Cartoon feature films have always had to measure up to the Disney standard. Strong stories, catchy songs and, most importantly of all, a sense of fairytale escapism. But The Prince of Egypt changes all the rules. This isn’t a cartoon, but a film, with all the moral ambiguities and nasty realism that film can portray. Steven Spielberg, whose fledgling production company, Dreamworks, hasn’t really delivered the cinematic goods just yet, finally overturns the standards and has come up with something new.
Yes, there are cutesy, anthropomorphic sheep, chubby-faced children, de rigeur computer graphics and a child-friendly rating. But what these fail to disguise is that The Prince of Egypt is a thoroughly nasty story. The god of the Old Testament is far-removed from the comfortable, accommodating god taught in today’s schools, and Exodus is no exception. Retribution is hardly divine: it’s unfair, it’s directed against the innocent, and the Hebrew and then Egyptian infants, who are slaughtered in a style which leaves little to the imagination, are younger than the children who make up most of the audience. Sunday-school was never like this.
The Prince of Egypt has achieved something you won’t find in any other child-orientated, Disney-style cartoon. It is astonishingly uncompromising, and both graphically and morally it is no easy ride. Whatever its pitfalls, the book of Exodus is a rich story. The Red Sea parts, pillars of fire rage from heaven, even the Angel of Death and the slaughter of the Egyptian first-borns are visually realised in a way that is both cruel and beautiful. When Moses strikes the Red Sea, sheets of water tower in the air and you can see the forms of fish swimming behind the walls, something which you would never expect, but find strangely logical when you see it. But this is no playground for child-safe colours and chunky escapism: the chasm between the waves is a dark, dank, unnatural place, from which men and animals shy away in terror, and which dwarfs the pale light of their torches.
This cold-blooded approach to the way the film looks is mirrored by the story which it tells. Even the title reflects the film’s unwillingness to judge. Calling it “The Prince of Egypt” neatly illustrates the dual loyalties that tug at Moses, and Pharaoh, the nominal bad guy, is a painfully empathetic character. It’s so much easier to say that the wicked witch is wicked because, well, that’s the way she is. Parents, if they have any sense, will think very carefully before taking their children to see it, and the film will probably bomb. But for an adult audience, weaned on Disney escapism, this is thoroughly recommended. The Prince of Egypt is majestic, cruel and beautiful.
Yes, there are cutesy, anthropomorphic sheep, chubby-faced children, de rigeur computer graphics and a child-friendly rating. But what these fail to disguise is that The Prince of Egypt is a thoroughly nasty story. The god of the Old Testament is far-removed from the comfortable, accommodating god taught in today’s schools, and Exodus is no exception. Retribution is hardly divine: it’s unfair, it’s directed against the innocent, and the Hebrew and then Egyptian infants, who are slaughtered in a style which leaves little to the imagination, are younger than the children who make up most of the audience. Sunday-school was never like this.
The Prince of Egypt has achieved something you won’t find in any other child-orientated, Disney-style cartoon. It is astonishingly uncompromising, and both graphically and morally it is no easy ride. Whatever its pitfalls, the book of Exodus is a rich story. The Red Sea parts, pillars of fire rage from heaven, even the Angel of Death and the slaughter of the Egyptian first-borns are visually realised in a way that is both cruel and beautiful. When Moses strikes the Red Sea, sheets of water tower in the air and you can see the forms of fish swimming behind the walls, something which you would never expect, but find strangely logical when you see it. But this is no playground for child-safe colours and chunky escapism: the chasm between the waves is a dark, dank, unnatural place, from which men and animals shy away in terror, and which dwarfs the pale light of their torches.
This cold-blooded approach to the way the film looks is mirrored by the story which it tells. Even the title reflects the film’s unwillingness to judge. Calling it “The Prince of Egypt” neatly illustrates the dual loyalties that tug at Moses, and Pharaoh, the nominal bad guy, is a painfully empathetic character. It’s so much easier to say that the wicked witch is wicked because, well, that’s the way she is. Parents, if they have any sense, will think very carefully before taking their children to see it, and the film will probably bomb. But for an adult audience, weaned on Disney escapism, this is thoroughly recommended. The Prince of Egypt is majestic, cruel and beautiful.