La Ron S. Readus
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The Prince of Egypt (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-04-10 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
Today on Film Friday, I take a look at Dreamworks Animation’s classic, “The Prince of Egypt.” Let’s begin
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/The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 animated musical from Dreamworks Pictures, and the second movie to be released by Dreamworks Animation upo the formation of the studio. It tells the biblical story of Moses; the son of a Hebrew slave who was raised as a prince of Egypt alongside Rameses, and would later come into conflict with him upon embracing his destiny as the one who would deliver the Hebrews from their enslavement./
Readers, I think it’s safe to say that the overall story of Moses is a very important one; religious upbringing or not. We in the geek community who appreciate comics and superheroes for instance owe the very foundation of the fandom to it, because it inspired so many characters we know and love today.
The story of Moses serves as the foundation for the origin of DC Comics’ Superman...until he became Jesus.
And the story of Moses serves as the foundation for the origin of Warcraft’s Thrall...until HE became Jesus.
But even before I became old enough to piece that together, the story of Moses in the bible back in the days I called myself a Christian was always my favorite.
And that mostly has a lot to do with the fact that there was always a sense of wonder behind it to hold my interest, and it felt like...the most complete and easily digestible story out of all the ones I read?
Like yes; one could say the same thing about the Creation story and Noah’s arc. But childhood La’Ron was all like “I like Moses because Moses is a superhero!”
Also -- ironically enough -- the story of Moses was what initially sparked my interest in ancient Egypt, ancient Egyptian culture, and the complex Rubik’s cube that is Egyptian mythology
No, seriously; understanding the ENTIRETY of Egyptian mythology is pretty much the equivalent of keeping track of having extensive knowledge of EVERY arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, while also keeping track of what sets are currently playable in Magic The Gathering; it’s a mess.
A mess that I LOVE, but it’s a mess
Oh, you want an example? There were two different sects of Egyptians that had their own king of the gods and each had their own pantheon; basically the Egyptian equivalent of Zeus or Odin. Those two gods were Amun and Ra. So in order to unite Egypt, they just fused the two together, and that’s why we have Amun-Ra
Like I said; Egyptian Mythology is a mess. I LOVE IT, but she’s a mess
Now for a lot of people -- me included -- the initial introduction to Moses on film and television came in the form of Cecil DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” starring Charleton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Rameses. And for the longest, that depiction of him was the MAIN depiction of him.
Give or take a few productions that didn’t really get as much traffic back in the day, how DeMille had Moses depicted in his epic was the golden standard for the figure. Especially since it gained the ability to be played on national television almost annually over any other depiction of the Exodus since then.
Then Dreamworks Pictures happened because a couple of Ex-Disney execs wanted revenge against the mouse, and pretty much changed the game with an animated musical adaptation of the story that completely altered how I looked and interpreted the story all for the better.
/In design, in representation, in characterization and in music. The Prince of Egypt is honestly one of the top five films to come out of not just Dreamworks Animation, but Dreamworks Pictures period./
Le-Gasp! La’Ron doing a Film Friday on a movie he actually ENJOYS? What ARE the ODDS?
Listen, I’m entitled to talk about movies I like in this segment; they can’t ALL range from “meh” to “trash”
Every now and then, I’m allowed to give myself a good movie. As a treat.
/And man, what a treat Prince of Egypt is. The animation is smooth. The background designs are grand. The 3D models they utilize to populate the background tend to blend in with the rest of the movie to the point where you REALLY have to pay attention to what’s happening to notice it’s a 3D model; everything worked so well together on the side of animation and artistry./
And I don’t make that last point likely, Readers; I honestly didn’t notice the 3D renders of background characters in Prince of Egypt until I rewatched it for this video.
Now compare that with my all-time favorite Disney animated musical, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I went to see both of these movies in theaters when they came out.
When I went to see Notre Dame in 1996 at 7 years old, I was able to immediately notice all of the 3D renders in the background. The Prince of Egypt came out 2 years later, and after countless rewatches, it took me over 20 years to notice them. That says a LOT.
There’s also the fact that, while DeMille’s Ten Commandments was as epic as it was -- different time aside -- one of its flaws was that there were just...SO MANY white Egyptians.
Like Vincent Price was the Egyptian that Moses killed in the Ten Commandments. Vincent Price...played an EGYPTIAN!
