard it must be for the actors to put life and feeling into an animated character, and all of the actors who lent their voices were positively excellent. I gave this film an overall rating of 8 - if you have little children and are wondering how in the world to introduce your kids to the greatest story ever told, here's your answer for a stupendous start.

We bought this film in a two-pack with PoE and find ourselves watching King of Dreams much more than PoE. I personally find that:

1) The story is incredibly satisfying emotionally. Joseph's story of commitment to God in the face of such challenges and especially his struggle to forgive his brothers is something that I think everyone can relate to.

2) The acting is top notch. They didn't near as many high powered stars as PoE, but apparently Ben Affleck and Mark Hamil decided that they couldn't coast through this and put in super performances.

3) The music is less "soundtracky" and more singable. I 2 years later, I still can't get "You know better than I" out of my head.

4) The animation, sigh, is not quite as ambitious as PoE, but is definitely sufficient to tell the story. I didn't notice any letdown until I read a previous poster's comment about a lack of animation on the level of the Red Sea parting or burning bush PoE scenes, and they're right. But I didn't miss them. Go hang your PS3 screenshots in a museum -- I'll stick to my awesome Wii gameplay.

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...

Joseph:King of Dreams is a very pleasant direct to video film. Like Prince of Egypt, this is also based on a story from the Bible. However, while this is worth watching and underrated I think too, I don't think it is as good as Prince of Egypt. I have to be fair though, considering how superb Prince of Egypt was, for that movie is one of the most evocative, compelling and stirring animated movies ever, this film had a lot to live up to. In general, this does a more than acceptable job at telling the story from the Bible.

The film's criticisms are very few. The story while quite faithful to the story is a little choppy in places, but manages to be compelling enough in others. In its defence though, I have always felt the biblical story one of the less interesting stories in the Bible, but that is probably just me. There are also one or two moments when the character development is a little shallow, primarily with Joseph's brothers-Joseph was a very convincing and fleshed out protagonist- and the ending is perhaps abrupt. All these problems are probably disadvantaged by one major factor, the film for me is too short.

However, there is so much to recommend. The animation is superb, the background art is audacious, and the fluidity of the character movements is evident. I loved the look of Joseph's coat, and how the animators animated his dreams. I also think the music is under-appreciated, as I really liked the songs. You Know Better Than I is my favourite, and I may have a confession, I have a slight preference to the songs here than I do to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The characters are good, Joseph is convincing as a protagonist, especially in the latter half of the film, and Asenath is one of the more vivacious female characters in a non-Disney animated movie. She reminds me a bit of Tzipporah and Chel. And the voices were well done, quite the opposite. I don't normally care for Ben Affleck, but he wasn't that bad here. Going on a tangent, people complained of Matt Damon being dull in Spirit and I not only really liked the film but I thought Damon was good. If I had any thoughts on who voice acted better, I think Affleck was slightly better. Jodi Benson proves what a wonderful voice actress she is by providing a strong and emphatic persona for Asenath, and Mark Hamill is great as Judah.

In conclusion, this is a good film, not perfect, but it is underrated. 7/10 Bethany Cox