The Prince of Egypt/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternate Character Interpretation: From the source. Ramses in Ten Commandments is more villainous and doesn't care for Moses. In this version, Ramses is raised as being Moses's brother, and acts much more... brotherly to Moses, even hugging him after he went missing.
    • God. Since this is a biblical adaptation that does not shy away from showing the brutality of His wrath, debates on whether He's a monster engaging in Disproportionate Retribution or a savior forced into the role of committing acts of Necessary Evil rage on to this day. The movie itself also gets in on this by portraying the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as Ramses consciously doing so in the face of God's presence as opposed to God hardening it for him, which is in reference to a line from the Book of Exodus that has attracted a lot of debate over how it should be interpreted.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: As a musical, the film contains many songs of both emotional and artistic resonance, and has earned several awards for its soundtrack. Special mention goes to Ofra Haza who voiced Yocheved, Moses' mother, and sang the opening song ("Deliver Us") in seventeen different languages for the various dubs of the film, including her native Hebrew,
    • Again, the multi-lingual "When You Believe" should get a mention.
      • For some context, the song sung in Hebrew by a children's choir as the Hebrews left Egypt is a translation of Miriam's song from the Bible:

I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously,
 Who is like you, Oh LORD, among the gods?
 Who is like you, glorious in holiness?
 You in your mercy have led forth the people whom you have redeemed
 I will sing! I will sing! I will sing!

    • "The Plagues" deserves mention for combining the deeply personal rift between Moses and Ramses with the wrath of God unleashed upon Egypt.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Ralph Fiennes, as Ramses, both mocking Moses for his snake-charming and directing his priests to do the same thing. Flash-forward to a certain snake-like (and snake-owning) villain he'd portray a few years later...
    • Helen Mirren is cast as Pharaoh Seti's unnamed wife, who's listed in the credits as simply "The Queen". Then in 2006, eight years after this movie came out, Mirren won her first Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth II in...The Queen.
    • Former Batman actor Val Kilmer voiced Moses, and in amusing twist of faith he wouldn't be the last Batman actor to voice a biblical figure in a Dreamworks movie. In the prequel, Joseph: King of Dreams, Joseph would be voiced by Ben Affleck, who'd play the Caped Crusader in the DCEU.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Ramses. He may be a stubborn, bull-headed tyrant towards the Hebrews, but at his core he's a deeply insecure man who just wants his father's approval, and his brother's love.
  • Magnum Opus: For DreamWorks. Not only is it a beautifully animated, emotional powerhouse of a film, but it's a rare cinematic adaptation of a Bible story that manages to appeal to believers and non-believers alike. While later Dreamworks films such as Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and Kung Fu Panda have plenty of heart in their own right, plenty of fans feel that they don't quite hit the same emotional highs as this one.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Seti crosses this by slaughtering all the Hebrew babies, and even further when he tries to rationalize why he did it with the line, "Oh, my son, they were only slaves." It's this that causes Moses (and the audience) to lose any possible respect for him.
    • His son Ramses is quick to follow in his footsteps by bringing the wrath of God upon Egypt purely out of his stubborn, prideful refusal to let the Hebrews go. But if that doesn't do it for you, him going back on his word and trying to slaughter the fleeing Hebrews will.
    • On the flipside, Ramses sees the death of the Firstborns as this for Moses. The preceding plagues were enough for him to resent Moses, but it's this one that causes that resentment to boil over into pure, wrathful hate. Losing your son will do that to you.
  • Signature Song: "When You Believe".
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: While it's understandable that the movie would focus more on the personal drama that comes from Moses and Ramses' falling out, it's still disappointing if you're familiar with the original story, and how Aaron was the guy who'd speak for Moses due to his struggles with public speaking as opposed to the guy who's just kind of "there" in this film. Doubly so for it being a waste of a perfectly good Jeff Goldblum role.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: The Pillar of Fire and the parting of the Red Sea easily rival anything seen in live action films and God, in the form of the Burning Bush, still looks amazing.
  • What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: The animated film has a graphic depiction of slavery and the ten plagues.
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