THE PRINCE OF EGYPT 1998
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon
3 out of 4 for Deliverance
Voices: Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Steve Martin, Martin Short. Screenplay: Philip LaZebnik. Directors: Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells
A dramatic, full motion, animation epic is always a bit risky, and will bring, a couple of sniggers from the mouth's of audiences who are unaccustomed to the likes. So it is not surprising that The Prince of Egypt, runs a difficult and lonely race against the dominating likes of cute Disney animation flicks. But the fact it dares to be different pays off, and those familiar with the story of Moses and the word Exodus, will not be alienated by the plot, because it does not stray very far from what is actually recorded in the Bible. There are odd moments of humour thrown in amidst the drama, but these are so off beat that one is unsure whether to laugh or not. An example is Moses post-sandstorm - a scene more reminiscent of a Roadrunner cartoon. Besides these slight hiccups, the heavy score composed by Hans Zimmer and Stephen Shwartz is well suited to the grand scale of the story. And the special effects are bigger, better and badder than the Cecil B. DeMille version of the same story, The Ten Commandments. Of particular note are the burning bush and the parting of the Red Sea. In fact, the parting of the sea, can be more accurately described as the parting of an ocean – take my word, there's a lot of water! As for the cast, Ralph Fiennes' wonderful accent lends Pharoah a kind of British air that would have been missing from the original, but is otherwise in character. Val Kilmer loans more of a humble tone to the modest, troubled Moses. Michelle Pfeiffer sings well as Tzipporah, watch for her part in the movie, which is sung by Mariah Carey in the hit single We Believe. You will also recognise many other famous names in the other lead roles, but in particular Steve Martin and Martin Short lend their talents to one of the few, in synch, humorous parts of the movie as the high priests, Hotep and Huy. Overall this is an immense achievement from Dreamworks who have worked hard to develop an animation epic that is worth watching.
Timothy Voon
e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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