A little digging into Egyptian beliefs brings out a new level to this. God isn't just using generic plagues to attack the Egyptians. He is mocking the Egyptian gods in the process, who tended to be patterned after animals, as well as the concept of Pharaoh being a god himself since this entire time he is powerless. Essentially, he is breaking the Egyptians by saying "See how your gods tremble before me?" in addition to suffering. And their gods don't just tremble; they flee. He has full authority and power, and the various Egyptian gods can't do a damn thing to stop Him. Here's a brief breakdown of how every single plauge hit Egyptian beliefs and their very way of life: the staff-to-cobra transformation caused such a panic because it's a symbol of two goddesses: Meretseger, the guardian of the royal tombs, and, most importantly, Wadjet, the symbol of the royal power of life and death (hence why the pharaohs and a few other members of the royal family wore a stylised cobra on their heads; and note, this comes immediately after Ramses pardons Moses of murder, which is punishable by death). That's also why Hotep and Huy could pull it: they are the court mages, playing with cobras is part of their job; the First Plague, transforming the Nile in a river of blood, is a mockery of a good omen: the Nile would become red once per year, filled with the fertile silt that the incoming flood would deposit on the earth. And yet, this time not only the red waters appeared at the wrong time of the year and brought no silt, but they also caused the death of all the fish of Egypt. And come to think of it, silt is probably how Hotep and Huy 'replicated' the trick on a smaller scale'; This mocked Sobek, the god who protected against the dangers of the Nile, and Tefnut, Goddess of water the Second Plague, the frogs overrunning Egypt, continues the mockery of a good omen: the frog is a symbol of fertility and the gods Heket, and Hapy, a personification of the flooding of the Nile and its fertile silt, and smaller 'invasions' of frogs would come right after the flooding; the Third and Fourth Plagues, the mosquitoes and the fleas, are a direct consequence of the end of the Second: there were no frogs to eat them anymore. What's worse, the Egyptians were used to dealing with them, but this time there were too many; the Fifth Plague, the disease of the livestock, hits a soft point of the Egyptian believes: the cult of Apis, intermediary between men and gods, with a living incarnation as a bull (the Egyptians also built graves for these bulls). Because now Moses is the intermediary, Apis dies, and no other bull with the proper markings shall be found; the Sixth Plague, the boils, hits particularly hard: boils and other illnesses fall under the dominion of Thoth, the God of Science and Knowledge, Medicine and, what's worse, the Arbitrator of the Gods, who would bring justice and properly administer the law. Between the epidemics and the priests having no knowledge on how to cure this, this one is a warning that Egypt has brought itself outside of the law of Maat, its greatest moral value; the Seventh Plague, the storm of fire, is personal for the Pharaoh and the royal family: storms are the dominion of Seth. In this time not only Seth is not yet demonized (that would happen only from the Twenty-First dinasty, and the names of the Pharaohs indicate the Nineteenth), but it's one of the most important gods, with Rameses's own father being named after him and the current capital of Pi-Ramses (cited by name in the Bible as the starting point of the Exodus) is a center of Seth's worship. Ouch...; the Eight Plague, the locusts, is pure nightmare: while in small numbers they were considered symbols of luck alongside grasshoppers, in large numbers they were rightly feared, and by being brought by the wind this plague entered the dominion of one of the most important gods, Amon; the Ninth Plague the Darkness, is again personal with the Pharaoh and his family: not only the authority of the Pharaoh is associated with the Sun God Ra and the Sky God Horus, but the reigning Pharaoh is Rameses, meaning "Born from Ra". A message of paternal and divine rejection?; Also, at the end of this number, the darkness starts and spreads from a crumbling statue of Ra. the Tenth Plague is linked to a specific Egyptian myth, the Eye of Ra. In that myth, the men had disrespected Ra and planned to rebel and kill him, so he sent his Eye (identified with either the war goddess Sekhmet or the gentle Hathor, Depending on the version) to punish them with a slaughter... And in one day she killed half of mankind, all the guilty and many innocents, and to stop her finishing the job the gods had to get her drunk. The message here is: "Let My people go, for if you continue to sin all of Egypt shall die in an heartbat". No wonder Rameses finally relented...