Yes, I understand that black and brown faces were limited in Hollywood in the mid 50’s. But I’d be lying if I said that seeing all-white faces in a story that’s supposed to feature various shades of brown didn’t leave an impact on me watching the movie as a kid.
Because once I started watching other movies featuring Egyptians and other dark-skinned individuals from North Africa and folks of proper Middle-Eastern heritages -- ancient or otherwise -- things started to not quite sit right with me.
/And as much as I respect him as a director, it’s something that even to this day I’m never going to let Ridley Scott live down when he directed his own live-action adaptation of the Moses story, Exodus: Gods and Kings. I was absolutely disappointed in not only his decision to cast white leads in the movie, but blaming the fact that he wouldn't have gotten the proper funding to make the movie if he didn’t when he was confronted about it. Especially when Kingdom of Heaven -- one of the best movies he has ever made 9 years prior -- was able to rake in a profit of over 70 million dollars with plenty of Middle-Eastern faces on a budget 5 million less than Exodus./
(Footage of Exodus: Gods and Kings, Ridley Scott Quote, “I did not give the cup to you” scene from Kingdom of Heaven)
So as a 10 year old boy watching the Prince of Egypt in theaters for the first time, seeing everyone be the color that they’re supposed to be meant the WORLD to me, even if they were animated.
/Seeing Moses’ Hebrew lineage properly reflected in his hair and facial features as he got older, seeing the physical traits that separated Hebrews and Egyptians yet not done in a way that would cause them to be depicted as racist caricatures was amazing. You could tell that the animators and the character designers really cared about getting the depiction of every group of people that would be represented on screen in this story as correct and accurate as possible./
The only thing that would’ve made this perfect is if the voice talent matched the depictions. But for who they got, they did a good job
Two great examples of this is Patrick Stewart as King Seti and Ralph Fiennes as Rameses.
/Despite both of them not being Egyptian, their voices worked for the characters they were portraying. If you didn’t know who either of these two actors were for whatever reason that may be, you would’ve had a pretty hard time trying to disassociate those voices from the characters they belonged to, because they just fit so well/
Hell, I still have to confirm that it was Sandra Bullock voicing Moses’ sister in this movie whenever I watch it. The voice casting in this movie is just phenomenal. The only reason why I knew off the bat that Val Kilmer voiced Moses watching this for the first time was because Batman Forever RUINED me...FOREVER.
And speaking of Moses... C-Can, can I... Can I just explain why I was INCREDIBLY impressed with this depiction of the character??
/In DeMille’s movie, there was never any doubt or hesitation in Charleton Heston’s Moses after he decided to go back to Egypt to free the Hebrews. He showed no remorse for anyone but his own people. He never allowed himself to get swept up or tempted in things and people he once indulged in. He was strictly about freeing Hebrews and freeing Hebrew accessories; a sudden character jump that can only be compared to the montage that took place in Superman 78 when teenage Clark Kent became adult Superman in the Fortress of Solitude./
So when I saw The Prince of Egypt for the first time, I was absolutely shocked at how Moses was handled in comparison to Ten Commandments and the book of Exodus, to the point where I didn’t even know it could be done.
/This was the first time I’ve seen Moses fragile. This was the first time I’ve seen Moses exposed. Hell; this was the first time I’ve seen Moses CRY. This was the first time I’ve seen Moses in such a state of humanity that my very perception of the character and figure completely changed for me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that Moses cared about the actual innocent Egyptians that had to endure the plagues because of Rameses’ stubbornness, because I never saw him depicted in that way in either my readings of Exodus or the film that has been the go-to adaptation of the story in America since 1956. Prince of Egypt was honestly the movie that showed me that there is no one set way of telling a story, even if that story is in the Bible./
It was almost like, as a comic book reader, finally realizing the difference between superheroes in the Marvel universe and superheroes in the DC universe.
/On the DC side you have the ideology and the perfection of a character; them at the golden standard representing the very core and essence of what their proverb is that you constantly look up to. Then on the Marvel side, while they still have a proverb to follow and a code you admire when you see it play out, you’re reminded that despite who and what they are, they’re just as flawed, scared, and anxious as you are, despite what their grand calling is. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing./
So much so, that every big-budget retelling of the Exodus from then onward rolled with that depiction of Moses; the next one after Prince of Egypt being Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings which starred Christian Bale as Moses.
Like I stated before; not necessarily my favorite telling of the Moses story because of reasons.
