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Joseph - King of Dreams

Joseph - King of Dreams

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: God who?
Review: I was very disappointed after watching this video. I loved Prince of Egypt and expected Joseph to be at least equally as on target. My question to the makers of this film is - how can you tell the story of Joseph without having God in it?!? God is only mentioned in one place in the whole movie - in a song where Joseph reflects on how he needs to trust that God has a plan for his life. Without God, the greater theme of Joseph's life is missing, making this a story with no point (it also makes it hard to understand why things happened the way they did). For me, Joseph: King of Dreams fell flat rather than being the uplifting classic it could have been (also partly due to the music being unquestionably inferior to the music in P. of E.). My advice: rent it rather than buy it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good sequel
Review: Maybe because it wasn't released in theaters first, this movie is a little more open about naming and referring to God than Prince of Egypt was, which is a plus. The animation is just as excellent as the original, and the songs are wonderful. "You Know Better" is simply splendid, and must have been written by a person of faith. The changes in the movie from the Bible are relatively minor (Rachel is alive when Joseph is sold; Reuben's efforts to save Joseph are ignored; Joseph does not rise to be in charge of the jail). The one thing I really didn't like was when his brothers asked forgiveness for selling him, Joseph replied by asking their forgiveness for thinking himself a "miracle child," instead of saying "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." However, that could be counted a minor point as well. Otherwise, quite true to the original story and very moving.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Joseph, King of Dreams. It's a sequel.
Review: I was really excited, after seeing "Prince of Egypt", when Dreamworks announced that it was making 2 sequels. What can I say about Joseph, except, it's a sequel. One thing that I enjoyed about P.O.E. was that it was a Biblical film where GOD wasn't ignored. It had wonderful special effects created miracles, and was an uplifting and spiritually centered picture. Then came Joseph...The miracle...Joseph was born to his mother, who was barren. And that WAS a miracle. It gets 3 minutes in a song "I am a miracle child"! That self-righteous diddy which made me want to sell the kid to the slave traders. Joseph isn't so much a Biblical epic, as a good movie of the week. I got tear-jerked in the middle of the film with a song about God's foreknowledge of His plans for his people. After that, not much.I hear the next Dreamworks, Old Testement combo will be about Noah and the Flood. Perhaps the mention of God and some miracles will be in the next Biblical epic.I'd say, see it, but if you are a person of faith, don't hope for too much. This one was made for the masses.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Quality Direct-to-Video Feature!
Review: Barring some scriptural inaccuracies (a disclaimer admits to the dramatic license taken), Joseph is a wonderful, inspiring version of the Biblical tale. The songs are decent for a video production, and some of them actually stand out quite well.

The majority of the story talks about Joseph's journey of faith and hope, and how he overcame hurdle after hurdle to properly share the gifts that God had given him.

A little light on the religious side, Joseph plays up the entertainment value of the story (as with most films). However, it never deviates from the fact that Joseph believes his ability to interpret dreams is a gift from God. Far too few films are willing to take this chance... Kudos to Dreamworks for a top notch production.

NOTE TO PARENTS: Though there is nothing outwardly objectionable, there is some serious subject matter that you may want to discuss with your children. :-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Met my expectations!
Review: This does an exceptionally well job of telling the story of Joseph. Ben Affleck did an very good job of protraying Joseph while Mark Hamill was a perfect Judah. I originally soght this out as to compare it to 1. The Bible story in Genisis and 2. Andrew Loyyd Weber's hit play Technicolored Dremcoat. While I prefer the music to the stage show, I felt 'King' did a better job of staying truer to the story. It fleshed out the Bible tale in believable ways and concentrated on the right characters. While the play made the brothers a group villain while giving three of them solos, 'King' goes more along with the Bible and makes Judah a key brother. This I liked as it gave you a central 'villain' to concentrate on. The coat of many colors in 'King' was along the very lines as I had pictured the coat in my mind while reading the story. If I could change anything about this version it would be this: Name all the brothers. In 'King' only Reuban, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Benjamin, and of course Judah, are named. Naphtali, Asher, Dan, Zebulon, and Gad are shown, but not mentioned or even specifically voiced. Surely it wouldn't have been too hard to give the remaining 5 brothers a face and a name would it? Also, I strongly feel that (as this is a musical) the brothers needed a song of their own. Their jealousy is obviously a major plot point in the story and a song could have expressed their veiws musically. I really feel this was a missed opportunity. Those two gripes however, aren't nearly enough to detract from this movie's sheer pleasure. I've watched it twice since buying it yesterday. For fans of 'Dreamcoat' who want the full story, fans of 'Prince of Egypt' readers of the Genisis story, or even someone who wants to watch a good movie with their family, I strongly urge you to buy (or at least see) this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good adult animated movie
Review: This movie isn't a "classic animation movie" like Bambi, but it is definitely a good adult-type animated movie. The songs are wonderful, although I can't find out how to get a soundtrack. I definitely would not suggest this movie to any young children, but young teens on up should get a lot out of this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The first successful direct to video animated sequel...
Review: Disney - learn something from Dreamworks. An excellent followup to "The Prince of Egypt". Ben Affleck is a standout.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An Outstanding Direct-To-Video Release
Review: DreamWorks first direct-to-video release is outstanding. Once again, a disclaimer is run in the beginning (just like in the "Prince of Egypt") that they took artistic license with the story but don't worry, all of the main story elements were kept. If you liked what DreamWorks did with the "Prince of Egypt", you can't go wrong here. Expect a film with the same animation style (with less computer generated animation) and feel as "Prince". The extra features on the DVD were also a nice plus. The "read-along" story supplement was the first one I've seen that actually incorporated parts of the animated movie with story "stills" and text. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Animation at it's best!
Review: This is a wonderful video to enjoy yourself or with the family. I love the story of Joseph so I just had to get this. The story is kept intact and at the same time offers new developments. The colors are rich and vibrant and keep your eyes glued to the screen. The songs are inspirational as well. Don't be turned off by thinking it will be too religious and preachy. Religion dosen't really come up at all, it's more of a musical fairy tale. So if you want a video to fill you and your kids with cheer, see this video, I know you'll enjoy it! By the way, Ben Affleck does the voice of Joseph and I was really impressed by his performance!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Enjoyable but not Inspirational
Review: Dreamworks' latest biblical film effort, "Joseph: King of Dreams," maintains the high visual quality of its 1999 "The Prince of Egypt" but falls short of that film's inspirational qualities and theological subtleties. The animation is outright stunning in places, and is consistently of movie-theater quality -- one wonders why this was not developed as a theatrical release. Perhaps it is because the script departs from the book of Genesis in significant ways -- more significant than viewers of the film's opening disclaimer would be led to believe, ways that dramatically alter the theological message of the story. What could have been a nuanced story is "flattened" to a simplistic moral lesson. I commend Dreamworks for a commitment to developing family-friendly entertainment based on biblical stories, but hope that they will devote more time and effort to making future projects reflect the richness and even ambiguity of their source material. "Dumbing down" the original stories does not serve viewers well, whether they are religious-minded or not.


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