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The Prince of Egypt - DTS

The Prince of Egypt - DTS

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

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Riveting, and very emotional...a real gem!!!!
Review: A rather complex bible story (there is nothing "linear" about the life and work of Moses) made simple, stunning and very emotional. This movie is a rhapsody of visual delights and beautiful music. It is a treat for all your senses!

No doubt this will be a classic.

Highly recommended.

Cris

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great animated film.
Review: Animation took a big step forward on December 18, 1998, when "The Prince of Egypt" was released in theaters. It is simply the best american animation you'll see. The special effects are great, the story was well-written (though incredibly unaccurate, more on that later...), the music was Oscar worthy.

The story - The Prince of Egypt was very inaccurate in some respects, but this was mostly due for the sake of children (though this isn't a kid's movie in the Disney sense). The message of the story, the struggle of Moses to get his people out of Egypt, the grandeur of God (great depiction of God, those were the best scenes)...that's what counts. You can forgive historical inaccuracy in this one, specially since even in the Bible there are some obscure facts about what happened. Basically, the story has Moses surviving the Pharaohs massacre of hebrew male children (the hebrew population was more than twice the egyptian population, this was pharaoh's version of population control, since he feared the hebrew would end up overtaking the empire). Moses ends up on the Palace, the pharaoh's wife (I'm not sure about this, but I think the Bible said it was the daughter, not wife) takes him and raises him as his own. So, Moses never knew he was a hebrew, grew up loving his brother Rameses, who would wind up being his enemy. The story focuses on the love of these two "brothers" (another inaccuracy, but enough of that) and how both end up on different sides due to their respective responsabilities.

The music - Zimmer should've won an Oscar for his score. The music is perfect, specially "The Burning Bush".

The DVD - it has great extras. Good "making of" featurette; great "When you believe" video, where you can listen to all the language versions of the movie, the transition from one language to another being perfect; "focus on technical effects", which is interesting; "chariot race", a look at how this scenes came up; the two trailers; very good commentary by directors Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, and Steve Hickner; cast and crew bios; photo stills and sketches; 2000 preview of "The Road to El Dorado", and "Chicken Run"; production notes. Great buy overall.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Acuracy
Review: I watch this and thought that it was pretty good. If anyone wishes to buy this as a bible lesson to teach kids, don't buy it. It is absolutely not acurate. All it is entertaining. After I've watch it, it made me thought of "that stupid Egyptians! They have no compassion at all. After the jews saved their life and they put them into slavery."

I belive that any filming industry who wishes to do a bilble story should do it exactly as the scriptual says and not try to edit the stories for the benifit of actracting people to see it. It is wrong to do this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: God loves His people
Review: The first time I saw POE, I was critical of the fact that Moses didn't age in the movie and that he was Pharoh's son and not grandson according to the Biblical account. The second time I saw it, however, I opened my heart to what the movie could teach me. In doing so, I became aware of something that really tugged at my heart and soul. When Moses learned his true heritage and what 'the man I once called Father' had done to his people, it was hard for him to leave his brother and his home. For the first time I was made aware of how hard it must have been for Moses to return to the palace and carry out the task God gave him to do. Not just telling Pharoh what God had said, but later seeing Pharoh grieving from the loss of his son due to the plaque and the Egyptian army die in the Red Sea. Tears filled my eyes when Moses stood by the Red Sea afterwards and bid farewell to his brother. When this film came out on VHS, I quickly bought it. After we obtained our DVD player, this became one of the first movies I purchased. The special additions on the DVD about the making of the movie adds even greater value. Everyone needs a copy of this movie in their collection - DVD or VHS - maybe even both.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very captivating
Review: I really like this movie...It doesn't follow the Biblical account completely, but it's not terribly far off. The songs are beautiful, the animation is very good and it's a captivating movie. The behind the scenes are good on the DVD, too, very interesting about the story boards and people who did the voices.

One of my favorite parts in the movie is the hyroglyphics with Moses "running" across the wall. That was really amazing the way it was done and it's fun to watch! It would have been neat to see this movie on the big screen!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great film, great DVD
Review: I love this movie. It's the story of Moses from the Bible. It's a cartoon. It's a musical. It's just all-around goodness.

And the DVD has some good features, as well. I found it particularly intersting to watch it with the commentary track and hear the production thoughts about creating the visuals and different animation techniques. It was also neat to see how they produced the film for world-wide distribution in so many different languages.

