|
The old testament,reanimated >> The Prince of Egypt retells the Moses epic by MATTHEW HAYS
Entertainment media have been speculating about the cost of the film, the number of people involved and the cost--both financially and in terms of perception--if the project is perceived as being a failure. (There's certainly no lack of publicity for the film; The Prince of Egypt is figured prominently this week in a Time cover story about the historical study of the life of Moses.) The film is beautiful to behold, an animated feature that employs numerous different techniques to bring the story of Moses to life. The team behind the film--and hundreds were involved, I'm told--went to great lengths to consult with biblical experts and historians in an effort to get the story right. Which, to an extent, seems odd: why work so hard to make this bit of history correct down to the last possible detail, in a medium which is essentially anti-realist? That question, answers the film's producer Penney Finkelman Cox, is a loaded one. "The idea that animation can't tell stories like this indicates a prejudice against the medium. I don't know why that is. For whatever reason, up until this time animation has only been used in the Disney sense: lots of songs, some cute animals, a fairy tale. What we've done is take this very famous biblical story and apply animation to it." And DreamWorks, in its bid to take a bite out of the considerable animated-feature box office sweepstakes, is up against a formidable competitor. It's no secret that DreamWorks partner Jeffrey Katzenberg raided the Disney animation studio for staff when he set up his animation contingent. Brenda Chapman, Prince of Egypt's director and the first woman ever to direct an animated feature, is one of the former Disney types who fled to the promised land of DreamWorks. "I had worked with Jeffrey on The Little Mermaid, and then he left to form this new studio. I thought long and hard about it when he made me the offer. I gave into temptation. There was something very attractive about getting in on the ground level. "When I was offered the job of directing Egypt, I said flat-out no, because I really didn't think I was ready. Later Jeffrey said to me, 'Well, we haven't found anyone else, so you're directing this movie.' By that time I'd gotten so into the story and the idea that I was like, yeah, I'll do it." As for the rivalry between DreamWorks and her former studio, Chapman says she doesn't feel it too deeply. "I still really enjoy what Disney does. The fairy tale epics are fun to watch. We're just trying something different. "Anyway, I can only have so much against Disney. My husband still works there!" The Prince of Egypt opens Friday, December 18
|
The DreamWorks publicity machine has been in overdrive during the past few months. The fledgling studio's latest animated epic, The Prince of Egypt, will open continent-wide this Friday, and the stakes are high.