The Ten Commandments

This is a terrible film on every front: ghastly animation borrowed from a video game, boring music, paired with wretched acting from Christian Slater as Moses, Alfred Molina as Ramses, Elliott Gould (hideously miscast) as the voice of God, and a lot of people you've never heard of -- and it's just as well.

Are you a Bible scholar? You'll love the way they throw in the 16th century misreading of YHWH (Yahweh) as "Jehovah." Are you a Biblical literalist? Then enjoy the way the filmmakers have Moses abandon his wife and kiddies, let Aaron off the hook, and rewrite the punishment of the Israelites for that unfortunate Golden Calf affair. Are you a fan of Saturday morning cartoons? Stick with those; they have better acting and more wit.

The movie is also misnamed; the Big 10 occupy only a small part of it. It would have been better call it "Moses." Actually, it would have been best to leave it alone.

This film is terrible. Why do religious films (not just Christian ones, also Jewish and Islamic ones) always have to be low-grade? As a Christian i am insulted that producers think they can trick me into buying a bad movie just because it says "moses" on the back. the plot line is stupid and barely conveys the actual telling of moses's life. the animation looks like a computer game- mind you, not the good games that look like pixar movies, but the bad ones that have as much animation as newsprint. The acting is truly wooden and occasionally garbled- "thank-you-god-for-this-oppurtunity" The score is decent at first but endlessly repetitive, the same songs play through the entire film. I'm all for films concerning issues, including religion, but this... stuff ...can't be tolerated. This film was a Christian "battlefield earth" in its incompetence.

I suppose Biblical stories will never run out of fashion, though I find it a bit strange that amongst the numerous potential stories for retelling, the story of Moses got chosen again, and for an animated movie no less, although this one's done in 3D. Remember Prince of Egypt? Dreamworks Animation pretty much nailed it, especially when you have a relatively successful hit song as a byproduct (played ad nauseam until it became an irritant). Comparisons are inevitable given the content and the form, and unfortunately, this movie with input from IVL Animation (Singapore) didn't surpass the benchmark set by Prince of Egypt, but it's a slight improvement to the local 3D animated movies that have been released to date (that of Zodiac: The Race Begins and Tales of the Sea).

The Ten Commandments that this version offered is a super summary of events that are in the Bible, starting from an infant Moses in a basket surviving a water borne trip, and bypassing his growing up years creatively through the opening credits. If using Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 movie starring Charlton Heston as the baseline, then it managed to shear off more than 50% of that content, and added just a little bit more toward the last act, which seemed to drag it just a tad longer, including events that you may or may not already be familiar with, but definitely not in the DeMille film, nor in Prince of Egypt.

As an animated movie, and a 3D one at that, it still has not reached the level of quality that one is accustomed to from, say Pixar, which in my opinion deem worthy to be used to measure up against. The animation here is still blocky at certain bits, especially in character design and rendering. But credit has to be given for how key scenes were depicted, and I thought the Burning Bush was particularly well done. Other than that, the Parting of the Red Sea was another key moment, but unfortunately didn't offer any spectacular Wow moment that the earlier Ten Commandment movies provided. It pales compared to the 2D style in Prince of Egypt, though it included a nod towards it of sorts by having those whales(?) swimming around and seen through the water curtain.

The movie managed to snag a more international cast for its voicing of characters, and I thought having Christian Slater (Moses), Alfred Molina (Ramses) and Elliot Gould as the Voice of God, was a marked leap forward in helping the movie gain more attention, compared to the use of local actors (no disrespect of course) who may not have as much international clout to make the film appealing to audiences outside our borders.

This movie will most likely appeal to Sunday School groups, given that it's relatively free of scary images, but yet managing to tell the story of various plagues descending onto Egypt.

How can you ruin such a great story? Answer: A. Insipid direction.

B. World's worst imagery and animation.

The story flounders as it focuses on the relationship of Moses to the Pharoah ("Ramses".) Were they at one point buddies? Did something sour Ramses and turn him into a grumpalumpagus? Who knows or cares? But hold on, the worst is yet to come: the nutso physiques of the characters. The leading men (Moses, Ramses, Aaron) seem to all sport chest implants that would shame the late Anna Nicole Smith. OK, so Moses and Ramses were raised in wealth, how did Aaron manage to acquire such gargantuan pecs while some of his compadres appear as emaciated as a displaced person.

Legs and torsos seem to have only the most casual acquaintance with one another. Eyes are over-sized in the manner of the Keane kids of the 60s.

Larding out the cast (pardon the pun)are anonymous Hebrew supernumeraries who are impossibly wide and fat. While that might be very progressive in giving work to morbidly obese cartoon characters, it's very jarring to the viewer. Kids (baby Moses, young Miriam, the Pharoah's first-born) manage to be repugnant rather than endearing.

Oh, and the color palette. WAY over the top.

The only positives: Eliot Gould and Ben Kingsley.

I saw this shortly after it opened in town. It was playing only in an obscure theater located in a low-end mall. I'd say there were under 40 other customers.

What a dud.

Finally a movie I can watch with my kids that tells the story of Moses in a way they can understand and enjoy! What a thrill to hear the voices of actors we love as the voices of Moses, God and others in the film. The movie has the great talents of Elliott Gould, Christian Slater, Ben Kingsley and Alfred Molina to name a few! What a line up! I loved this movie, as it showed Moses as an ordinary man who became a prophet, who did the unimaginable for Gods people. This movie helped to teach my children the awesome power of God and how we have our own power to do good in the world. Moses was an ordinary man yes, but the amazing Ed Naha created a character that reflected someone who was humble with an added sense of humor...A MOSES that was understood by children who had extraordinary adventures, we shared this movie as a family glued to our seats! Thank you Promenade Pictures for a truly wonderful family movie!