Le Prince d'Égypte

Quite possibly the most astonishing achievement in animation since Beauty and the Beast (and surpassing same), The Prince of Egypt is a lovingly crafted, engaging piece of cinema. The main characters are well-realized, three-dimensional characters. The focus of the film is the conflict between Ramses and his adopted brother, Moses, set against the backdrop of the epic events in the book of Exodus. The result is a religious tale that treats the oft-ignored human element. Instead of merely relating the tale as it is, the story asks "how would a person *feel* if God appeared to them and told them to do this? How would others react?" The script is light-years beyond any past biblical epic. The animation style owes a small debt to Disney's house style, but goes above and beyond in the details in character design (the Hebrews and Egyptians and Midians are clearly of different ethnic backgrounds, and no character suffers from the doe-eyed Disney Belle syndrome). Computer Generated Imagery blends -- for the first time in an animated film -- seamlessly with traditional cel animation. The film also takes some fairly audacious risks; Moses has a dream sequence in stiffly animated hieroglyphics, completely switching animation styles for about five minutes, which I believe is completely unprecedented in animation. There are moments when the visual effects made me forget to breathe. If you blink during the parting of the red sea, you'll regret it. There is, I believe I can safely say, not a second of the film that does not offer some sort of visual delight -- from the deep symbolism of the hieroglyphics to the dizzying chariot race in the opening sequence. The music has been touted by some critics as the film's weak link; such is definitely not the case. Stephen Schwartz' songs combine elements of Broadway-esque show tunes with native Hebrew and Egyptian music. The songs are powerful and moving, sometimes no more than one verse in length, sometimes full-blown seven-minute extravaganzas like "Let My People Go." The one weaker song, surprisingly, is the theme "When You Believe." Even freed from Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston R&B cheese as it is in the movie, it's a watery definition of faith at best. Still, the scene in which it takes place is powerful and the song is beautifully performed. If the film has a weak link, it might be the voice casting,Val Kilmer and Patrick Stewart in particular. The two voices are distinctive of the gentleman who possess them, and thus are distracting in this format. But such is a minor quibble, and should not dissuade anyone from seeing the greatest animated story ever told.

This film did a pretty good job of sticking to the Bible,this is a wonderful family film.

I saw Mulan, Anastasia and Prince of Egypt in a row. I loved Mulan, I loved Anastasia even more, and now... Well, I must say that Prince of Egypt is probably the best of all. I'd even say, the best animation feature ever produced in the USA (aside from Batman : Mask of the Phantasm).

It is a real piece of art, aiming to entertain everybody, not only act as a baby-sitter movie for kids. There aren't even any pets here. Only a great story, moving scenes, credible characters and fantastic music and storyboard. You will love this one.

The story of Moses is done here and, although not totally Biblically accurate, this is about as close as it gets in Hollywood. The inaccuracies are minor.

The artwork was fabulous when it came out in 1999. It's still very good, but animation has improved so fast in so short a time period that this is nothing special, art-wise, these day. However, it sure was when it was released just seven years ago. It's just beautiful in parts. Some of the prettiest colors I've seen on film have been in animated movies the last decade, and this is a prime example. The parting of the Red Sea in here is awesomely-done by the artists. That scene also sported the best sound in the 99-minute film.

The songs in here were nothing special but they didn't detract from the story because they were all short. Regarding the story, I only wish they had gone into detail on the plagues instead of just lumping them all together. They could have had some jaw-dropping scenes with the locusts, etc.

All-in-all a fine film and a rarity: a Biblical film that doesn't offend anyone.

As the author of THE WORLD OF ANIMATION, an Eastman Kodak book which won three international book festival awards and as an animation writer-director, I have for many years longed for the U.S. animation industry to remember that Walt Disney, nor any of the pioneers of animation limited their art to children's audiences.

With THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, the DreamWorks animation team has finally taken us full circle and helped the United States join the rest of the world in offering us the first U.S. animated feature since, perhaps, FANTASIA, created for mature audiences while remaining child-friendly. If you aspire to art in any form, and/or specifically love line art and graphics as I do, you must not miss seeing this film on the big screen. I applaud DreamWorks for this triumph in graphic excellence.

Two brief critiques: First, the choice of story. The story is based on Exodus from the Old Testament (and other Scripture) which is scanty, to say the least. Although the studio made an effort to flesh out the story with the Ramses/Moses relationship there is simply not enough meat to go around. This opinion is debatable, a very minor aspect and only my view as a story teller. At the bottom line the overall work is so extraordinary any possible lack in literacy is more than made up for in the visual mounting and production of the film, something which is nothing less than inspiring.

The other criticism is in the highly questionable use of "name" voices for casting, a puzzling development since there is no meaningful box office data supporting it. This practice is known to conflict the viewer psychologically as the drawn images begin to do battle with the ones in the audience memory with the cerebral bridge of highly recognizable photo images of known voices. Walt Disney knew this quite well and avoided it. Indeed, he used the voice of a complete unknown for Snow White, Adriana Caselotti, (who passed away in 1997). Disney was careful to avoid the existing Hollywood queens of song of the period, Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin, the latter, whose prodigious vocal talent actually saved Universal Pictures from going belly up a short time later.

However, at the bottom line, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT will become a true classic and has taken the art of animation up to a new threshold, a model to which future animators will aspire.

Raul daSilva, New Haven, CT, USA