THE PRINCE OF EGYPT
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: The story of the Hebrews' Exodus from
Egypt is sacred to three major world religions. In
the rapidly developing realm of the animated film
this retelling from the Dreamworks gets vibrant new
life and is seen with greater spectacle than
DeMille could have ever dreamed. But like
DeMille's version THE PRINCE OF EGYPT presumes to
change the Bible story for dramatic effect.
Rating: 7 (0 to 10), low +2 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 11 positive, 1 negative, 9 mixed
Back in the 1950s and 1960s Biblical films were again a big business like they had not been since the days of silent film. Cecil B. DeMille opened the way with his remake of his own THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956). BEN HUR (1959) followed, and while not a story directly from the Bible itself, it did involve Biblical incidents. It was also a remake of a 1920s film. Eventually the times changed and the popularity of Biblical films died. The last major Biblical films released to theaters were KING DAVID (1985) and THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988). There have been some made-for-TV experiments, since but THE PRINCE OF EGYPT from Dreamworks is the first major Biblical film released to theaters in a decade. In many ways it is THE TEN COMMANDMENTS for a new generation and it repeatedly invites comparison. Ironically the new version may create as much interest in the art and culture of ancient Egypt as it creates for the Bible.
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT begins with a statement that the story that follows is true to the essence and values of the original story. That may be true but the film is somewhat truer to the plot of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS than it is to any story told in the Bible. DeMille based his story on three novels about Moses as much as he did on the Bible. The Bible does not make the young Moses an important person in Pharaoh's household. In Exodus the story is told with terse economy. It merely says he was raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter and later that a slave called him "a prince." And do not over-rate the value of being a prince of Egypt, there were dozens. Rameses the Great, who by the way is generally considered to be the Pharaoh with whom Moses bargained, had over 100 children. His father might well have had equally many and probably would have had little interest in the Hebrew child one of his many daughters had adopted. It makes for a better story to say that Moses nearly became a Pharaoh himself, but that is not what the Bible says.
The story of THE PRINCE OF EGYPT will be familiar to many in the audience, though somewhat more if they are familiar with the 1956 film than is they know the Bible story. The Israelites were slaves to a Pharaoh in Egypt who was afraid that even as slaves they were becoming too numerous and soon would become too powerful. Pharaoh decrees that all the male children of the Israelites are to be slain. This brings us to the opening of the film where Yocheved (voiced by Ofra Haza) sets her newborn son adrift on the Nile in a reed basket, weighing a great danger against a more certain death. The boy is adopted by Pharaoh's wife (not daughter as the Bible says) and becomes like a second son to the Pharaoh. In the most interesting variation on the DeMille version Rameses (Ralph Fiennes) loves Moses (Val Kilmer). Moses loves Rameses too until he finds that he, Moses, is really a Hebrew. So rather than being a one-dimensional villain, there is some depth to Rameses. Moses kills an Egyptian taskmaster and flees Egypt. While Rameses misses his friend, Moses is called on by God (also voiced by Val Kilmer) to return to Egypt and free his people, setting up the classic conflict.
In animation, virtually anything that the mind's eye can see can be put on the screen, and THE PRINCE OF EGYPT wastes no opportunity to outdo DeMille's spectacle. The Egyptian architecture as it appears here is positively titanic. The whole film seems to show architecture of the same scale that was used to cow the locals at Abu Simbel. Egyptian architecture is impressive, but here it is portrayed with a certain hyperbole. The buildings and statues as shown here are enormous and their size is frequently exaggerated with overhead views.
The style of Egyptian wall decoration is to show important figures as being larger than other figures in a scene. A variation on that is used by the Dreamworks animators. The most important characters are given a realistic three-dimensional look. Lessor characters are animated in a flatter style. That effect could have made the animation look wildly uneven. But the animators at Dreamworks make it all work quite well. In addition some of the important sequences look in part or all almost photographic. Some of the most effective scenes however are done entirely flat as the story of what led to the opening of the film is shown as animated wall decoration. This sequence rivals the parting of the Red Sea as the most imaginative in the film.
In the DeMille telling there is an emotional climax to the story and a visual climax. The visual climax is the parting of the Red Sea. Using the best visual methods available in the 1950s, DeMille used a patchwork of mattes of scenes of flowing water. The methods were imperfect and little more convincing than using two rounded cakes of Jell-O as DeMille did in the silent version. Computer animation gives a filmmaker much more freedom and also more responsibility to do something spectacular. And spectacular is what they manage. Where this version falls flat is mishandling of the emotional climax of the story. After the night of terror and death comes the morning of Freedom. DeMille managed to give it a tremendous impact that remains exciting even after many viewings. A big piece of the credit goes to Elmer Bernstein's music. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT understates the departure almost disastrously with the Hebrews just quietly picking up and moving out to the music of a song. Time will tell if I am wrong, but all the songs by Steven Schwartz seemed immediately forgettable.
As with ANTZ a host of familiar actors were used to voice parts. In this case Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. To my ear only Goldblum and Stewart have voices characteristic enough to pick out. Both Moses and God are voiced by Val Kilmer, so it was almost a mercy that I did not recognize his voice. In general animation does not require big stars to do the voices, and it almost seems wasteful.
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT tells the story of the Exodus for a new generation and does it in spectacular style. I give it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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