Joseph - King of Dreams
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Movie Reviews of Joseph - King of Dreams
Movie Review: TO BETRAY AND AVENGE
Summary: 4 Stars
The heartbreak of family divided and the power of family united. According to DreamWorks' Jeffrey Katzenberg, much of the creative team that was involved in "THE PRINCE OF EGYPT" was gathered to work on "JOSEPH: KING OF DREAMS." Although the resulting, richly colored animation, often bathed in desert light, is not quite the eye-popping caliber of the former, it is certainly satisfying.
This is a vivid, thoughtful, sometimes insightful, retelling of the timeless, oft-told Biblical tale of a brother's betrayal and ironic revenge.
The story begins with a naive 17 year-old Hebrew boy who ends up a powerful and wise 34 year old lord of Egypt. The sweeping tale takes us from Canaan to Egypt at the surge of its growth as an empire that ruled the world. Yet it's the personal, intimate aspects that bring about the story's power and universality.
Ben Afflect creates an effective voice characterization that actually reflects the life-challenging experiences of Joseph. The ensemble cast featurs the voice talents of mark Hamill, Judith Light, Maureen McGovern and Dan Castellaneta among others.
Nizo Yamamoto, who was art director on the stunning "PRINCESS MONONOKE" served as background supervisor. He created a special technique to generate the gentle softness of some of the dusky desert vistas. "I use an airbrush and spray water over the painting and then use a huge brush to soften the whole thing," he says. Over 500 artists from an international talent pool worked on this unusual project that was tweaked with break-through computer animation. In fact, not a single frame of film was exposed -- the entire movie was finished digitally.
The score was composed and orchestrated by Dan Pelfrey. John Bucchino wrote the songs. In some ways, as in "THE PRINCE OF EGYPT," the songs slow down the story telling and in fact take us out of the compelling story as adapted from the Bible by Eugenia and Raymond Singer. The direction was shared by Rob LaDuca and Rob Ramirez.
The DVD includes bonus features for the entiure family and all age groups from Sing-Along Songs to Storyboard Commentary to an Interactive Trivia Game and more.(DreamWorks, 74 minutes, Not Rated)
Movie Review: A Biblical story well told for the youngsters.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is Dream Works' 2nd attempt at an animated movie based on a Biblical story (note the word "based"...plenty of artistic liberty is taken). Though it can't hold a candle to "Prince of Egypt", it is a fair attempt and a pleasant movie to watch. My children sat thru it and enjoyed it. That's the sign of a good movie for a young person.
The animation doesn't seem to be top notch (or at least as well as Dream Works demonstrated in Prince of Egypt), but it was easy to get used to. But I really like the scene when Joseph first enters Egypt, the city seemed very...majestic. I was totally glued to it and the way they portrayed the characters was really interesting too. The songs were not particularly memorable (i.e.: I couldn't tell you more than a line of lyrics used), but I can't really complain because the music was very nice and the singing was good. Not enough to blow me away, but a pleasant background to the story.
But what I defiantly liked best are the characters themselves. I can just imagine how hard it must be for the actors to put life and feeling into an animated character, and all of the actors who lent their voices were positively great.
Overall, a nice way to get kids to enjoy the story. A good execution of the story, which did make me care about the characters. Okay animation and music, but importantly a nice add on to your kid collections.
Movie Review: My son loves this movie...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought Joseph - King of Dreams for my son a few weeks ago, because he loved Prince of Egypt. For me, this movie was not even in the same league as Prince of Egypt, but for my son, he thought it was a major triumph again.In this case many liberties have been taken in modifying the stories in the Bible to fit the plot of this movie. However, I think the spirit of the message remains intact. Joseph of course interprets dreams, and the dream sequences that DreamWorks chose to animate are clever and creative.
Critically, I think that the animation in this film is not as clear and intricate (in most cases) as in Price of Egypt; also the songs do not stick in your mind. There are not as many big stars in this movie either, although big stars don't always make great movies.
In all, I am happy with this purchase because it entertains my son and expresses good moral values through out the movie.
Definitely recommended.
Movie Review: Very good sequel
Summary: 4 Stars
Maybe because it wasn't released in theaters first, this movie is a little more open about naming and referring to God than Prince of Egypt was, which is a plus. The animation is just as excellent as the original, and the songs are wonderful. "You Know Better" is simply splendid, and must have been written by a person of faith. The changes in the movie from the Bible are relatively minor (Rachel is alive when Joseph is sold; Reuben's efforts to save Joseph are ignored; Joseph does not rise to be in charge of the jail). The one thing I really didn't like was when his brothers asked forgiveness for selling him, Joseph replied by asking their forgiveness for thinking himself a "miracle child," instead of saying "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." However, that could be counted a minor point as well. Otherwise, quite true to the original story and very moving.Movie Review: 'Prince of Egypt' Was Better, But This One Is Still Good
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Prince of Egypt" is one of my all-time favorite movies. I just love it to death. And when I saw "Joseph: King of Dreams", I simply had to purchase it, knowing it was made by the same people who made that wonderful first movie.
While "King of Dreams" is not nearly as dramatic and thrilling as "Prince of Egypt", and while the animation is not quite as excellent, I liked this movie nonetheless. I'm not sorry I bought it. It's still sweet--not as touching as its predecessor, but good in its own way.
The music is worth listening to, especially the song "Better Than I". And the actors are terrific. They really throw themselves into their characters, and I admire that.
So, although this movie could use a bit of improvement here and there, I would recommend it to anyone who's a religious person, and a lover of movies in general.