Remember that this was Dreamwork's first ever feature film. They could've chosen anything, something original, something new. They chose something bold and adapted the epic Exodus from the Old Testament itself. What a way to start a studio

“Into your sleep, into your dreams, Until you BREAK, until you YIELD!” Honestly, this film comes so close to a horror movie sometimes…

What makes this, as a Christian, so distinct is that each plague targeted a specific Egyptian God, with the most deviating as the plague of darkness: meant to hit Ra the sun god. Gives me chills every time

Pharaoh is literally the embodiment of the “this is fine” meme

Whether you are religious or not you can't deny this is metal af.

Me: *be an atheist* This song: *plays* Me: THUS SAITH THE LOOORD!!!

I love the pure genius of the narrative in 1:38, when Pharaoh literally expells the comic relief from the story, represented in the priests, changing the tone of the plot from that point. If you see the movie, you can see that after the plagues struck, there is virtually no moment for jokes or laugh.

"Yeah, I can see it now. There go the pyramids!" "Well, you can laugh about it!" "Statues cracking and toppling over, the Nile drying up. Singlehandedly, you will manage to bring the greatest kingdom on earth to ruin." That foreshadowing tho

Everyone else : pointless arguments about religion.( you're gonna believe what you believe) Me: Wow, Voldemort sure can sing.

One of the things that I like about how they animated is the sheer faith in God's protection that Moses displays. A storm of flaming hail is coming down, causing panic and devastation, yet Moses shows no fear or hesitation in walking out into it, knowing that God wouldn't allow his prophet to be harmed.

This movie was so raw, punk-ass Disney would never be able to execute it without making it fluffy and obnoxious. I love that they show the internal struggles on both sides. One of the best animated films of all time.

I show this to anyone who says that animation is stupid and only for kids.

What I love about this movie is the complicated sibling dichotomy we have here. Here we see a pained younger brother who only ever wanted to make his brother happy, but instead sees himself bringing pain to innocents, hurting a person he loved, and destroying his home. But on the flip side, we see a jaded older sibling that does not understand this larger picture, and thinks that the younger sibling trying to show power and prove superiority. And in the midst, two nations are in the cross fire. This movie was a cinematic masterpiece on all accounts, whether or not you choose to be religious or not.

Even as a non beliver what truly gives me chills is putting myself in the shoes of the egyptian people. The mere thought of having the Creator himself against me with my own gods standing still, statuary in their non-existence really sends shivers down my spine

"Then let my heart be hardened" is such an excellent summary of Ramses as a character: a man who wishes he didn't care, but can't help doing so.

Moses: "Let my people go!" Ramesses: "I will not let your people go!" God: "Ha! You've just activated my trap card!" *unleashes the plagues*

*What people see:* Omgosh God this, God that, bla bla bla bla bla, you're wrong, I'm right! **put more insults here**!!! *What I see:* One of the most beautiful and outstanding adult animated movies ever made.

"I sent the locusts on a wind, as such the world has never seen, on every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green" Such a powerful line. When I was a kid, I thought the Egyptians were trying to sow new grains, but no, they where eating from the bare soil.

"I send the swarm/I send the horde/Thus saith the Lord" This goes unbelievably hard

This has got to be one of the most metal songs in animated kids' movie history haha. I swear, how has no metal band covered this thing????

I gotta say, even being irreligious, I enjoy the hell out of these kinds of movies. Whenever a major animation studio makes a movie with even the slightest religious themes it turns out really dark and intense. Like, anyone remember the Hunchback of Notre Dame? If you haven't seen it as an adult you need to. That is without a doubt one of Disney's darkest films. When Frollo sings 'Hellfire', oh, forget about it. Fuckin amazing.

I wrote a 2000-word essay on this scene for my Film Studies A level. My teacher said he was skeptical, at first, of my choice of an animated film, but he actually went away and watched the whole film.

If someone tells me that animated movies are only for kids, I’ll show him/her this. The amount of work behind every single scene to achieve such a magnificent masterpiece is impressive. It’s like a sequence of paintings coming to live, I miss 2D animation for this reason.

