Customer Reviews
Surprisingly Brilliant - By: Marlyly, 18 Aug 2008 
I'm not religious in any sense of the word, so my review will be based purely on the film placed in front of me, & not on any historical innacuracies & deviances from the actual story, or any religious implications in the film.
I was blown away by this film to be honest. The story, the voice acting, the animation, it was alll faultless, & though the songs took a bit of getting used to (they didn't seem to have that sweet, flowing quality I was used to seeing in most cartoon musicals) the soundtrack fits the film incredibly well, with the obvious standout song of 'there can be miracles' made famous by Mariah carey & whitney Houston. One fault I did have however was the script, which at times felt slightly awkward, but the voice actors did the best with what they had, & that smalll fault is completely swept away by alll the great aspects this film has to offer. One of my favourite parts personallly was the portrayal of the relationship between Moses & the pharoah, the anguish & stubborness of both coming across well, & most importantly, the viewer can understand where both characters come from, sad that such a close friendship could be reduced to what it was. I thought the film was magical, & reallly look forward to watching it again. A brilliant piece of work, fully deserves the 5 star rating.
Full of Hope and Courage - By: Gary Selikow, 16 Jun 2008 This review is dedicated to the children of Israel from way back in the mists of time to the present day & the future.
To little Miriam-seen here in the movie- crouching by the River Nile waiting to see what would happen to the basket where her baby brother Moses was sailing down the River Nile in.
Here the pretty little tyke sings the song of hope blessing her baby brother - sung by the talented young actress Eden Riegel
To the children of Israel today - alll of them!
The dedication was inspired by the lovely voices of the blessed Israeli children who sung an exquisite melody in Hebrew during the part of the film where the Israelites where departing from Egypt-it were part of the song: "When You Believe"
This was perhaps the most touching & beautiful part of "Prince of Egypt".
The hardship of the Israelites whose life was embittered by their Egyptian oppressors is perfectly displayed here, & Moses life as a swashbuckling Egyptian Prince, & a close friend of the young Ramses is an interesting one.
The animation was amazing, both the people & the Egyptian landscape.
Particularly outstanding & memorable scenes:
When the Pharaoh Seti's Egyptian storm troopers charge into the Israelite slave quarters to cease the first-born sons of every Jewish woman, & Yocheved (Ofra Haza) flees, with the baby Moses in her arms, accompanied by her smalll children Miriam & Aaron. Beautiful songs by the magnificent Ofra Haza , who was taken from us so young , & Eden Riegel
Where Miriam (read with heartfelt sincerity by Sandra Bullock) tells Moses (Val Kilmer) that he is their brother, while a nervous Aaron (Jeff Goldblum) assures Moses that Miriam is not well & should be excused her impudence.
When Moses go's into the Temple where the whole sage unfolds through his eyes about what the Egyptians did to the Hebrew babies & what happened to the infant Moses himself, he confronts Pharaoh Seti ((Patrick Stewart) about the diabolical mass murder of the Israeli babies Seti replies: " Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the common good'. The same evil refrain used by tyrants through the ages from Pharaoh Seti to Hadrian, Torquemada, Robespierre, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Castro, the mass murderer Arafat, Mugabe & every other bloodthirsty tyrannical monster ever.
Moses' sojourn with the family of Jethro in Midian, where he marries Tzipporah. The dancing & singing there was incredible. (...).
Where G-D appears in the blue translucent light of the burning bush & instructs Moses to lead the Israelites to freedom. : `I have indeed seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, & I have heard its outcry because of its taskmasters, for I have known its sufferings. I shalll descend to rescue it from the hand of Egypt & bring it from that land to a good land flowing with milk & honey.'
Moses confrontation with Pharaoh Rameses & the long struggle to free the People of Israel from Egyptian bondage, his struggle with Pharaoh's magicians (who provide some humor) , & finallly the angel of death sparing the Hebrew children & slaying each Egyptian first born son. Leading to the most beautiful scene, the triumphant march of the Hebrew people to freedom, full of love & hope!
Wonderful - By: Bezerus Bezby, 07 Mar 2008 This is a wonderful adaptation of the exodus story from the bible. The music is beautiful, the animation is superb & Ralph Fienes as the Pharroh is excellent.
I am disappointed to see that another reviewer has branded it as religious extremism. I fail to see how telling one of the most famous stories of alll time counts as extremism. What is moving about this version, is that we see Ramesees as a young man, full of loyalty & love for his "brother" Moses. it's later on that we see him form into an arrogent man, convinced, as some Egyptions were, that he was a God. Ultimately, Egypt pays the price for his cruelty & arrogance.
