While DreamWorks Animation are more well known for their CGI films, they have made a few traditionally animated films which surprisingly look pretty good all things considered. However unlike Disney, they have only made a handful and some of these did not do well. The one that I would say was the one that did well, is Prince of Egypt. It is by far, one of the best traditionally animated films out there and just one of a handful of good non Disney traditionally animated films out there. Its not easy trying to replicate the quality of Disney films, but DreamWorks did quite well (though its probably because their CEO used to work for Disney and left due to creative differences with one Michael Eisner). But anyway, let's have a look at arguably their best traditionally animated film and its prequel:
The Prince of Egypt
To summarise the story, this is the story of Moses (voiced by that one Batman in that one Batman film that came before the worst Batman film of all time, Val Kilmer who also provides the voice of God) from the Book of Exodus in the bible. It mostly follows his story accurately, though with obvious changes because of it being a family film as well as a musical. From when he was a baby up to when he was raised in Egypt and so on. It is a great film that has great music, great animation as I mentioned already (especially in one scene to do with water) and despite the obvious changes, remains faithful to the story as seen in the Book of Exodus in the bible. Because of what the film is based on, there was of course some controversy about it as well as it being banned in some countries which doesn't surprise me much considering what its based on as I mentioned. But as I said, its a great film and one that at the time of its release, gave Disney a run for its money. 9/10
Joseph King of Dreams
Prequel or companion piece, whatever you want to call it, this would be DreamWorks doing another bible story, this time on Joseph. Now most of you will be more familiar with the musical Joseph more than this one and that's most likely because this film was direct to home media and as most of us know, direct to home media films at least for a while, were often overlooked and ignored to the point where the general public want a particular film, only to completely ignore the fact that the film they want, already exists and has existed for a while and they didn't even notice. So the film mostly follows the story of Joesph (voiced by the DCEU Batman, Ben Affleck with the singing voice of David Campbell) from the Book of Genesis (which by the way, is the correct spelling Paramount!!) from when he was a baby to when he was exiled to become a slave in Egypt and so on. The thing that surprises me about this film is that despite being direct to home media, it has 3 well known voices, 1 of which I have already mentioned and the others being Mark Hamill (aka Luke Skywalker and the DCAU and Arkham Joker) and Dan Castellaneta (aka Homer Simpson). I will admit, it does have some advantages to the more well known musical in that it has a lot more dialogue, different music (all of which work out well in the scenes they are used in) and its beautifully animated. Not to mention that it doesn't have a song where it just goes on and on about the many colours of the coat. I think this could've worked better as a theatrical release, but at least DreamWorks Animation learnt their lesson in that as this was the only direct to home media film they have ever done and it's one of the best home media films in general alongside the many Batman direct to home media films that are out there. 9/10
So I'd say DreamWorks Animation did quite well with their takes on Bible stories. Obviously they are both not able to go down well in some countries because of their source material, but they are still pretty good nevertheless. 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment