From Egypt to the Apollo

Dreamworks, in a valiant effort to do something on which everyone can agree, went ahead and remade the grand old story of the second book of the Bible, otherwise known as Exodus. The competent folks working for Mr. Spielberg did a pretty good job. A good job is to be expected, considering that over 50 of the greatest theological minds in the country advised the production, from Jesse Helms to Jesse Jackson.

Those unfamiliar with the most basic parts of western religion ought to know, before reading on, that Exodus contains the most famous part of Moses' story-his great conflict with Ramses right up to the parting of the Red Sea. Also of note is that this same story was told a few decades ago in the famed The Ten Commandments featuring Mr. NRA himself, Charlton Heston.

Those familiar with the older, live-action movie may suffer a little d�ja vu when they see The Prince of Egypt. While one might expect some similarity between two movies telling the same story, the similarity here is taken so far as to dress the enlightened Moses in the same clothes, bestow Pharaoh with the same war-helmet, and even differ from the Bible in some of the same places.

One of the great strengths of the animated version is its epic scale. The live-action version is wrought with poor sound-stage backdrops; the sound-stages themselves are also somewhat unnerving. Altogether, however, the animation of this movie is able to capture the sheer vastness of the fabled exodus itself, as well as the ten plagues and the like. Also, the more-real-than-real caricatures works well with this larger-than-life story.

Prince is far from flawless. In order to keep this movie short enough for a young audience, they had to cut some important parts. While nobody ever wanted that Nefertiti witch around anyway, the ending sequence of Moses receiving the stone tablets feels a little short, as does a few other parts of the movie. Cutting the 4+ hours of Commandments down to only 95 minutes means losing more than just a sappy romance.

Another problem, which Dreamworks seems to believe is a strength, is their use of big-name actors. While Moses and Rameses have the fairly neutral voices of Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes, when Aaron opens his mouth and Jeff Goldblum pops out, the very out-of-place image of translucent teal computers is suddenly brought to mind.

Those who enjoyed The Ten Commandments, as well as anyone under the age of ten, are sure to like Prince of Egypt, if only for the sheer epic of it.

Rating: Don't put off any early-term papers for this one, but the matinees are unlikely to conflict with anything major.