The Oscar Project
This is a bit of a departure from the posts I've been putting up about current Oscar nominees, but I wanted to write about a film I've seen many times.
My family was looking for a movie to watch last night on Netflix and landed on the 1998 film Prince of Egypt starring Val Kilmer and Ralph Fiennes as Moses and Rameses in the story of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt. The Oscar Perspective In light of the general topic of this blog, I wanted to take a look at the film from the perspective of the Oscars. Looking up the historical data, I found that Prince of Egypt garnered two nominations (Best Original Song and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score) with the one win coming for the song "When You Believe."
What's Missing?
I wish this film had been released 3-4 years later, after the Academy added the Best Animated Feature category. I was trying to think of a non-Disney film with a quality of animation as high as what I saw in Prince of Egypt. Even up against Mulan and A Bug's Life, likely the only other contenders in the category for 1998, I feel like Prince of Egypt would have had a fighting chance to take the category. This would likely have been the only other category where a nomination was deserved. Looking at the excellent films nominated in categories like Best Picture (including Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan), Best Adapted Screenplay (including Gods and Monsters and The Thin Red Line) and there were far too many heavy hitters for an animated film to make inroads. Final Analysis In the end, I love this film. I have always enjoyed the story of Moses and the Exodus and it's interesting to see how this film approached the subject after just watching The Ten Commandments on Easter weekend. For me, it's nice to have the story told in a tighter package like Prince of Egypt. And while I appreciate the visuals that The Ten Commandments presented at the time, I think Prince of Egypt holds up well twenty years after its original release.
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AuthorI'm just a film buff who wants to watch great movies. Where else to find the best, than the list of those nominated by the Academy each year? Archives
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