The Prince of Egypt came out in 1998 and was an animated film by DreamWorks. It tells the Exodus Story from the Torah (or Old Testament) about how Moses, an adoptive Prince of Egypt, was actually a Hebrew (Jewish) child sent down the river in order to save him from Pharoh's decree to throw all Hebrew slave male babies into the river. Great kids movie, right?
Oh yeah, this is a kid's movie with some serious adult undertones. I've been watching this movie since I was being raised as a Catholic, and it's about the only thing from CCD that wasn't ruined for me.
Anyway, God comes to Moses and tells him he is the one who will lead the Hebrews from slavery to the "land of milk and honey," a.k.a., Jerusalem. Then there are the plagues, Pharoh lets the slaves go, Moses parts the Red Sea, and they arrive in Jerusalem. This is the story that is celebrated every year on Passover.
There is nothing about this story that really stands out, as it is just the Exodus made into a cartoon for children to understand. Yes, DreamWorks took some creative license, and they own up to it before the movie even begins, but perhaps it's the songs and visuals and the fact that it's pretty much the only Passover movie. I took it upon myself to make it my own tradition to watch this movie every night of Passover.
1. The imagery of this movie is absolutely stunning.
Apparently, during the same time, DreamWorks was working on Shrek. Animators who weren't keeping up to par on The Prince of Egypt were sent to work on Shrek.
2. DreamWorks did not have to go that hard with the soundtrack.
Especially song's like "Through Heaven's Eyes," "The Plagues," and "When You Believe."
3. Hot Take: The Michelle Pfeiffer/Sally Dworsky version of "When You Believe" is better than the Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston version.
The original movie version is just so much more beautiful and full of hope. Plus, the Hebrew portion almost brings me to tears.
4. "Through Heaven's Eyes" gives me literal chills.
The whole song is about looking at your life through Heaven's eyes, and that you can't necessarily measure how much your life is worth, because you're worth so much to G-d.
6. I can now only envision G-d has a burning bush
I mean, in Judaism, G-d doesn't have a form. It is against Jewish Law to depict G-d's image, so He as a mystical burning bush is perfect.
7. The cast of this movie is really just amazing!
Val Kilmer, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Patrick Stewart, and Jeff freaking Goldblum!
9. G-d was sorta ruthless.
I mean, the last plague was definitely the nail on the coffin, but I wonder what would have happened if someone didn't get the memo?
10. I really love the newfound bromance between Moses and Aaron and the #strongwomen friendship between Miriam and Zipporah.
The Prince of Egypt is one of those gems that I feel isn't appreciated enough. Even though Passover is an entire week without bread, wheat products, pork, shellfish, or meat and dairy mixed, this movie definitely makes the week go by faster and with a lot more ease.
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