/But you could clearly tell Bale’s Moses felt a certain type of way when God told him He was gonna kill a bunch of potentially innocent Egyptians to get Rameses to let the Hebrews go./
And honestly, the same could be said of Rameses.
Don’t get me wrong; Yul Brynner BROUGHT it as Rameses back in the day.
/His depiction definitely worked for the angle of the Exodus story DeMille was going for; a cold and ruthless ruler with a profile to prove it, was motivated by jealousy and envy, and despite being Russian-American, was one of the only ones cast as an Egyptian that looked the part./
So when I first saw the way Rameses was depicted in The Prince of Egypt, I was immediately jarred.
I was so used to seeing Rameses depicted in one specific way that it never occurred to me that there was a possibility he and Moses had a healthy relationship once upon a time.
/There was no jealousy and animosity built up against Moses over time, it was respect, appreciation and genuine love. He didn’t use the fact that Moses killed an Egyptian to his advantage to get him banished, he wanted to help get his name cleared. He didn’t harden his heart during Moses’ return to Egypt to prove that he was better or because a woman convinced him to do it, he hardened his heart because he wanted his brother back./
Now that I’m older, I appreciate this dynamic between Moses and Rameses SO much more than the DeMille one.
/Because not only can you see just how much it pains Moses to do what God is forcing him to do to the only family he’s ever known, but you can even see Rameses’ own heartbreak over the course of the film as it happens.
My only brother -- who has gotten me out of thick and thin and that I’ve loved and cherished my whole life -- is now representing a god I have never heard of in order to bring the destruction of the only life he has ever known if I don’t give in to said god’s demands? Why would he allow himself to become such a harbinger? I thought he loved me?
/It’s that dynamic that The Prince of Egypt brings that The Ten Commandments doesn’t that makes the conflict between Moses and Rameses all the more potent to me. And the fact that you can feel it from the screen the moment Moses returns to Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea shows not only how genuine it is, but how much work was put in over the course of the first half of the movie to make it believable and pay off in dividends because of it./
But you can REALLY feel that tension and the conflict between the two during the musical number “The Plagues,” which -- speaking of -- is just (thumbs up)
It’s one of my favorite numbers from this movie for multiple reasons. When you’re classically trained in music, you can just HEAR when something is supposed to represent the wrath of God.
/The piece -- like the plagues themselves -- starts off soft yet menacing. Then it grows, and grows, and grows until the inevitable impact just leaves you chilled to the bone, covered in goosebumps. This is supposed to be God, and because it even overpowers Moses’ lament he expresses in the form of the brilliant reprise of “All I Ever Wanted,” you BELIEVE it./
Deliver Us is another one of my favorites when it comes to musical numbers in this movie, because -- in my opinion -- it did to this movie what Circle of Life did to The Lion King.
/It expresses every feeling, every emotion, every curve and bump in the road that is this telling of Moses’ story you’re going to experience, in a way that doesn’t spoil it for you, but makes you anticipate the journey that was ahead of you./
And just like the Circle of Life, it’s so good that it’s embedded in you.
Whenever you’re reminded of The Prince of Egypt, your first thought is either the chorus for Deliver Us, or The Last Lullaby.
/The fact that Deliver Us has that much power behind it, honestly says everything that needs to be said about it./
Readers, I promise you that if you haven’t watched this movie yet you are doing yourself a grave disservice. Because The Prince of Egypt is awesome.
You don’t have to be a believer in God to appreciate the artistry
The proper visual depiction of the many ethnicities that are usually present in this story
The deconstruction of the usual tropes associated with Moses and Rameses in order to present more of a relatable and grounded dynamic between the two
Or how the music plays just as important of a role in the overall film.
The Prince of Egypt has so much love, care, respect and research behind it, that I believe it truly deserves a place amongst the classic 2D animated musicals that came before it; Disney-crafted or otherwise.
/This -- along with The Road to El Dorado -- is the movie that convinced me that Dreamworks Animation is a force to be reckoned with, and WILL be for years to come. So let it be written, so let it be done./
Right now you can stream The Prince of Egypt with a Hulu subscription, and you can rent or own it digitally on YouTube, Google Play, ITunes, Vudu and Amazon Prime.
But if you want to purchase it AND help out the channel, you can click the link in the description down below
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So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day. Write in the comment section what you thought of The Prince of Egypt if you’ve seen it.
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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.