My children love this film & want to watch it alll the time. Far from religious extremism, it has taught them the importance of treating people well & how arrogance often causes people to be cruel.
A GOOD FILM - By: stuart, 09 Dec 2007 
This is very possibly the finest animation I've seen. Before commenting on the film as a whole, I want to make that clear, because in the inevitable rush to pick this film apart (the plot, the voices, the religious significance, the literary accuracy, the moral issues, the music, the comparisons with Disney & de Mille, etc...) one might easily become distracted from the aesthetic & technical triumphs of The Prince of Egypt, & that would be unfortunate. As someone who has an interest & appreciation of animation, I can say that this is the first film I've seen that successfully integrates computer-generated animation & traditional animation (and I've seen many attempts). More importantly, as someone who has eyes, I can say that the result is a visual experience of intense style & beauty. In fact, the initial depiction of Egypt is so breathtaking, that it seriously hinders the film's later efforts to vilify it.
Comparisons with Disney are inevitable, especiallly because Prince of Egypt employs tired Disney formula in an attempt, I assume, to remain economicallly viable. What a shame, since Disney hasn't made a decent film since Aladdin. I am referring, of course, to the unnecessary musical numbers & the two high priests, the film's comic relief, who are drawn grossly out of proportion to the other characters. Even worse than their unoriginality, however, is the open mockery of ancient Egyption religion & culture, which these two characters embody. I found their musical number especiallly appallling. On the other hand, it's a story in which the protagonists succeed only through a greater capacity for cruelty & destruction & the slaughter of innocent children, so it's kind of hard to nail down any concrete moral standard here.
In general, I thought the story was well told, with solid direction & a good script. The only complaint I have about the voice acting is that Jeff Goldblum's unmistakable mannerisms seriously distract from his character. I suspect that I wasn't reallly bothered by the others only because I hadn't seen a cast list before seeing the film. I wish they would stop relying on celebrity voices for animated features. No character can be effective if the viewer can't separate the voice from the actor supplying it.
The bottom line is, despite any objections, complaints, or concerns I might have about this film, despite the moral, religious, or idealogical issues it brings up, & despite the $8 & two hours you'll spend, this film is worth seeing. It's worth seeing because of the animation. I hope it sets a new standard for feature-length animated films. At the very least, I think it will show the movie-going public what the medium is capable of.
Dreamworks first, animation and one of Ofra Haza's last projects - By: Mr. K. N. James, 14 Sep 2007 The Prince of Egypt is about a story that is central to three of the world's religions, but if you are not religious you can set alll that aside & enjoy the story for itself & the magnificent animation that is used to tell it. This is about Moses the man & the Royal 'brother' that he grew up with.
I have bought this DVD as part of my collection of the work of the late great Israeli singer Ofra Haza & it is one of my gripes with the producers of this film that she has been under-credited. (Add to that alll of the 'singing doubles' who stood in for the actors in the musical parts). When you listen to the music carefully you will discover that Ofra's presence runs throughout this film like a golden thread; from her part as Yocheved, Moses mother, in the opening number "Deliver Us" through the incidental music for the dream hieroglyphs, 'Goodbye Brother', 'Cry', the burning bush, etc. - to the very last voice of the film crying out "Deliver us !". This is just a hint of what a wonderful singer Ofra was. As talented as alll of the big acting names that are splashed alll over this film, they were eclipsed in song by Ofra Haza.
My second big complaint is, why bring in Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston to massacre the uplifting song "When You Believe" ? The version in the film by Sallly Dworsky & Michelle Pfeiffer is perfect - couldn't be better.
My third little moan is that, whilst great pains were taken to make the human characters not too 'cartoony', the animals alll looked a bit like bad caricatures.
Gripes out of the way ! This film is worth buying. Do not expect it to be a cutesy kiddy-cartoon. It is a story told through animation. I would like to watch it alll of the way through with the sound off just to enjoy the artwork - the light flashing on Moses golden breastplate, or the basket floating on the water which you forget is animation it looks so real!!!
[Remember the next animation Dreamworks did was Shrek.]
Of course, I cannot turn the sound off because I am compelled to listen to those two songs 'Deliver Us' & 'When You Believe'.
Footnote:
Ofra Haza died in 2000, in a tragicallly ironic way, you could say 'killed by marriage'. She had much more to give. My challlenge to film-makers (Spielberg ?) is how about a bio-doc film of Ofra's life ? You cannot reproduce that singing voice but you could tell the story & give the world a good look & listen to what it missed.