The individual plagues weren’t dealt out at random. Each was chosen as punishment in great part due to their symbolic significance: - Water Becomes Blood: Signifies God’s supremacy over Hapi, Egyptian god associated with the Nile who was the “water bearer.” - Frogs from the Nile: Illustrates God’s power over Heket, the Egyptian goddess of fertility, who had the head of a frog. - Lice from the Dust: Signifies God’s power over Geb, Egyptian god of the earth/land. - Swarms of Flies: Shows God’s authority over Khepri, Egyptian god of creation with the head of a fly/scarab/insect. - Death of the Livestock: Shows God’s victory over Hathor, Egyptian goddess of love usually depicted with a cow head and is closely associated with cattle. - Boils and Sores: Represents God’s power over Isis, Egyptian goddess of medicine, magic, and peace. - Burning Hail: Signifies God’s dominion over Nut, Egyptian goddess of the sky. - Hoards of Locusts: Illustrates God’s supremacy over Seth/Set; Egyptian god of destruction, storms, and disorder. - Three Days of Absolute Darkness: Represents God’s supremacy over Ra, the Egyptian sun god. Possibly also demonstrates superiority over Aten (another solar deity) and maybe Thoth (deity of knowledge and the moon). - Death of the First Born: Signifies God’s authority over Osiris (Egyptian god of the afterlife), Horus (Deity closely associated with Pharaohs and life itself), Anubis (Egyptian god of the dead), and Pharaoh (the “highest authority” of Egypt).

Why can't modern movie be like this? I feel like most of the more recent "children's movies" are too silly and light-hearted, filled with cheap humor and cheerful music. As much as I think Frozen is a completely alright movie, I wish people weren't so afraid of making a little bit more dark and heavy stuff again. This is beautiful!

I love how God is speaking through the choir singing, and through the voices of others through the movie

I get shivers every time Rameses starts singing, you can feel the power in the voice actors performance. It feels so personal and vengeful yet strong and firm. Beautiful!

That last scene where the darkness comes down and destroys the statue was always interesting to me, because from what I can tell, I think that was a statue of Ra, the Egyptian sun god, so shrouding him in darkness is an interesting way to portray the plague of darkness, basically God rubbing it in the faces of Egypt, that their gods were nothing compared to Him. I also love how the darkness actually flows, when it's moving through the city, it looks like an actual liquid or something, the animation is just incredible

When your brother changes the Wifi password and refuses to give it to you... EDIT : Cheezus Chrust ! I didn't noticed I got so many likes on this one lol glad you guys enjoy it, thanks !

Jesus this one verse just stands head and shoulders above the others: ''Then let my heart be hardened, And nevermind how high the cost may grow This will still be so I will never let Your people go'' JUST PERFECTION

What I love is that right after all this, before the final plague (Death of the Firstborn), Moses goes to Rameses and pleads with him to stop, saying something worse than any of the previous plagues is coming and to think of his son. Rameses then tells Moses that he will stop the Israelites the same way his father did, and that there would be a great cry in Egypt like there never was or would be again (foreshadowing). When he says this, Moses realizes that the wall they are next to is the one decorated with the slaughter of the Israelite children (which he'd escaped), and that where the children being tossed into the Nile were carved, directly below the crocodiles' jaws, was Ramses's son. Horrified and defeated, Moses tells Rameses he brings this on himself and leaves. Hands down my favorite scene in the movie

Pharaoh looking at the plagues like "This is fine."

The line, "Then let my heart be hardened," gets me every damn time. Not quite sure why, but something about it sends chills down my spine.

This is one of my favorite songs in the whole thing. Aside from Deliver Us. The one line that hit me the most was said by Moses: “This was my home! All this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside. All the innocent who suffer from your stubbornness and pride.” In 10 commandments, Moses from a character standpoint is inhuman. Sure, he’s powerful through the hand of God, but he’s not human. 10 commandments is the greatest biblical epic of all time, but The Prince of Egypt humanizes Moses. After all, Moses grew up in Egypt. So seeing the destruction of your own home, place you had so many memories about would be devastating to him. Probably one of the greatest creative choices made by any storyteller that stayed true to the source material.

I like this scene because you see that Moses and Ramses are both conflicted with the love they have for each other. But Moses was chosen and must keep with God's will. Such a great scene.

Rameses: the oldest table flipper currently known to man

This film is DreamWork's Hunchback of Notre Dame, underrated and religiously dark af.

By far the best song in the entire movie. Yeah, all the songs are fantastic, but this is the song where you really see the movie shine with everything: the chorus, the main characters, the pacing, the angst between the brothers, and the motivation for the antagonist. This song is the embodiment of just how good DreamWorks can be

As a teen who's mom is from Egypt, when I showed her this, she said it was the best American made movie she has ever seen. And she's been in America for over 15 years so that's saying something.

how do they make a film so perfect?

Literally having chills throughout the whole song

This movie was and still is a MASTERPIECE. It is criminally underrated

1:54 "let my heart be hardened, and never mind how high the cost may grow." is a great line. The boom in the voice actor's voice feels so ambitious and bold and stubborn. I can't articulate it well enough but it's a fantastic song!