It's the kind of movie that's hard to get tired of.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing!
Review: The Prince of Egypt is one of my all-time favourite movies. I could go on and on describing the things I like about it, such as the breathtaking animation (see the Parting of the Red Sea) and music (the poignant Last Lullaby or the joyful chorus sung by the Hebrew children as they leave Egypt). What really made this movie special was the characterization - the fact that Moses and Rameses were shown as people with real emotions and motives rather than just flat "historical figures." I really felt for Moses throughout the movie - for instance, in the scene where he meets his sister and she tells him who he really is. There he is, feeling secure about his identity, sure that he is the Prince of Egypt, and all of a sudden he is told that he really is the son of a Hebrew slave. His whole world falls apart. There are many such emotion-filled moments in the movie, and, overall, it is a wonderful retelling of a story from the greatest Book of all time. If only they made more movies like this...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: puts a whole new spin on the age old biblical story
Review: this movie was wonderful. it stars some of the top actors and actresses of today like jeff goldblum, sandra bullock, val kilmer, and ralph fiennes. this is one of the best movies i've seen, not just because of the breathtaking animation and the captivating music that is heard throughout the movie, but because of the relationship it portrays between moses and ramses. in the bible, moses and ramses are seen as enemies, but in this movie, it shows ramses' caring side, because he hates to have to fight and have his brother as his enemy. not some hebrew, his brother. i definitely recommend this movie, it's a true classic and will be enjoyed for time to come.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Now THIS is how you handle films about religion! Bravo!
Review: In addition to being a beautifully made film, "The Prince of Egypt" stands as an excellent example of how to make religious subject matter entertaining without being preachy. It's also very much an adult film, and that's OK by me; it's about time us adults had a animated film we didn't have to suffer through.

This film bucks the trend of frankly religious films ("The Omega Code," "Left Behind," etc.) that are little more than shills for a narrow religious viewpoint; indeed, "The Prince of Egypt" should be quite an experience for a viewer of ANY faith, even if it interprets the Old Testament a little loosely (which, to the producers' credit, is explained before the opening credits).

The main strength of "The Prince of Egypt" should be evident to anyone who watches the first two minutes of it: the animation is absolutely exquisite, and has marvelous depth. The film stands right up in this respect with any of Disney's best, which is no surprise; the film's producer, Jeffrey Katzenberg, is credited with prodding Disney to make classics like "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid."

"The Prince of Egypt" also scores with a nuanced, beautifully layered plot that goes way beyond the typical kiddie-animation level (and makes it an iffy kiddie film - a tradeoff I support), excellent songs from Stephen Schwartz, and some of the strongest voicing I've ever seen in an animated film.

One of the great delights of this film is the relationship between Moses (Val Kilmer) and his would-be brother Ramsses (Ralph Fiennes). It would have been easy to make both characters little more than caricatures of good and evil, but instead we get inside their close, loving relationship and see each man's motivations; for Moses, it's guilt over his adopted family's treatment of Jews, while Ramsses acts out of a strong, if misguided, sense of duty to his country. Each man does what he must, even if it means breaking each other's heart, and in the end, that's exactly what happens.

That the inevitable climax is played more for tragedy than an easy "I'm right, you're wrong" payoff, in my opinion, evidence of a serious dramatic intelligence and an abiding faith in the intelligence of the viewer. No animated film I've seen even begins to approach this level of nuance and complexity.

Of course, it's this complexity that makes "The Prince of Egypt" a poor entertainment for young kids; it's not overly violent, and has no inappropriate sexual content or language, but without talking animals and cutesy songs, this film simply won't appeal much to the kiddies for more than 10 minutes at a time.

Personally, I think some of these themes are a bit too heavy for a child under eight or so (try explaining why God killed Pharoah's little boy to your four-year-old, as I had to, and you'll understand); in the end, it's up to you.

Overall, though, "The Prince of Egypt" is a real treasure of a film, and for those of us who believe in its story, it's a wonderful affirmation of the cornerstone of our faith. That "The Prince of Egypt" can do that without being preachy or self-righteous makes it that much better a film.

Bravo!

A word about the DVD features: DreamWorks really did a nice job on the extras for this one. The navigation is exceptionally well done, the picture and sound quality are flawless, and there are plenty of extra features to justify spending more on a DVD.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Undone by its amibitions
Review: Grand and epic adaptation of the story of Moses, courtesy of the DreamWorks animation division, starts well with many of the set-piece elements of the biblical story (the baby in the basket, etc.), but slowly turns didactic and dull. Incredible visual imagination is at work here -- the parting of the Red Sea far outdoes the live-action "Ten Commandments" -- but it's at the service of a story which takes such heavy liberties with its source material that it becomes unwatchable. Also, there's the added problem of the movie using a somewhat stacked deck of one kind of "pagan magic" vs. another -- instead of seeming divine and disturbing, as it did in "Commandments", it simply seems petty. The movie also suffers from an unmemorable musical score (best moment is the tongue-in-cheek "Playing With The Big Boys Now", but that's about it). A shame, since there's so much good work here in the service of a mediocre story.


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