The Prince of Egypt

The film was a passion project for executive producer Jeffrey Katzenberg, who brought the project to the newly-formed DreamWorks after it was rejected by Disney.

Former Walt Disney Studios chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had always wanted to do an animated adaptation of The Ten Commandments for Walt Disney Animation Studios. While working for Disney, Katzenberg initially pitched this idea to The Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner, but Eisner turned it down in order to keep in line with Disney's neutral stance towards religion. This became one of the many reasons for Katzenberg's growing friction with Eisner and the Disney board of directors, eventually leading to his resignation from the company.[18] Walt Disney Animation Studios would later release their own religious-themed film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in 1996, which Katzenberg had greenlit prior to his departure and coincidentally also features musical contributions from Stephen Schwartz and Boyz II Men.

The idea for the film was brought back at the formation of DreamWorks Pictures in 1994, when Katzenberg's partners, Amblin Entertainment founder Steven Spielberg, and music producer David Geffen, were meeting in Spielberg's living room.[19] Katzenberg recalls that Spielberg looked at him during the meeting and said, "You ought to do The Ten Commandments."[19]

The Prince of Egypt was "written" throughout the story process. Beginning with a starting outline, story supervisors Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook led a team of fourteen storyboard artists and writers as they sketched out the entire film—sequence by sequence. Once the storyboards were approved, they were put into the Avid Media Composer digital editing system by editor Nick Fletcher to create a "story reel" or animatic. The story reel allowed the filmmakers to view and edit the entire film in continuity before production began, and also helped the layout and animation departments understand what is happening in each sequence of the film.[20] After casting of the voice talent concluded, dialogue recording sessions began. For the film, the actors record individually in a studio under guidance by one of the three directors. The voice tracks were to become the primary aspect as to which the animators built their performances.[20] Because DreamWorks was concerned about theological accuracy, Jeffrey Katzenberg decided to call in Biblical scholars, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim theologians, and Arab American leaders to help his film be more accurate and faithful to the original story. After previewing the developing film, all these leaders noted that the studio executives listened and responded to their ideas, and praised the studio for reaching out for comment from outside sources.[19]

Art directors Kathy Altieri and Richard Chavez and production designer Darek Gogol led a team of nine visual development artists in setting a visual style for the film that was representative of the time, the scale and the architectural style of Ancient Egypt.[20] Part of the process also included the research and collection of artwork from various artists, as well as taking part in trips such as a two-week journey across Egypt by the filmmakers before the film's production began.[20]

A promotional image of the characters from the film. From left to right: Aaron, Miriam, Tzipporah, Moses, Ramases, Hotep, Huy, Pharaoh Seti and Queen Tuya.

Character designers Carter Goodrich, Carlos Grangel and Nico Marlet worked on setting the design and overall look of the characters. Drawing on various inspirations for the widely known characters, the team of character designers worked on designs that had a more realistic feel than the usual animated characters up to that time.[20] Both character design and art direction worked to set a definite distinction between the symmetrical, more angular look of the Egyptians versus the more organic, natural look of the Hebrews and their related environments.[20] The backgrounds department, headed by supervisors Paul Lasaine and Ron Lukas, oversaw a team of artists who were responsible for painting the sets/backdrops from the layouts. Within the film, approximately 934 hand-painted backgrounds were created.[20]

The animation team for The Prince of Egypt, including 350 artists from 34 different nations, was primarily recruited both from Walt Disney Feature Animation,[21] which had fallen under Katzenberg's auspices while at the Walt Disney Company, and from Amblimation, a defunct division of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.[22] As at Disney's, character animators were grouped into teams by character: for example, Kristof Serrand, as the supervising animator of Older Moses, set the acting style of the character and assigned scenes to his team.[23] Consideration was given to depicting the ethnicities of the ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and Nubians properly.[24]

There are 1,192 scenes in the film, and 1,180 contain work done by the special effects department, which animates everything in an animated scene which is not a character: blowing wind, dust, rainwater, shadows, etc. A blend of traditional animation and computer-generated imagery was used in the depictions of the ten plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea.[19][25] The characters were animated with the digital paint software Animo by Cambridge Animation (now merged with Toon Boom Technologies),[26] and the compositing of the 2D and 3D elements was done using the "Exposure Tool", a digital solution developed for Alias Research by Silicon Graphics.[25][27] Additional final line animation was outsourced to Bardel Entertainment, Fox Animation Studios and Heart of Texas Productions.[28]

