Old vs. New: Moses Edition

One of cinema’s favorite stories to keep retelling is the story of Moses in Egypt. How many adaptions have there been? (me: *checks*) At least twelve. That’s not including all the short religious films and stuff; just major length films with a theatrical release. That’s a lot for a bible story. The only thing to beat it out are stories of Christ. 

The two major films that everybody seems to know though are The Ten Commandments and The Prince of Egypt. (Now, technically, The Prince of Egypt is almost 20 years old, making it not all that new; but it is new by comparison to The Ten Commandments which is over 60 years old.) I have seen both numerous times and have a great fondness for both. But is one better than the other? I want to take a look at both and decide if either is better. (Note: while writing this right now, I have no idea what the outcome is going to be. I love both these movies and I am proceeding with this in order to determine what my true opinion is. There may be some rambling.)

Let’s start off with the TITLE CHARACTER

In The Ten Commandments, Moses is played by the legendary Charlton Heston. This man is seriously a master at his craft (not to mention a total stud). Even for being a old-time actor, he is still excellent at what he does. Like everything is this movie, he is a little over-the-top sometimes, but because everything in the movie is a bit over-dramatic, he doesn’t stand out as silly or anything. He has a very commanding presence whether he’s a prince of Egypt taking control of unpleasant situations, or the mighty prophet everyone knows ordering Pharaoh to “let my people go!”

In Prince of Egypt, Moses is voiced by Val Kilmer (you know, Batman). This version of Moses makes him more human and relatable. As a prince, he is portrayed as a young, reckless troublemaker who enjoys laughing and having a good time, but he is still noble and good-hearted. I kind of enjoyed his self-doubt too. I mean, who wouldn’t feel a little downtrodden with all he goes through? Would you expect an actual human to remain perfectly stoic the entire time? However, I think there was a bit of a clunky transition from the goofy teenager to the mighty prophet everyone knows.

In the end, I think I’m going to give this point to The Ten Commandments. I do love The Prince of Egypt’s Moses, but I think The Ten Commandment’s Moses captured the essence of the character better and sucked you in with his power. 

STORY
Both movies tell the same story obviously, but in very different ways.

 

The Ten Commandments has a longer, more epic take on the tale. Many more characters and side stories are added. A love triangle is created, a rivalry between Moses and Ramses is formed when they are young, intrigue about Moses's past, many details about the Hebrew religion are included, practically nothing is cut out from those chapters in Exodus (including the golden calf). The movie was created back in the day when making four-hour-long movies was acceptable; just slap an intermission in the middle and it’s all good. (I wish we still did that, movies could include so much more detail). The drama of this movie is fantastic! 

The Prince of Egypt is an average hour and a half movie. It manages to condense everything you need into that time frame. Plus, it’s a musical which I always appreciate. Something I really like about this version compared to pretty much all other versions I have seen is that it shows the plagues of Egypt (I mean, it’s in a montage, but still). Even in The Ten Commandments, it just shows the characters discussing most of them. In this version, a lot of creative license is taken on historical accuracy (for example: Moses is not drawn from the water by Pharaoh’s daughter, but his wife.)

This one is a little tougher, but I think I’m going to give the point to The Prince of Egypt for managing to condense such an intense story into a short time frame and still making it amazing and interesting. Also, its storytelling style is more creative and less straightforward than The Ten Commandments. 

ANTAGONIST: RAMSES

In The Ten Commandments, Moses and Ramses are portrayed as rivals right from the beginning. Ramses is jealous of Moses’s success and how liked he is by everyone; he sees him as a threat to his throne. This makes the expectancy of Moses’s return into Egypt all the more intense because you know there’s no way that Ramses is going to grant his request. You already know how stubborn and cruel he is. You wonder how on earth Moses is going to accomplish this task (of course, with God, anything is possible, but STILL! Intensity!) This movie makes Ramses a power-hungry, greedy, manipulative, stubborn, mustache-twirling villain. 

In The Prince of Egypt it is the exact opposite. Moses and Ramses grow up as brothers and the best of friends. Their relationship as loving brothers is so spot on. So when Moses runs away, it’s quite heartbreaking. This take on it makes the audience wonder what will happen. It’s all up in the air (of course we know. Who watches a Moses story without already knowing it?). But then this movie adds an extra layer where Ramses believed that he would let down his ancestors’ legacy (be the “weak link” in the chain) and bring down the dynasty. 

I think I’ll give this point to The Prince of Egypt for Ramses’s complexity as a villain. While I do like The Ten Commandments’s Ramses’s sheer evilness, point to The Prince of Egypt because you actually feel bad for the deteriorating relationship between Moses and Ramses. You feel his anguish as everything falls apart around him. You don’t want him to win, but you feel bad. It’s very complex. Props!

SECONDARY CHARACTERS

There are a lot of characters in The Ten Commandments. To name a few: Joshua (the stonecutter and Moses’s successor), Bithia (Moses’s adoptive mother), Lilia (the water girl that EVERYBODY lusts after), Dathan (the creepy Hebrew overseer), Memnet (Bithia’s grumpy handmaid), Baka (the master builder [or "master butcher"] aka Vincent Price), and I must address Nefretiri. Nefretiri is the princess who will marry the next pharaoh, who is in love with Moses and hates Ramses. She is quite the character and such an interesting addition to the story. She’s there for the majority of the movie and her character goes through such drastic changes. If you ever hear anyone in my family saying "Moses! Moses!" dramatically, we're quoting her. I think she adds extra points on this movie. 

