Prince of Egypt (1998). 3 stars out of 4. Featuring the voices of Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Patrick Stewart, Steve Martin and Martin Short.
Bearing as many burdens as the Hebrew slaves it depicts, The Prince of Egypt strains to keep itself from collapsing under its own weight.
The Prince of Egypt is the first animated feature from DreamWorks, the company formed by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
And if the feature has the look and feel of a Disney product that's because before co-founding DreamWorks, Katzenberg ran the Disney studio where he was responsible for such animated films as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
One burden overcome by Prince of Egypt is its comparison to the product of its rival studio.
The animation in this retelling of the story of Moses is rich and vivid. You almost can taste the sand.
The characters' features are complex and multilayered and, given the story's setting, brown-hued and distinctive.
Missing, thankfully, is the now-cliched utilization of any talking animals. No camels pal around with Moses, offering sage advice. No talking staffs or sphinxes to make the story more palatable for small children.
The Prince of Egypt is a reverent retelling of the events in the Book of Exodus.
And that is another of its burdens. It is too reverential. This is an animated feature aimed more at adults than children, yet at a kids-friendly 95-plus-minute running time, it comes off as a "Classics Illustrated" capsulation of a biblical tale.
Katzenberg sought input from a number of biblical scholars and religious leaders in shaping his story. He sought to be fair and politically correct.
His Rameses (voiced by Ralph Fiennes) is no prideful, strutting demi-god whose fall is God's retribution for failing to heed His words.
In his efforts to offend no one, Katzenberg has deflated the dramatic tension from the story.
It never soars, never reaches that emotional fervor that Cecil B. DeMille was able to achieve in his four-hour epic, The Ten Commandments.
Despite its gaudiness and vulgarity, DeMille created larger-than-life protagonists, an epic battle of good vs. evil. When the Red Sea swallowed Pharoah's army, you cheered.
In Prince of Egypt, the characters' humanity is stressed. Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer) is a conflicted individual, unsure of his worthiness to lead his people to freedom, uncertain of the powers bestowed on him by his God, and saddened by the death and destruction rained upon Egypt.
This Moses is no Charlton Heston booming, "Let my people go!" Rather, he is a man filled with doubts struggling to do what is right and fulfill his divine mission.
Katzenberg and his writer, Philip LaZebnik, have slightly rewritten history, making Rameses and Moses brothers rather than cousins.
This heightens their eventual conflict as well as humanizes the gulf that separates them.
What Prince of Egypt lacks in drama is compensated by its superb use of animation as well as computer graphics. It is fluid, rich in texture and thematically stunning.
The parting of the Red Sea, the plagues sequence and the opening scenes of the baby Moses floating down the Nile are the highlights.
The vocal talents also are first rate. Kilmer makes a most-human Moses, while Fiennes' Rameses is less a tyrant than a ruler who cannot conceptualize the scope of his despotism. His refusal to free the slaves is not based on cruelty and villainy, as it is on continuing the status quo and not being "the weak link" in a dynastic empire.
Hans Zimmer has composed a superb score and the songs of Steven Schwartz are well done, if not memorable. There is no "Circle of Life," or "Color of the Wind" in Prince of Egypt.
The tunes have a Semitic air, with "Through Heavens Eyes" and "When You Believe" among the best.
The only misstep is "Playing With the Big Boys," a Vegas-like showstopper performed by Steve Martin and Martin Short as Pharoah's court magicians, that seems out of place.
The Prince of Egypt is wonderful filmmaking. It may not reach the grandeur one expects, but it still touches your heart and soul.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net
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