The task of creating God's voice was given to Lon Bender and the team working with the film's music composer, Hans Zimmer.[29] "The challenge with that voice was to try to evolve it into something that had not been heard before," says Bender. "We did a lot of research into the voices that had been used for past Hollywood movies as well as for radio shows, and we were trying to create something that had never been previously heard not only from a casting standpoint but from a voice manipulation standpoint as well." It was decided that the voice of God would be provided by Val Kilmer, who portrayed Moses in the film, in order to indicate that God was communicating to him via the voice he would otherwise perceive in his mind, as opposed to the "larger-than-life tones" used to portray God in previous theatrical releases.[29]

The Prince of Egypt was released on DVD, VHS, and LaserDisc on September 14, 1999.[38] The ownership of the film was assumed by DreamWorks Animation when that company split from DreamWorks Pictures in 2004; as of July 2018, the rights to the film are now owned by Universal Pictures via its acquisition of DWA. A Blu-ray of the movie was released on October 16, 2018.[39] For the 25th anniversary of the film, a 4K Blu-ray utilizing the remastered print from the 2018 Annecy Film Festival screening, was released on March 14, 2023. However, every release of the film on home media prior to the 4K Blu-ray used a 35mm interpositive print of the film, rather than using the original files to encode the movie directly to digital.[40][41]

The Prince of Egypt grossed $101.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $117.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $218.6 million.[8]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $14.5 million (a $4,658 average) from 3,118 theaters, finishing second place at the box office, behind You've Got Mail.[42] The opening was seen as somewhat disappointing given the film's high production and promotional costs, as well as the studios faith in the project, and industry insiders had doubts it could leg out to $100 million domestically.[43] Due to the holiday season, the film gained 4% in its second weekend, earning $15.1 million and finishing in fourth place.[44] It would hold well in its third weekend, with only a 25% drop to $11.2 million for a $3,511 average from 3,202 theaters and once again finishing in fourth place.[45]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 92 reviews and an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Prince of Egypt's stunning visuals and first-rate voice cast more than compensate for the fact that it's better crafted than it is emotionally involving."[46] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[47] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[48]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film in his review saying, "The Prince of Egypt is one of the best-looking animated films ever made. It employs computer-generated animation as an aid to traditional techniques, rather than as a substitute for them, and we sense the touch of human artists in the vision behind the Egyptian monuments, the lonely desert vistas, the thrill of the chariot race, the personalities of the characters. This is a film that shows animation growing up and embracing more complex themes, instead of chaining itself in the category of children's entertainment."[49] Richard Corliss of Time magazine gave a negative review of the film saying, "The film lacks creative exuberance, any side pockets of joy."[50] Stephen Hunter from The Washington Post praised the film saying, "The movie's proudest accomplishment is that it revises our version of Moses toward something more immediate and believable, more humanly knowable."[51]

Lisa Alspector from the Chicago Reader praised the film and wrote, "The blend of animation techniques somehow demonstrates mastery modestly, while the special effects are nothing short of magnificent."[52] Houston Chronicle's Jeff Millar reviewed by saying, "The handsomely animated Prince of Egypt is an amalgam of Hollywood biblical epic, Broadway supermusical and nice Sunday school lesson."[53] James Berardinelli from Reelviews highly praised the film saying, "The animation in The Prince of Egypt is truly top-notch, and is easily a match for anything Disney has turned out in the last decade", and also wrote "this impressive achievement uncovers yet another chink in Disney's once-impregnable animation armor."[54] Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail gave a somewhat negative review and wrote, "Prince of Egypt is spectacular but takes itself too seriously."[55] MovieGuide also reviewed the film favorably, saying that "The Prince of Egypt takes animated movies to a new level of entertainment. Magnificent art, music, story, and realization combine to make The Prince of Egypt one of the most entertaining masterpieces of all time."[56]

