The Prince of Egypt

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The Prince of Egypt
Promotional poster for The Prince of Egypt
Directed by	Brenda Chapman Steve Hickner Simon Wells
Produced by	Penney Finkelman Cox Sandra Rabins
Written by	Ronaldo Del Carmen Ken Harsha Carole Holliday Philip LaZebnik Anthony Leondis Nicholas Meyer Frank Tamura
Starring	Val Kilmer (Moses) (voice) Ralph Fiennes (Rameses) (voice) Michelle Pfeiffer (Zipporah) (voice) Sandra Bullock (Miriam) (voice) Jeff Goldblum (Aaron) (voice) Danny Glover (voice) Ofra Haza (Yocheved)
Music by	Stephen Schwartz (songs) Hans Zimmer (score)
Editing by	Nick Fletcher
Distributed by	DreamWorks Distribution LLC
Release date(s)	December 16, 1998
Running time	99 min.
Language	English/Hebrew
Budget	$60,000,000 (estimated)
Followed by	Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 Academy Award-winning American animated film, the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks. The story follows the life of Moses from his birth, through his childhood as a prince of Egypt and finally to his ultimate destiny to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, which is based on the Second Book of Moses, Exodus.

Directed by Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells and Steve Hickner, the film featured songs written by Stephen Schwartz and a score composed by Hans Zimmer. The voice cast featured a number of major Hollywood actors in the speaking roles, while professional singers replaced them for the songs. The exceptions, however, were Michelle Pfeiffer, Ralph Fiennes, Steve Martin, and Martin Short, who sang their own parts.

The film was nominated for best score and won for Best Original Song at the 1999 Academy Awards for "When You Believe". The pop version of the song was performed at the ceremonies by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. The song, co-written by Stephen Schwartz, Hans Zimmer and with additional production by Babyface, was also nominated for the Best Original Song (Motion Picture) at the 1999 Golden Globes, and was also nominated for Outstanding Performance of a Song for a Feature Film at the ALMA Awards. The movie went on the gross $218,613,188 world wide.

Taglines:

• Two brothers. United by friendship, divided by destiny.
• The power is real. The story is forever. The time is now.

[edit] Plot summary

At the beginning, Jochebed, seeing her fellow Hebrew mothers' baby sons being taken away from them, builds a basket for her own son and sets it afloat on the Nile to be taken care of by fate after singing her final lullaby to the baby. Her firstborn daughter, Miriam, follows the basket and witnesses her baby brother being taken in by the Queen of Egypt and named Moses.

The story cuts to presumably 18-20 years later (Biblically 40 years), as a grown Moses and his adoptive older brother, Rameses, race their chariots through the Egyptian temples, destroying many of them, and other statues. When being lectured by their father, Seti, later on for their misdeeds, Rameses is offended. Moses says all that Rameses wants is the approval of his father, but doesn't have the opportunity. Then Moses goes to cheer his brother up, making some joking yet ironic predictions ("Statues crumbling, the Nile drying up, you will singlehandedly bring the greatest kingdom on Earth to ruins!"). They then stumble in late to a banquet given by Seti, discovering that he has named Rameses as Prince Regent. In thanks, Rameses appoints Moses as Royal Chief Architect. As a tribute to Moses, the high priests Hotep and Huy offer a Midianite girl they kidnapped as a concubine for him, Zipporah. She eventually escapes, with Moses' help, and Moses is led to a small spot in Goshen where he is reunited with Miriam and Aaron, his siblings, and Miriam tells him the truth about his past. Moses at first is in denial, but a nightmare and talk with his adoptive parents make him realize the truth. Moses eventually kills an Egyptian guard, who was abusing an old slave, and runs away in despair.

Moses finds his way to Midian, where he saves Zipporah and her sisters from bandits. He is welcomed warmly by Zipporah's father, Jethro. Moses becomes a shepherd and marries Zipporah. Moses soon comes into contact with the famous burning bush while chasing a stray lamb and is instructed to free the slaves from Egypt. Zipporah returns with him to find the slaves in a worse condition than before. While being presented to the new king, he discovers that Rameses is now Pharoah with a wife and 5 year old son. Moses tells Rameses to let his people go, and he thinks it's a game. But after Moses tells him the truth, Rameses is hardened and orders the slave's work to be doubled.

Out in the workfield, Moses is struck down by Aaron. Moses, with Miriam's help, tells the Hebrews to believe that freedom will come. They confront Rameses on his boat, and Rameses orders his guards to bring Moses to him, but he turns the river into blood. After nine of the famous 10 plagues occur, leaving Egypt in ruins, Moses returns to Rameses to warn him about the final plague. After an almost tender moment between the ex-brothers, Moses is told never to come to Rameses again. Then Moses instructs the Hebrews in the famous Passover way (i.e. putting blood on the door, etc.). After the Angel of Death comes through, killing Rameses' own son and all the other firstborn sons of Egypt, Rameses reluctantly lets the Hebrews go.

The Hebrews find their way happily to the Red Sea, but turn around to find out Rameses has changed his mind and is pursuing them. Moses parts the Red Sea after a pillar of fire gives him time. The water then closes over the Egyptians, drowning them, and the Hebrews are freed. Rameses is the only survivor, and he is left yelling in disgrace, finally defeated. The last scene of the film shows Moses delivering the Ten Commandments to his people as Jochebed's voice echos in the background.

[edit] Voice cast

DVD cover for the film

[edit] Trivia

Moses and Zipporah.

• 3D animation was used in combination with 2D animation to assist in creating props such as the chariots in the chariot race and the basket that baby Moses is placed into before being sent along the river.
• Rameses and Moses originally had animal sidekicks - Moses had two dogs, and Rameses had an evil cat. Only the dogs remained in the final cut, and were very minor characters. They only appear in Moses' bedroom.
• The Maldives was the first of two Muslim countries to ban the film. The country's Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs stated, "all prophets and messengers of God are revered in Islam, and therefore cannot be portrayed".^[1] Following this ruling, the censor board banned the film in January 1999. In the same month, the Film Censorship Board in Malaysia banned the film, but did not provide a specific explanation. The board's secretary told the New Straits Times the censor body ruled the film was "insensitive for religious and moral reasons".^[2]
• The film is also banned in Egypt.^{[citation needed]}
• Director Brenda Chapman recorded a scratch audio track of the character Miriam singing a lullaby which was intended to be replaced later by a professional singer. The track turned out so well it remained in the film. It can be heard after Moses runs out of the palace to find Zipporah and comes across Miriam and Aaron.
• In the Bible, Moses kills an Egyptian guard, and buries his body. In this film, he accidentally shoves him and made him fall to his death.
• Ofra Haza sang the opening song "Deliver Us" in twenty-eight other languages besides her native Hebrew for all of the international versions of the film.

[edit] See also

• Joseph: King of Dreams
• Moses
• Ramesses II
• The Ten Commandments
• The Prince of Egypt (soundtracks) and "When You Believe"

[edit] Notes

1. ^ "There can be miracles", The Independent, January 24, 1999
2. ^ "Prince of Egypt distributor has 30 days to appeal", New Straits Times, January 28, 1999

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

The Prince of Egypt

• The Prince of Egypt at the Internet Movie Database
• Joseph: King of Dreams at the Internet Movie Database (prequel to The Prince of Egypt)
• The Prince of Egypt at All Movie Guide
• Joseph: King of Dreams at All Movie Guide (prequel to The Prince of Egypt)