1990-2000 the greatest era of animated musicals

1:44 the voice actor for the pharaoh is the same actor for voldemort, so you get to hear voldemort sing

my favorite part is at the end (2:11) when rameses and moses are going back to back with their vocals, the choir - meant to represent the voice of God - is going along with Moses's "let my people go" giving more weight to his tone and volume over rameses just like when he was saying the "thus saith the Lord" quote

Not religious, but raised christian and I'd say this is the only reason I stayed with the church for so long. The combination of both unyielding grace and intense strength is what kept me so tied to my religion for so long. And this movie showcases that really well. God I love this film.

Hell, I'm an atheist and I fucking love this movie. Its visuals are incredible :D

When the chorus kicks in "I send the swarm, i send the horde, thus saith the lord", and the grasshoppers fly over the statue of Anubis, it always gives me chills.

I love the references to the original wording of the plagues in the bible, most apparent to me was the "such as the world has never seen" during the locusts. The bible said something along the lines of "a horde of locusts the likes of which has never been seen, and never will be seen again."

“All the innocent that suffer, from your stubbornness and pride” chills, just CHILLS

When you break your streak in Duolingo

It's interesting how close Rameses is to his son, which makes sense: It's rooted in an insecurity with Rameses' inability to please and be close to his own father, so he made sure to love his own son and openly express it. It's so tragic how things ended.

I don't care how many people know Ralph Fiennes from Bond or as Voldemort, or from the English Patient, etc. His omnibus of work is so impressive, but I will always think of him as Rameses. His voice still instantly hits me. To this day I can't believe this movie came out in 1998. I'm still as floored by it visually and musically today as I was when I first saw it.

At 1:27, I get chills when Pharaoh looks outside to see Moses already standing there waiting for him. The plagues are probably the most emotional part of the movie for me. The music combined with the animations for each plague, showcasing the power of God makes me tear up. It’s beautiful and it makes me appreciate the Lord more and more each time I see it.

Isn't it ironic that an animated movie portrays the Egyptians and the israelites accurately, but all the live action versions don't?

1:31 that "let my people go!" is so amazing!!

Putting aside how this is an absolute work of art in terms of animation, this shot right here at 2:06 is amazing from a general filmmaking perspective. The different lighting, the way they move to look at each other with discontent instead of animosity before fading into two different shots when the final part of the song kicks in. THIS MOVIE IS SO GOOD!!!! I watched it for the first time yesterday and I’ve rewatched this scene specifically at least 20 times

This movie is an actual masterpiece.

There's only one voice in this song that gives me chills. Its in the opening when the singers sound like there Whispering, its the really deep one that says "since you refuse to free my people," really adds wight to the lyrics

something I have noticed is how the attention to detail they gave Pharaoh. Pay attention to when his face is in frame, almost every time he narrows his eyes, that signifies that he Harding his heart, nice detail to point out!

The scariest part of this Song alone is that fact that its both amazing, yet ruthless. We're literally seeing the Wrath of God HimSelf.

This is what top-tier animation looks like. This isn't a movie. This is art.

This is my favorite telling of this story. It had such wonderful character development and you really feel the burden that weighs on Moses's shoulders having to go against someone who he knew as his family. Many other versions don't even bother with the family relationship.

I hope they do another biblical movie. This movie and the King of Dreams are AMAZING

Every single song that isn't one of the "happy" or "comical" ones holds such imagery which is amazing. Deliver us makes you feel the weight of every brick the need to collapse with every stomp of mud. The plagues makes you feel the dispair moses feels for doing this to the one he once called brother and his sorrow he feels while also making you feel the anger towards moses and his determination to not be the "weak link" as his father once told him he could become

This was my favorite movie as a kid. Even at a young age I saw Ramsey as a tragic character. His crime was being born and raised into a lifestyle, this was all he knew, it was selected for him, then his brother who was his best friend his whole life betrays him. In his eyes he did nothing wrong and his brother comes home after years and unleashes hell on his home and country. But to Moses he has a goal to free his people and take revenge for what their father did. In the scene that Ramsey breaks and let’s them go he is hurt, he lost his brother and his son. It’s easy to understand why he decided to chase them down he has nothing to lose at that point. I love how a movie this old, and a Bible story at that, shows the nuance of good and evil better than almost all new movies.

I wish DreamWorks made a movie about Queen Esther. I mean she was one of the greatest heroines in the bible and her love story with the King of Persia was very romantic.

