I have a storied past with THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. I’ve been defamed by people for my support of the film, being labeled as being upon the payroll of DREAMWORKS just because... well I have been loving everything I have seen that came from the film.
Then because of an intro I wrote just this past week where I told y’all about sticking by my friend and skipping out on an advance screening of the film due to a HIM that stood between my friend and seeing the film... well all of a sudden I found out that I was still a righteous dude.
Well, now I’m going to do a bit of advocating here. This weekend A BUG’S LIFE is going to have a special 2 for 1 deal where you pay to see A BUG’S LIFE and you get to see MIGHTY JOE YOUNG free. In addition, it seems that Disney is adding some new 'Outtakes' to the end of A BUG'S LIFE, to bait the hook if you will. This is a campaign aimed at the heart of THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. It’s sole purpose is to hurt this film. It is unfortunate that all three films are worthy of your attention, but... BUT I’m going to plead with you to go see THE PRINCE OF EGYPT first, and if you have the same reaction you’re about to read from me.... well, see it again instead of going to the double-bill.
Why?
Here ya go...
I have been a lover of animation my entire life, cels hung upon my walls illustrating 1/24th of a second of magic. Frozen essences of animated characters. For a lot of people their favorite animation studio was Walt Disney, still for others it was Warner Brothers or MGM... For me, it was the magic of Max & Dave Fleischer.
Of all the competition for Walt Disney, the most serious, the studio that actually was pushing what animation was... Spending money on effects animation to enhance just the character animation, telling adult stories and aiming at an older market place... well, it was Max & Dave Fleischer. With characters like Popeye, Betty Boop and Superman in their stable, they used the music of Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong. They used far more multi-plane and invented the rotoscope. They picked projects for the push they gave to animation.
Now don’t get me wrong, Disney was doing all of the same sorts of things. Pushing and pushing. Disney succeeded on it’s merits, no doubt. But Walt’s business practices were cold-blooded. Working deals with the government to have more film stock than any other animation unit during World War II, signing an exclusive with Technicolor to keep ahead of all the competition. Paying more for animators. Disney was a very tough business man, and there is nothing wrong with that other than... for nearly 60 years for all intents and purposes there has only been DISNEY among the studios in the USA that could succeed in animation.
I remember when THE SECRET OF NIMH came out I was excited, I loved the film and hoped that what we would see was a birth of a new place for the animated film. It’s why, while flawed, the work of Bakshi and Bluth have been important for me. Anime as a whole just hasn’t caught on with mainstream America.
When Disney started it’s rebirth with THE LITTLE MERMAID, I sat up. I loved that film completely, though I felt that it could have been a bit more beautiful, it felt a bit uneven in places. You are all familiar with the films that poured in after that.
Disney had finally reestablished the Financial Worth of Animated films. Every studio started to take notice and now... now we have Fox Animation, Warner Animation and on and on... So far they’ve been attempting semi-clones of Disney fare.
When DREAMWORKS was formed it was animation that I wanted. I dreamed of the work they could do. When I heard it was going to be an animated 10 Commandments I was filled with emotion.
Finally, it was going to happen. I could sense that Dreamworks was going to make the right decisions. How? I had no idea, but after THE LION KING, and the amount of detail that Katzenberg was encouraging his directors and animators to take... well I knew there was a big step to take. And since THE LION KING, I haven't seen the next step be taken, until now.
That step is THE PRINCE OF EGYPT.
I went this morning, rearranged my entire sleeping schedule to make the screening. I went with my father, Robogeek, El Gordo and his wife and mother-in-law and Hooper. The audience was very very light. Only perhaps 30 people. There were delays and sound problems, but they finally backed the print up to start at the beginning.
El Gordo, Robogeek, Hooper, and I fell in love. The opening shot illustrates the difference in this film and everything that has come before.
It’s seemingly quite simple, clouds parting to reveal the sun. We’ve seen clouds parting with the sun poking through everyday of our lives. There is an old silent film called SUNRISE, you saw a part of it in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE, it’s the film that Brad Pitt’s character is watching to see a sunrise for the first time in centuries. Often times I like to imagine what seeing an image like a sunrise told in a different medium for the first time would be like. Audiences were in awe of SUNRISE, I’m in awe of the first shot of PRINCE OF EGYPT, it is a moving painting of such simple beauty it calls to mind Miyazaki, but with tools he’s never had at his finger tips before. The shot caused an exaltation from our audience.
From there we continue, we move from shot to shot. It’s the story of Moses, you probably know it. Just like you knew a boat would hit an iceberg. It’s a familiar story. I’m actually going to say I believe this film is better than the original TEN COMMANDMENTS, why? Because I believe the acting is better.
We’re dealing with EPICS, films bigger than the screen we watch them on. I watch the TEN COMMANDMENTS at least 3 times a year, Charlton Heston is a god, after he spoke with God, well let’s just say that he was a one note performance, albeit a perfect note.
Here the character of Moses, and I won’t credit solely Val Kilmer, because the animators, storyboard artists, the lighting and special effects technicians and Hans Zimmer and all... well they crafted this character. He is fantastic. He goes from being carefree, temperamental, betrayed, sated, set in his ways, determined and the very instrument of God’s will. For me, there is a bit of Chaplin in this man, sure he’s dollops of paint, but there is soul to this character, more pathos than you can imagine.
