I've long heard about how this movie is an underappreciated masterpiece and is low-key the best Dreamworks, and I finally got around to checking it out after seeing the plagues song sequence and being impressed.
Here's some thoughts I have about it:
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The animation is gorgeous, there's so many sequences that absolutely stun. Dreamworks really did poach the talent from Disney, you hold this animation up to Disney's most famous 2D works and there's really no contest.
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Rameses is the best character in the movie. I just wish we got more of him, his scenes were the best. My revisiting this movie will mainly consist of going on YouTube to watch his scenes. It's unfortunate that there's a solid third of the movie between Moses leaving and returning where he's completely absent.
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The plagues song sequence is a masterpiece, the opening song is solid, and the rest of the songs are middling at best. While it's clear Dreamworks took a lot of Disney's animation talent, Dreamworks clearly didn't poach their musical talent. Ain't got nothing on an Alan Menken soundtrack.
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This movie does not believe in subtlety and I do not consider that a flaw. I love how many brazen shots there are, like the one with Rameses in profile view on the throne with the sphinx in his father's likeness looming in the background. Or with Rameses extending his arm as he threatens to genocide the Hebrews with the mural of his father doing the same in the background. It's great.
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Moses is an engaging character... until he completes his arc halfway through the movie and becomes the somber staff-wielding sage of God. He doesn't feel like the same character as in the first half of the movie, and I mean that in the worst way. Prince of Egypt Moses is a great protagonist, Prophet Moses is a fairly bland character.
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I like the motif they use for dramatic/miraculous moments(if you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the Red Sea sequence, you'll pick up on it real fast) but they also way overuse it. It took me out of the movie, they used it so frequently. You gotta be a little more sparing and deliberate with it.
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I should dedicate a bullet point just talking about The Plagues. I've been listening to it all week, it's one of the greatest songs I've ever heard in any musical. The way it shifts between the softer instrumentals as Moses laments what Rameses is forcing him to do, the powerful vocals and brass of Rameses, and the choir chanting God's dialogue as he persistently unleashes upon Egypt. The whole thing is just incredible. Can't sing its praises enough. My only criticisms are that it feels like it should go on a bit longer(could've used a bit more of Rameses singing) and that the shot of Rameses' and Moses' faces being paralleled towards the end feels awkward and incongruent with the rest of the sequence's visuals.
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Moses and Rameses are about the only characters I particularly like spending time with. Rameses' father was also fairly interesting for what limited screentime he had. Outside of them, the cast is bland. Miriam and Aaron feel like stock characters, Tzipporah ain't got anything going on beyond being a shallow attempt at the Strong Female Character.
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It's impressive how dark the movie was willing to be. I struggle to even call it a kid's movie. It's mostly a straight-up drama, with very little of the expected family animated movie comic relief. Everybody talks about characters getting whipped onscreen, but forget that, them willing to show children dying in the Angel of Death sequence was the most shocking thing. That's not something a studio would ever be willing to do nowadays.
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The biggest flaw in the movie is that song they started singing right after the Angel of Death sequence. I was watching this with a friend and we both groaned when Miriam started singing, that was not the time for another song. Probably the most poorly-placed song in a musical I've ever seen. Also probably the worst song in the movie.
In the end, I don't think it's secretly the best Dreamworks film or anything. I was expecting it to find its way into my top five, but I'd still definitively rank Shrek, Shrek 2, Megamind, The Last Wish, and The Wild Robot over it. It might squeeze into the Top Ten though. I'd give it a 7.5/10. Real solid flick, worth the watch, though I don't know that I'll sit down and watch through the whole thing again. Most likely I'll just get the bug to cherry pick the better scenes on YouTube and, of course, add The Plagues to my playlist.
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