Prince of Egypt
Prince of Egypt ★★★ 1998 (PG)
First animated musical from Dreamworks manages to tell the story of the Exodus without turning it into Mickey Moses. Kilmer voices the young Moses, who is adopted by the royal family: imperious pharaoh Seti (Stewart), his stately Queen (Mirren) and jockish son Rameses (Fiennes). Happily wed to Tzipporah (Pfeiffer), he's living it up at the dawn of civilization until a chance meeting with his real sister Miriam (Bullock) twists his conscience and destiny. Steve Martin and Martin Short provide a short comic break, but overall the joking is kept to a minimum. Successful in combining epic feeling with stylized animation. 93m/C VHS, DVD. D: Simon Wells, Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner; M: Hans Zimmer; V: Val Kilmer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Ralph Fiennes, Sandra Bullock, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Patrick Stewart, Ofra Haza, James Avery, Eden Riegel. Oscars '98: Song (“When You Believe”); Broadcast Film Critics '98: Song (“When You Believe”).