Dreamworks goes animated, for the first time in the traditional sense of the word, with an interesting look at a Bible Story. The impetus of this, supposedly - as the legend now goes, was when Spielberg asked Katzenberg (the S & K of SKG Dreamworks) about what it is that makes a good animated feature. The former Disney exec mentions heroes and villains and such and Spielberg says, "Sort of like 'The Ten Commandments,'" which brings the room to an awed hush of inspiration.

As a children's story, "Prince of Egypt" may leave a lot to be desired. My 8 year old nephew, who went with me and was DYING to see the film, got very fidgety and seemingly bored after about the first half. I, on the other hand, found it interesting and involving. Maybe it's all just too much for kids. The film does have some rather "mature" themes, in that the killing of children is alluded to, as is faithful to the story. But the film handles these ideas in a way that is artistic and yet not graphic in any sense of the word. It's rather eerie in a way, if one knows what is going on but it is hard to imagine it as disturbing or troubling to a child.

Meanwhile, another one of the best scenes in the film is when the young (teenaged) Moses has a dream in hieroglyphics. The animation on this is distinct and fascinating. It simply hasn't been done before. It looks wonderful and draws us into the action and the mindset of the young Moses.

The music in the film is interesting but overdone somewhat. The film begins with a rather modern musical song that sets up the condition of the Hebrew slaves in the story. But the tune soon turns "Disney-esque" (Schwartzman and Rice did the music) and typical. Eventually, the main riff used in the first song is repeated as a motif throughout the film almost becoming obnoxious. When the music finally does change, in the final segment of the film, the final refrain, which reminds us to believe, may very well bring tears to your eyes when it is coupled with the outstanding animation.

"Prince of Egypt" is an exceptional film for adults. Rated PG for it's themes, however, it is not so much for small children. And even though a few, small liberties were taken with the plot, I'm guessing that many may learn a little about the Biblical struggle of Moses. I was not very familiar with the intricacies of the story. This film expects that you will have a general knowledge of the story and then expands upon that. Giving character's motivations and audiences insight to those motivations actually made the story refreshing to me. It almost made me want to read the Bible. Not from some resurgence of faith, but rather because of the unique stories it contains.

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