Originally posted at the DL March 2016
Deliver Us- Nice contrast between suffering on a grand scale and sacrifice on a personal scale. The little sequence of all the terrible perils Moses' basket faced is kinda interesting, nicely sets up the idea of his being chosen and protected by God from the outset. Nothing amazing overall but it lets you know all the important context for the movie pretty efficiently.
I definitely find myself feeling like the sibling bond between Moses and Rameses is sold well. The idea that Moses is somewhat uncomfortable with the excesses of the court is a smidge overplayed perhaps, but otherwise his being the irresponsible younger brother works pretty well.
All I Ever Wanted/(Reprise)- The song has nothing on the dream sequence. I've got a serious soft spot for art shifts as you may have noticed, and this one is pretty fun. But actually the bit with Pharaoh is the best. Patrick Stewart plays it just right; yeah, he's not THRILLED with baby murder, but slaves aren't something you should lose sleep over years after the fact. It is just the burden of duty, and not the heaviest of his burdens.
Through Heaven's Eyes- Montage! Pretty effective one too. The singer has a nice rich voice, letting Moses' goofballness show through to see why he'd be endearing to these folks and their pick of little moments to show between him and Tzipporah are pretty danged effective.
God's voice has never felt quite right to me. I think it's Val Kilmer with another layer over it and to make that slightly less obvious they have him use this really weird cadence to all the lines. The burning effect is pretty cool though.
Playing with the Big Boys- *yawn*
Something is way, way off with Miriam's voice and I don't know what it is. She's... flat? I dunno. It's a big weakness in a lot of places because she tends to be the one to spur Moses to action a lot of times.
I gotta give a lot of credit to the animators for the work on Rameses' son. They give him a lot of personality for a character I don't think actually gets a speaking line. He's... a kid, y'know? It adds a lot to how utterly crushed Rameses is later.
The Plagues- I've always loved this one. The chorus is great, it is great. The visuals on the plagues are suitably horrifying to boot.
When You Believe- Super sappy. I thought The Plagues had won the Academy Award, but turns out it was this one? Weird. I guess maybe the harmony parts appeal to those sorts of folks.
... helloooooooo animation budget! The pillar of fire feels ALIVE, and the scope they manage to give the parting of the Red Sea is pretty amazing. Yes children of Israel, you are right to stare in awe of this spectacle.
Unsurprisingly they prettttty much stop the movie here with only the barest acknowledgement of the 10 Commandments. Considering how heavy they'd been on the plight of the people and putting the emotional conflict in the sibling bond rather than the messiness of reality, the golden calf and other such events would really spoil the mood y'know. But yeah, movie holds up about like I remember it, and... probably my favorite of Dreamworks' films that I'm aware of.
Rating- 8/10? I might be shooting a little bit high there. But sure, let's roll with that.
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