The Prince of Egypt (1998)

This film was suggested by my little sister (Hi Dri!), and despite the fact that I already wrote about a Moses movie recently, I thought I’d give this one a write-up too!

The plot is your standard Moses story: Hebrew baby sent adrift in a basket is discovered by Egyptian queen, and is raised believing he is an Egyptian prince. Eventually he learns his true heritage, leaves home to start a new life, receives a message from the God of his people to return to Egypt to free the slaves. You know the rest.

The thing that really makes this movie for me is the relationship between Moses (Val Kilmer) and Rameses (Ralph Fiennes). In The Ten Commandments (1956), for example, they HATE each other from the start. It’s enjoyable to watch in it’s own right (for campy reasons, mostly), but it doesn’t really makes Moses’s return to free the slaves seem like a dilemma for him in any way. In The Prince of Egypt, they were raised as brothers and genuinely love each other. The relationship makes it much harder for Moses to go against his brother by following through on his mission. When Rameses turns on Moses, we can see how hurt they both are. It’s really well done.

With an all-star voice cast (Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Stewart, Steve Martin and Martin Short, among others), gorgeous animation and great songs, this film is not to be dismissed as just a “children’s movie." Give it a chance!