Since its release, the film continues to receive acclaim from critics and audiences alike. When the film reached its 20th anniversary, SyFy made a retrospective review of The Prince of Egypt, calling it the greatest animated film of all time, predominantly due to its voice cast, animation, characters, cinematography, and most importantly, its musical score.[57] Lisa Laman of Collider wrote that it "stands out" among the other films in DreamWorks Animation's catalog for its dark but inspirational and uplifting tone when compared to the studio's later titles. Laman further noted that the film is "content to let these kinds of dark moments simmer. Sadness is allowed to wash over the audience rather than get undercut by abrupt jokes," and he called it the studio's best film.[58]

Julia Polster of The Daily Pennsylvanian wrote that the film showcases "complex emotions and history in ways even children can appreciate" and positively compared its handling of the portrayal of Jews under oppression to Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List (1993) and the stage musicals Fiddler on the Roof and Parade. She went on to explain how the film continues to remain relevant and essential in modern times, in part due to an increase of antisemitism and Holocaust denial in the United States during the early months of 2020, saying, "This lack of security is why films like The Prince of Egypt and its more adult counterparts must exist: to teach in an accessible way. As we move l’dor vador—from generation to generation in Hebrew—I feel lucky to have films that carry on the history and legacy of Judaism."[59]

For The Film Magazine, Katie Doyle in her 2015 retrospective called the film's portrayal of Moses's encounter with God's voice coming through the burning bush as "a masterpiece of animation and is possibly one of the best depictions of God I’ve ever seen", and she wrote that, for younger viewers, it is "a shining example of a children’s movie that delivers mature content to children in a manner that is not too frightening but still gets the deep message across".[60]

It has appeared on many lists as among the best animated films of all time.[61][62] Jackson Lockhart of Comic Book Resources ranked it first place on his list of the top 10 non-Disney animated musical films, writing that the "songs and visuals are transcendent and packed with symbolism, such as God collapsing a statue of Amun-Ra, the Egyptian God of the sun, before inflicting his plague of darkness".[63] Hannah Shortt of MovieWeb ranked it at number 8 on her list of the "Best Animated Movies From the 1990s", saying that placing Moses and Ramases' relationship as brothers at the forefront of the film's focus helped make the story feel new and fresh for a modern audience.[64] Jacob Oller of Paste named it the third-best DreamWorks Animation film of all time, calling it "dark, beautiful, and filled with songs as epic as its visuals".[65] It was also voted number 40 on the "Top 100 Animated Features of All Time" list by the Online Film Critics Society, published in March 2003.[66]

The film has also developed a cult following, which helped it see a resurgence in visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most notably when Cynthia Erivo and Shoshana Bean, with piano accompaniment by Stephen Schwartz, performed a rendition of "When You Believe" during the virtual Saturday Night Seder that April, in response to the shutdown of Broadway and the film's stage musical adaptation suspending performances in the West End.[67][68] The performance was well-received and their rendition was released as a single on June 30, 2020 to benefit the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice organization.[69] In November 2021, the "River Lullaby" leitmotif became the subject of a TikTok mash-up between that and Hans Zimmer's "Gom Jabbar" score cue from the 2021 film adaptation of Dune, created by Nashville singer JADA. The video went viral on the platform within its first 24 hours, garnering 2.3 million views and over 500,000 likes.[70]

In July 2023, to celebrate the film's 25-year anniversary, many crew members who worked on the film, including directors Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells, songwriter Stephen Schwartz, and cast members Amick Byram and Eden Riegel, reunited by participating in a 3-hour livestream on YouTube on The Tammy Tuckey Show. The event had been organized ahead of time.[71]

The Prince of Egypt was banned in the Maldives, Malaysia and Egypt, all state Islam countries, on the grounds that Islamic prophets (who include Moses) are not to be visually depicted. The film was also banned in Indonesia, but was later released in video CD format.

The Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs in the Maldives stated: "All prophets and messengers of God are revered in Islam, and therefore cannot be portrayed".[72][73] Following this ruling, the censor board banned the film in January 1999. In the same month, the Film Censorship Board of Malaysia banned the film "so as not to offend the country's majority Muslim population." The board's secretary said that the censor body ruled the film was "insensitive for religious and moral reasons".[74]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "When You Believe" – Nominated[88]