Out of all the plauges, the very last one has always been terrifying. There was no sound or sign of it at all, it just went into the houses that weren't coverd in lamb's blood and took the breath of the eldest children. Since Rameses only had one child it totaled him. It's sad because even though he watched Egypt get ravaged by the first plauges, it took the death of his only son for him to budge. Most stubborn man ever.

One of the sadder parts of this film is when you realize it chronologically happened after Joseph: King of Dreams, when Moses's people had been gladly welcomed to Egypt.

Felt to watch this the other day..wow man..literally teared up the whole movie. Not just cause of Nostalgia but because even as a kid, I lowkey understood the message and would hear our Lord speak to me in sleep. Now being an adult in this world, It speaks volumes. Praise onto him, for he's our Lord and Savior. 🙏🏾

2:13 it’s over Rameses, I have the high ground

this movie should have been turned into a musical on broadway. Just imagine this one number on stage!

What’s sad is that if another masterpiece like this was made in our current time, it would immediately be shot down by the internet for quite stupid reasons. A masterpiece like this just wouldn’t go well in this day and age. I’m glad we got the ones like these when we did so they can be respected for the excellent films they are.

Remember Prince of Egypt was directed by a man who wanted to do his own film about the Exodus from Egypt. It stands so well because the emotions expressed through the music and colors used in this beautiful piece of cinema

Every time I hear "Thus saith the Lord" in the song I get a wave of chill down my spine.

DreamWorks has this habit of taking ideas that shouldn't work, and then making them amazing. THIS is hands down the studios masterpiece. This is Dreamwork's Lion King. I had no idea that Ralph Fiennes or Val Kilmer could sing before I heard this song. This single sequence is as good as, if not better than most Disney musical numbers.

no other animated movie will ever top the music in this one

Prince of Egypt is just...such an epic masterpiece. I get goosebumps just listening to the songs from the film.

Ok, that finish, wow

My cat recently brought fleas into the house. This song is all I think of when I wake up in the morning scratching frantically.

This is legitimately one of the most beautiful films in cinematic history.

“All this pain and devastation, how it tortures me inside, all the innocent who suffer from your stubbornness and pride” These are straight heat

Just found out the guy who played Rameses played Voldemort....

Watched this at a young age....Still awesome

"And even now, I wish that God had chose another." Always gives me chills, no matter how many times I hear it. So much pain is contained in that line alone

This feels a bit relevant considering last weekends events.

When the professor holds back the class after class is over. LET MY PEOPLE GO

This is probably the most manliest way of saying to your bro " Sorry mate, but i disagree with you...."

Though my faith may be gone, this movie is still one of my favorites. Such a powerful story, such great animation and music. This movie has been with me through my whole life and I feel so many emotions towards it, but overall I feel happy to have seen this as a kid. I don't know who I'd be if I hadn't.

2:00-2:08 THIS is the best part of the song. It truly amazes me that a animated remake of an film adaptation of the Book of Exodus in the *Bible* can be completely neutral on theism. And its between a monotheism and the ancient polytheistic belief!

I actually prefer this film over the Ten Commandments. Now don't get me wrong, Ten Commandments is a superb film but it's key problem for me is the fact that Moses and Ramses in that version almost seem to hate each other. I get they tried to show Ramses as a bad seed, but there is no sense of even respect for each other. The whole story of Exodus seems to focus on two brothers and their brotherhood being torn in two. Prince of Egypt captured this perfectly and took some interesting interpretations of the characters that I really enjoyed

I love this because God starts with benevolent miracles, but when they don’t work he goes into full on malevolent plagues. With the contrast of the two brothers at odds, not with themselves but with their own circumstances. Truly a tragedy if ever there was one. Beautiful story.

This movie haunts me to this day. A pure work of art.

This song really embodies how you can view the story. You can view it as a beautifully made and told biblically story or as family drama between 2 brothers that were once everything to each other torn apart because of ideological differences.

I love the quality to Ramses voice. It's not conventionally polished or full like Moses's, but it's still somehow pretty and extremely satisfying to listen to. It's like it's lacking the warmth and roundness of Moses's and instead is jagged and cold, but makes up for it in character. Moses is Tiger Eye, Ramses is Obsidian. It fits their characters perfectly.

I'm not really into Biblically based movies, but this is hands down one of my favorite movies, and my favorite part. It's so chilling and powerful.

The animation, the music, and the singing in this whole movie so amazing!! My favorite part of this song is when Moses says "Let my people go" at 1:31

"This was my home!"..... the feels man