BRENDA CHAPMAN, STEVE HICKNER, SIMON WELLS

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB.5. 

USA, 1998.  DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks.  Screenplay by Philip LaZebnik, additional screenplay material by Nicholas Meyer.  Produced by Penney Finkelman Cox, Sandra Rabins.  Music by Hans Zimmer.  Production Design by Darek Gogol.  Costume Design by Kelly Kimball.  Film Editing by Nick Fletcher.  Academy Awards 1998.  Golden Globe Awards 1998.  

The story of Moses in the Old Testament’s book of Exodus is told here with little dramatic license and too much respectful gravity. Though animated beautifully, Dreamworks’ perfectly voice-casted first foray into traditional animation is so eager to be great that it emerges as self-important. Stephen Schwartz’s gorgeous musical score is a real plus though, and the climactic parting of the Red Sea is surely not to be missed. The story begins with Moses’ mother sending her infant child down the river in a basket to save him from the Pharaoh’s edict to murder all the Hebrew slaves’ first-born sons. It continues to his being raised in an Egyptian palace, through to his leading his people out of the desert with the ten commandments in hand. Parents should be warned that the movie isn’t fun enough for children and much too dark for very young ones.