Even within the cramped perspective of 1999, The Prince of Egypt is one of the best films of 1998, animated or not. It has inspired elaborate praise from many critics and moviegoers - which is fitting since Prince of Egypt is based on the Book of Exodus, itself one of the most inspirational books of the Old Testament.
The look of the film is amazing, especially during the opening sequences. The angular character design, the virtuostic camera work, and the interweaving of computer and cel animation are enough to make the jaw drop in admiration. The voice talent is equally good - Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Patrick Stewart all turn in true performances, and not merely one-dimensional caricatures. The Prince of Egypt proves that A-list Hollywood talent can turn in top quality voiceovers without drawing attention away from the characters they are voicing.
What is perhaps most striking about the film is not the graphic style nor the impressive voice talent. The masterful way the story unfolds, the way each line of dialogue has been streamlined to its essence, the literary-quality foreshadowing of future events - all of these testify to the magnificent way the film's directors have created their movie. There is nothing transitional in the way the film looks or feels. Watching Prince of Egypt, one cannot believe that a tradition of serious, animated epics does not exist in America. And, yet, Prince of Egypt is the first of its type.
At the heart of Prince of Egypt is the relationship between Moses and Rameses. The two men were raised as brothers, but find themselves pitted against one another in adulthood. Conflicting emotions abound here, as the two search for reconciliation in the face of the inevitable consequences of choosing different paths to follow. Again, the depth one senses in this humanized version of the Biblical story is quite distinct from anything in any recent American animated film. There are no easy answers, and although Moses delivers the Hebrews from slavery, can any story in which two brothers can no longer speak to each other have a truly happy ending?
Prince of Egypt is a deep movie, a serious story, and the first mainstream animation film not to pander to a children's audience. (Every Disney movie has its cute animal sidekicks and even the psychedelic Yellow Submarine was a merchandising goldmine.) It picks up the torch that was dropped by Fantasia in 1940 and provides us with a form of storytelling we never imagined. Not only is the film an artistic triumph; it is may be a turning point of animation history.
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