In his talk with God, he is asked to remove his sandals, he doesn’t obey right away. Instead he asks to whom he speaks. While God is answering watch the realization in his face, the body language, listen to the memory of Miriam’s voice over, listen to the voice of God and imagine yourself in the same situation.
Religion is an extremely touchy area, for those ‘true believers’ there is no doubt, for those that do not believe it’s impossible to believe. Me....
Well I don’t go to church. For me belief is something you carry inside not into a building, but in every step you take in life. What do I believe? I’m not entirely sure. I hope that there is more, that we have more, but at the same time I don’t believe in concerning myself too much about it because I have to take care of who I am and when I am today. BUT...
If tomorrow I were to look upon the face of GOD, and He asked me to do something, I know I would do it with complete faith. Why? Because it’s GOD, and well you do what GOD tells you to.
For this film, God wants a man called Moses to go to his brother and change the very face of Egypt forever. God gives him a staff with which to work his miracles. But God doesn’t change who Moses is inside, he still must wrestle with his own love of his brother and his peoples, both the Hebrews and the Egyptians. He was raised Egyptian and became a Hebrew... He is forced by a revelation to choose one over the other. He has no choice.
Imagine that. Imagine choosing your paternal grandparents over your maternal ones. Choosing business over family. Well unlike Heston, this Moses feels that weight. You hear it in his voice, you see it in his eyes, you feel it in the way he walks.
For me the most powerful shot in the entire film is that of Moses and Tzipporah on the back of their camel walking straight into the camera, that image is overlapped over images of the suffering of the Hebrews in Egypt. The camera drawing closer and closer onto the face of Moses. He becomes more and more solid the closer he gets. I don’t believe I have ever seen the coming of a man with a mission better done. You can tell that he’s preparing himself for the task at hand.
I could not believe how strongly affected I was by this rather simple device, but I think it’s because I’ve never seen it done in animation before, and definitely never before has it been performed so strongly.
Another little technique that was used here was the sets. Or rather how they used them. They chose to take mastershots, which we would then come back to, this made it so that it felt like these were real places. In traditional animated films, everytime you change shot, you have a completely different angle and placement. Here, well, dammit it just felt like a real live movie.
SO WHY WASN’T IT A REAL MOVIE, WHY MAKE THIS STORY ANIMATED?
Because if that had been Val Kilmer physically on camera he could not have performed the role as good as the animators made the character of Moses move and look. Knowing what I do of Animation Editors (thanks to the editors at PIXAR) I’m willing to bet that the lines as recorded by Val Kilmer were combined up to deliver this character. Shortened, tightened, the first part of the line from this recording, the next word from this recording and the last part from this recording. The editor of this film had everybit as much to do with the way the lines sounded as Val Kilmer himself. This performance is quite honestly worthy of a nomination, but for everyone that worked on the character, probably a good 50 statues in all.
Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as well. Dammit, I love this movie. I’m sorry folks, but that’s what it comes down to. Every single minute particle of film stock... This is the animated film I’ve spent my life looking for. Why? Because if you help make it successful, if Disney doesn’t Squash this competitor... well then the stakes in animation will be raised. And the ride is going to be fantastic. If this film does phenomenal business it helps Disney’s ATLANTIS, they’ll make it a better script, right now it’s ok, but it can be so much better than that.
Right now I’m thrilled, I’m excited because the medium of animation is being widened. The stories will become more than just fairytales from once upon a time. And while some may believe that a Bible story is ‘just another Fairy tale’, that’s an argument I don’t want to get into, but if this is just another Fairy Tale... well it’s the best damn Fairy tale I’ve ever seen animated.
This film isn’t a siren’s song for Disney, no death knell.... no, it’s merely a new step for animation. Animation is graduating from High School. And that’s exciting because this is a beginning for us all to pay witness to.
And you know what? TARZAN is a great film too, totally different, but great nonetheless. TOY STORY II is great I assure you. IRON GIANT is great. How do I know... Trust me. I know.
Come next fall when EL DORADO comes be prepared for more steps. The images from that film will stun you, I’ve seen storyboards and footage. We have a lot to look forward to.
Now for the Academy. This is that type of movie in my opinion.
With TITANIC last year I went into a gigantic speech (written) about how that was a best picture for many reasons. Because it helped to tell bigger stories on screen, because it used effects in ways never thought of before, because the film moved me, because I was taken on board a doomed ship and felt the salt air blow through my hair.
Today I went to Egypt. I talked to God, I saw miracles and I believed. I was consumed by a sandstorm, I witnessed plagues, and heard the last breaths of the first borne. I saw what a form of filmmaking was capable of. My god, it’s glorious. To have nominated BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and to ignore this film would be a crime that would quite honestly... well it would be so wrong I can’t imagine even committing it.
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is one of the best and most important films in years. It advances the medium. And it works on multiple small levels while at the same time overpowering me at the larger level. I can’t imagine choosing SAVING PRIVATE RYAN over this film.
Go see the movie, judge for yourself. I think it’s brilliant, it’s a moving painting. I love it. I love it. Go love it.
