The Prince of Egypt [DVD]

Such a great movie with a great message and epic soundtrack. Great for kids and adults.

It was interesting picking up an early DreamWorks animated feature and to have it surprise and delight in their take on the story of Moses from the Old Testament. In 1998 they decided to put together an animated feature that would combine a majority of animators and a minimum of CGI. The result was quite good. We are all familiar with the story of Moses but the way these creators wrote the tale was different than I'd seen say on The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston. No, we have two brothers who grow up and love each other. Moses is the practical joker and Ramses, destined for greatness as the Pharaoh, is teased and can't seem to take a joke. The story depicted here does make changes from the Bible, as the film itself states at the beginning. The story as given is a more human approach that I think children and families would better understand. This is not your daddy's Bible class! In the background are the Hebrew slaves. When Hebrew children are being slaughtered, or the Hebrews are being squashed down, the usual Egyptian response was "They're just slaves." This nonchalant, superior attitude was throughout the film. Moses' doubt that he would even be chosen as a prophet was interesting. His anguish that the first born sons of Egypt would be slain and his lament that no matter what, he still considered Ramses his brother was touching. The movie was not heavy-handed in a religious way. You could see the DreamWorks guys having fun with the parting of the Red Sea, the mysterious force that represented the Angel of Death and the sweeping desert vistas. Great artwork! Voice actors included Sandra Bullock, Patrick Stewart, Steve Martin, Val Kilmer and Jeff Goldblum among many others. They did a great job here in vocal expression and tone that was believable and at times dark. The "Making Of" feature on the DVD was fun to watch. The artwork including sketches and production stills was bold and beautiful. The art direction and discussion of computer techniques which may have been cool in 1998 are pretty much routine in today's CGI world. However, to listen to them you get excited about the animation yourself. Finally, The Prince of Egypt is a musical. Lots of songs and music that give an overall theme of redemption and freedom. Does the bright thread know that it is part of a tapestry? No, it cannot see the tapestry but should take on its view. Heavy stuff, man! Music composed by Hans Zimmer and friends and songs and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz really made the movie what it was. Quite a miracle of animation, a serious story, and if there was a fault, some of the characters were a bit too "Disney-esque" but that makes it a family film so it's all good. Academy Award winner for Best Original Song 1998 "When You Believe." Favorite scenes for me were the pillar of fire and the Red Sea split, the chariot race, knocking off the nose of the Sphinx, and moving heiroglyphs on the walls during the "dream sequence." Excellent animation. Recommended. What's the DVD made of?: Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Letterbox - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Additional Release Material: Making Of Music Video: "When You Believe" Audio Commentary: Brenda Chapman - Director, Steve Hickner - Director, Simon Wells - Director Documentary: Chariot Race - Basics of Animation Trailers: 1. Original Theatrical Trailer 2. TV Spots/Previews Text/Photo Galleries: Production Notes Biographies: Cast & Crew Stills/Photos: PRINCE OF EGYPT Art Gallery Other DreamWorks fun: Prince of Egypt: Dreamworks Classics Collection Miriam's Gift: The Prince of Egypt Book and Keepsake

One of my favorite movies from childhood. Historically, it's got the wrong pharoah, but the musical and animations are amazing.

This movie is a classic masterpiece and a must see for anyone who loves Christian movies or has already seen it. I have both movies on regular format and this one of 4K UHD. The 4K UHD upgrade is a love letter to all the fans and viewers of the original. The colors really pop out, the details are made clear, the music is louder and more detailed in sound, and just like that a 20 year old movie looks modern again! This movie looks and sounds great! But I personally wouldn’t recommend watching it unless you have a soundbar. The music is the butter while the story is the bread. The music is truly phenomenal and emotional to hear while watching the movie. I felt like the music was a little lower and didn’t have enough of that “oomph” that really delivers the overall emotion of the movie while watching it on my OLED TV using the TV speakers. It’s like the audio for the voices were competing with the music during the movie and the voices won. The music just didn’t sound as loud and clear as the voices whenever they came on. They sounded like they were different in terms of one was lower than the other. So I watched it again, but with a soundbar and it sounded much better and much more theatrical and had that impact that I remembered feeling in theaters when seeing it for the first time! Whether you have a sound system at home for your TV or not, this movie is a great masterpiece and it is made whole again for a triumphant return in 4K UHD. If you love this movie or haven’t seen it, (and have a 4K DVD player) take my word for it. Buy it!

