The Prince of Egypt (1998) - DreamWorks' fantastic, soaring Biblical animation

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Religious Drama of the Year

 

Dark and golden sand-colored poster with great depth and detail for Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells' The Prince of Egypt

Moses' upbringing as the 'false' prince of the slave kingdom of Egypt, his discovery of his actual Hebrew roots, and God's call to emancipation and exodus.

 

The Prince of Egypt is written by Philip LaZebnik (Asterix and the Vikings (2006, dialog)) and Nicholas Meyer (Time after Time (1979)) and directed by debuting Brenda Chapman (Come Away (2020)), debuting Steve Hickner (Kung Fu Panda: Unstoppable Awesomeness (2016, short)) and Simon Wells (An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991)).

DreamWorks bet big on this their only 2nd feature animation with the unusual, ambitious and risky choice of a religious drama. It is a complex story told in ravaging images, with great songs and seriousness often missing from major American animations. The mix of traditional drawn and colorized animation with CGI is at its early phase here, but The Prince of Egypt is still compelling storytelling and very handsome.

 

Related posts:

 

Brenda Chapman:  Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Brave (2012) - Stunningly animated, vivid Scottish family fairytale 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 70 mil. $

Box office: 218.6 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)

[The Prince of Egypt premiered 16 December (USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland) and runs 99 minutes. Former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had dreamt of an animated version of The Ten Commandments (1956) and was encouraged by Steven Spielberg to pursue it. Katzenberg brought in Biblical scholars, Christian, Jewish and Muslim theologians and Arab American leaders to help the film in its accuracy as well as sending a production team to Egypt for research. Production took place in California. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release You've Got Mail, to a 14.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weeks in the top 5 (#4-#4-#5-#5) and a #3 week again much later during Easter and grossed 101.4 mil. $ (46.4 % of the total gross). The film was banned in Islamic fundamentalist countries the Maldives, Malaysia, Egypt and Indonesia for depicting an Islamic prophet (Moses). It was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning for Best Song (When You Believe by Stephen Schwartz) and losing Best Score, Musical or Comedy (Stephen Schwartz) to Stephen Warbeck for Shakespeare in Love. It was also nominated for 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Joseph: King of Dreams (2000, video) was a DreamWorks prequel without the original directors or cast. Chapman returned with Brave (2012); Hickner with Father of the Pride (2004, TV-series) and theatrically with Bee Movie (2007) and Wells with The Time Machine (2002). Val Kilmer (Thunderheart (1992)), who voices Moses and God, returned in At First Sight (1998). The Prince of Egypt is certified fresh at 80 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Prince of Egypt?

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) - See Claude Rains revel in Shaw's words in lavish adaptation

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Beautifully painted, caligraphed and designed poster for Gabriel Pascal's Caesar and Cleopatra

QUICK REVIEW:

In this adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's (The Apple Cart (1929)) play (with screenplay by Shaw himself) Caesar is a wise, good-humored pacifist, who plays mentor to the beautiful, capricious Cleopatra in Egypt, before SPOILER he sails back for Rome.

Claude Rains (Casablanca (1942)) as the, reportedly, first actor ever, received a 1 mio. $ salary to play the part of the Roman emperor, - and the result? - What splendor! He gives a great performance and plays Caesar with real gusto.
Shaw's rich, meaningful text is done full justice here in beautiful Technicolor and silly costumes in the most expensive English film production ever, at its time, which got an Oscar nomination for its art direction by John Bryan (Great Expectations (1946)). Its production was prolonged, because it was filmed in England during WWII, and its female star Vivien Leigh (Gone With the Wind (1939)) suffered a miscarriage after a fall on the set. 
The film is directed by Romanian expatriate Gabriel Pascal, whose other directorial credit Major Barbara (1941) was also a Shaw adaptation.

Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh, the stars of Gabriel Pascal's Caesar and Cleopatra

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 5.2 mil. $
Box office: 2.2 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The film made 1.3 mil. $ (62 % of its total gross) in the States, making it one of the most popular British films there up to date. 815k people paid admission in France, where it was released in 1948. But the film suffered under its own inflated costs and a perhaps inauspicious time of release in world history.]

What do you think of Caesar and Cleopatra?
Other Shaw adaptations that are worth looking out?