Joseph le roi des rêves

In this day of pure junk that gets foisted off on our kids(and parents that buy the movies) this film is a treat. I can't sit and tell you how close that this story follows the Bible, and in the opening credits, it states that some license was taken. Fine. My children sat thru it and enjoyed it. That's the sign of a good movie for a young person.

With the sole exception of the folks that make the "Veggie Tales" series of videos, there seems to be a great lack of good movies with a positive tone, without a ton of violence, and good "values" tossed in. Like Prince of Egypt, this movie has it's Biblical tone, but never forces it down your throat, in the way that some kid's Bible videos, do.

Even if you have a problem with movies along those lines, "Joseph" is a pleasing piece of work.

I'm not a Pollyanna by any means, but in light of what our kids have been watching since September 2001, isn't it nice that there are a few feature length films that can be shown to youngsters, without worrying about what might be seen?

A good 6 out of 10.

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.

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

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.

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!