after the average mouse hunt , the silly small soldiers and the entertaining antz , dreamworks try again with the children's film market with this stunning adaptation of the moses story . 
as the film warns us at the beginning , it's not the full story , and some liberties have been taken , but generally this the bible story we all know and love , featuring burning bushes , the plagues and the parting of the red sea . 
the only thing missing is charlton heston . 
instead , we get val kilmer voicing moses , an hebrew who is placed in a river by his mother and rescued by the queen of egypt ( helen mirren . ) 
we flash forward several years to see moses and brother rameses ( fiennes ) all grown up . 
moses soon finds out from brother and sister miriam and aaron ( sandra bullock and jeff goldblum ) that he isn't really the son of the pharaoh seti ( patrick stewart ) and that it his destiny to free the hebrews from the egyptians tyrannical rule . 
he soon sets about this , along with his wife tzipporah ( michelle pfeiffer . ) 
rameses and his two wizard friends ( voiced by steve martin and martin short ) try to stop moses completing his task . 
while the plot is familiar and somewhat exciting for adults , for children reared on aladdin and hercules , this film could be the most godawful thing they've ever seen . 
gone is the quick fire humour and standard , easy to follow plot . 
but , spectacularly , and to dreamworks credit , nearly every child in the audience was captivated by the story and events happening on screen . 
jeffrey katzenberg , who produced this film , certainly knows how to keep a child interested . 
he's included some songs in the film , plus some comedy , and a exciting chariot chase , to keep the children interested . 
and somehow , himself and the directors still manage to get all the drama and intensity of the story across , without ever being boring . 
it's a remarkable achievement . 
also remarkable is the animation , which puts hercules , an almost 'slap dash' effort , to shame . 
relying on hand drawn and computer animation , the backgrounds and characters are amazingly detailed . 
the film seems a little caught up with it's amazing visuals by showing a lot of sweeping visuals and 'moving' shots , but they _do_ look incredible . 
the final 'plague' where god kills every first born child , and the parting of the red sea have to be seen to be believed . 
kudos to the animators . 
the vocal talent is also very good . 
val kilmer does a fine job as moses ( although he doesn't sing ) and ralph fiennes is superb as rameses ( and he _does_ sing . ) 
sandra bullock and jeff goldblum are great , and steve martin and martin short are very good , but not in the film long enough . 
finally , michelle pfeiffer does excellent work as moses wife . 
kudos also goes to the voice of god , who instead of booming and bombastic is quiet and subdued . 
sadly , he is uncredited , and i couldn't quite work out who the voice was . 
 ( but e-mail if you do . ) 
the songs are good , ranging from the usual love sonnets to the traditional big production number . 
they don't disturb the movie , and while not particularly memorable , they are nice to listen to ( they're well sung aswell . ) 
the musical score is suitably epic , with some beautiful tunes . 
coupled with the superb visuals , the prince of egypt is a visual and aural treat , backed up with a great story . 
entertaining both for kids and adults , this film is a must see . 
a david wilcock review ? 1998 
 " you know , for kids " - norville barnes