Great film.

Great movie

Great music, moving story. It is by accurate by biblical standards, but still a great watch and it keeps the essence of the story.

Great story, great movie. I liked it when it first came out as a kid and now I enjoy watching it with my kids! The music is fantastic and the story line is easy to follow. Good for kids ages 3+ and a good family film!

La película llegó a tiempo y en buen estado. La película es muy buena, con una fantástica animación que en 4k luce más, viene hablada al español latino y con subtítulos en español.

The story is amazing, the soundtrack is incredible and full of emotions. This is a movie that can be enjoyed be everyone, you don't need to be religious to love this movie.

Reçu y hier merci beaucoup je l'attendez depuis des années je n'arrivez pas a le trouver il fait partie de mes dvd blue-ray collection

A high-quality true UHD HDR disc.

Whether you follow any specific religion/faith or not, I find it difficult to see how anyone could say that this isn't an amazing story. Take away the religious content, you're still left with a very passionate story about oppression, discovering who you truly are, giving a voice to those who would otherwise remain silent and finding the strength to face a difficult situation and do what is right. The general story is one that has popped up in various places, but DreamWorks just made a production of the traditional story found in the Bible. Speaking as someone who lives on a wish rather than a prayer and stacks her copy of the Bible and the Tanakh on the same shelf as Grimm, Anderson, Kipling and Aesop, I didn't find The Prince of Egypt at all bias or preachy. There obviously had to be references to faith and God, but there was nothing that suggested all audience members should believe in a specific entity or that anyone followed the 'wrong' faith. Instead of presenting religious conflict, it was moral conflict - i.e. leading slaves to freedom. It is rated 'U' but, in my opinion, it really stretches the limits. The plague scene in particular is quite graphic and the beginning scene where you see how badly the slaves are being treated and the killing of the babies is really quite heart-wrenching - something the written texts never quite capture. While a fair amount of artistic licence has been taken, the actual events from Moses being cast adrift in the river to his leading the Hebrews to their own land are accurate enough to tell the story. The characters were all brought beautifully to life with qualities and flaws, emotions and feelings and, being able to relate with them was quite surprising, but very well done. While in the text, there is no close brotherly relationship between Moses and Ramesses (I don't think Ramesses is even the Pharaoh mentioned in the texts - I could be wrong) it brought a new level of emotional turmoil to the story. The fact that they had a connection made the plagues and the last few scenes all the more devastating. Unless you are a very very devout follower (which is fine - I understand that) I wouldn't think the use of artistic licence would be enough to cause offence. As far as animation goes, I was a bit dubious. Having previously watched Sinbad (which I gave up on) and El Dorado, which I enjoyed but is rather badly animated in some ways, I was very surprised by the quality presented in this. The details of the scenery and, even the 'extra' characters is almost breath-taking. From the colours and tones used in the images to the attention paid to the slightest breeze (the first river-scene with Jochebed for example) and the way Moses keeps shrugging his too-big robe onto his shoulder is fairly astounding. I'm not sure it would kick Disney off the scale, but it definitely sets a strong precedent for DreamWorks. My favourite sequence is 'Through Heaven's Eyes' where we see the time Moses spends in Midian and truly begins to embrace who he is and finds contentment as a shepherd and a husband to Tsippora. The entire sequence is probably five minutes long - there are no long-drawn out romance scenes or big life-lessons thrown at you, but the sentiments are there. The soundtrack is what, for me, throws this entire production onto a completely different level. Not only do the songs move things along quickly, but clearly (as mentioned about in 'Through Heavens Eyes') but the musical pieces range from sinister to soft to cheerful and rousing. The music that supported the plagues sequence was almost frightening while the River Lullaby was the heart-breaking lines amongst a very angry and desperate musical piece (Deliver Us) At the minute, this has been placed near the top of my list of favourite animated films purely for every element that creates it - from the story and the characters, to the music and scenery. In my opinion, there is no really weak element - even the priests who were maybe there for comic relief weren't out of place. A definite recommendation.