My high school band class has been doing the soundtrack of the Lion King and while I could delve into that flick, it's about animals, and I like talking about costuming. Plus, as any Disney ren-, no just Disney animated films have S*****, S*****, HORRIBLE, F****** "costuming", I thought I would devote a post to that soon. Just not now. Because I haven't seen a lot of those flicks in a while. I'm only seventeen as of two days ago, so I can't drink my way into a stupor while watching Hercules, at least not legally yet.
So, I thought I would look at a film that is near and dear to my heart, The Prince of Egypt. And while, I'm not really a fan of DreamWorks animation, this one was done during the Disney Renaissance, and because those are my childhood, it gets a pass in my book.
So, the story revolves around the Passover story, aka the exodus from Egypt, Ten Commandments etc. but, it takes a much more personal, psychological look at the whole thing.
And get ready for this,
ITS A MUSICAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's right folks, there is singing and dancing in this flick, and it is awesome. Really.
So, as the story goes, Moses and the Pharoh Ramses are foster brothers (they don't know this until Moses figures out who he really is, like you do)
And I must say, I love the art style of this movie. It takes a lot of really basic cartooning concepts like characters with round faces are more "friendly" to the viewer and characters with angular faces come off as antagonistic i.e.
Moses on the left still identifies as Egyptian and is drawn with a distinctly Egyptian aesthetic. His long lost sister Miriam on the right is a "Hebrew" with a much more natural drawing style. It just really works, and to the film's credit, the integration of CGI looks natural. Something like Atlantis, which is a film that I also really love, does the CGI in a way that feels forced. Ironic since these flicks came out only 2 years apart.
I gotta say, I adore the musical numbers because they don't feel out of place. The opening scene starts with "Deliver Us" as a group number to establish the political and social climate of Egypt. The lullaby that Moses' mother sings to him before sending him down river is very realistic, and the animation reflects it well.
For those who watch Nostalgia Critic reviews, I would like to bring attention to the movie Rover Dangerfield.
Prince of Egypt delves into previously unmentioned or unexplored areas of the story and gives moses a lot more growth in terms of his character. He simply isn't just MOSES, he is someone who learns to grow into a role he otherwise never would have dreamed of having.
My main criticism is that the film clocks in at an hour and a half, and like Atlantis, I shall quote the Nostalgia Chick,
"If you want to make an epic, make an epic".
To me, Prince of Egypt is a bit short, and they cut down Moses' time in the desert as well as the 10 plagues to only a few minutes each. I feel like a bit more time could have been spent, but oh well, what can you do.
Word of advice: don't show this to your six year old. Any stupid parent who looks at this movie in the (gasp) five dollar bin and thinks it is a good idea for your children to watch it is wrong. It is so nuanced and mature in it's subject matter that it really is not meant for anyone younger than 10 or 11. Granted, my parents let me see Rome when I was 12 years old, so I'm a little biased.
I will confess that I did have a phase where I thought I'd get back into 90's animated films, and lets just say that this, Atlantis, The Lion King Movies, and Cinderella 3 were the only things worth bringing within 100 feet of me. I'm not saying they're all good, but they're not all bad either. I still hold in pretty high regard the stuff that Disney himself was involved in, so go figure.
Next time: Quest For Camelot (Why the F*** am I even wasting brain cells on this piece of S***)
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