There’s not as many characters in The Prince of Egypt. The main focus is on Moses and Ramses. But there are a few: Miriam, Aaron, Tzipporah, Jethro, etc. It’s funny, all the characters in this movie (the characters that get emphasis in Exodus in the bible) don’t really get emphasis in The Ten Commandments. To be perfectly honest, I don’t care much for the secondary characters in this film. Probably Tzipporah is my favorite, but other than that, they just aren’t that great or are flat out annoying (and there are obvious celebrity placements where their voices don’t match). 

So, I’m going to give this point to The Ten Commandments for its diversity and more interesting characters.

SPECIAL EFFECTS/STYLISTIC CHOICES

Obviously, The Ten Commandments was made in a time before CGI and great improvements in special effects, so I will be taking that into account. However, even without taking that into account, this movie is still extremely impressive. I think nowadays, sometimes with the easy access of CGI, moviemakers forget the use of practical effects which often have more powerful an impact. This movie is just so BIG! The scope of things is incredible! Whether you’re looking out over Egypt, parting the Red Sea, watching thousands of Hebrews migrate, watching the entire Nile turn to blood, seeing the “angel of death” kill people off one by one, and so on, you are blown away. 

Now, you can do pretty much anything you want to with animation, so I’ll be judging The Prince of Egypt slightly differently. Instead of looking at special effects, I’ll be looking at stylistic choices the movie made. This movie is extremely beautiful, there’s no denying it. I love when the Red Sea parts and they can see fish swimming. Also, the burning bush scene is extremely unique with white fire. I mentioned before with the plagues of Egypt, I love seeing them all in progress and the anguish of the Egyptians. The Nile River actually looked like blood. And the “angel of death” was super scary. 

I really can’t pick! I have to make this one a tie. They’re both so amazing! Point to both.

MUSIC

The Ten Commandments was scored by Elmer Bernstein. I’ll bet most people have heard the theme at some point in their lives before. It is one of those iconic epic pieces of music. That main theme is particular is just so spectacular, there’s nothing else that could match the grandness of Moses parting the Red Sea. I couldn’t imagine the scene without that music (It’s like watching the end of Star Wars: A New Hope without John Williams). Of course, there are other themes, gentler music, more romantic themes. All also very good. 

The Prince of Egypt is a musical, so already there’s points. But then the music is SO GOOD! The music makes it that much more epic! I don’t think the movie would be nearly as grand without those musical numbers; they just display the characters’ inner struggles/thoughts/feelings. Just the opening number “Deliver Us” really sets the tone. It’s not just the musical numbers though, the score is beautiful as well. Hans Zimmer is amazing.

I’m giving this point to The Prince of Egypt because I get all the feels (also, I actually go out of my way to listen to this soundtrack). 

* * *

Alright, is everyone ready for the final count? Like I said before, I had no idea what the outcome would be at the start. I honestly just wanted to figure out which one I liked better/which I thought was a better movie. I wasn’t keeping track of which had more points as I went along, I was trying to remain as unbiased as possible and just said what I thought.

So without further ado... 

The Ten Commandments: 3

The Prince of Egypt: 4

Man, that was tough. A very close call. I honestly wouldn’t have called that. There’s probably a lot more to take into account, but I don’t have all day. This doesn’t mean that I don’t like The Ten Commandments because believe me, I do; it just means that there were a couple more things I appreciated slightly more about The Prince of Egypt. 

They’re both very different movies and I highly recommend checking both of them out!

Top 10 Movies Scenes That Got Me to Cry

I enjoy movies a lot (shocker). They are filled with so much art and emotion (most of them). I consider it a great movie if it really gets me to feel something whether it be joy, sadness, fear, disgust (hey, Inside Out reference!) One big emotion often included in movies is sadness. Even if it’s not a sad movie, per say, the main character and/or side characters always have a moment of despair/self doubt that serves as a turning point for the movie. Of course, then there are movies filled with sad moments where you’re just continually crying. Crying can be attributed to happiness too, of course. Those moments where you’re filled with so much happiness and joy that the tears break. 

Here, I have compiled a list of my top 10 movie scenes that got me to cry (and will every time). This is purely opinion based. I am basing it on how hard they got me to cry, how much emotion it stirs up in me, and if it manages to impact me as hard with each viewing.

I should give out a SPOILER WARNING since I will be discussing a lot of key plot moments from these movies.

There are links on each of these if you feel like crying ;)

FORREST GUMP- Jenny’s death

Forrest Gump is filled with all these little tear-jerking moments (right before this scene when he asks Jenny if their son is smart or not. Gah!), but I think the kicker for me is right at the end after Jenny dies and he stands over her grave talking to her. When he talks about how smart their son is, how he wished people didn’t have to die, and “I miss you Jenny.” It really gets you.

BAMBI- Bambi’s mother’s death

Of course this was on the list. One of the most famous cinema deaths of all time. It was pretty brave for Disney to put in such a shocking death like that. The suspense that builds up, the gunshot, then how Bambi wanders around calling for her. “Your mother can’t be with you any longer.”

LAND BEFORE TIME- Littlefoot’s mother’s death

I almost forgot about this film until I was reviewing clips on YouTube and this came up in “related videos” for Bambi’s mother’s death. Holy cow, I forgot how sad this scene is! I remember crying as a kid. Imagine having your mother die right in front of you like that. Geez! At least Bambi never actually saw it happen and didn’t talk to her as the life drained out of her. 

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1- Dobby’s death

To be honest, there are other deaths in Harry Potter that were more impactful and sadder to me while reading the books, but I think that this movie pulled this death off so well and really got the tears rolling. Dobby is such an innocent and caring character; and to be murdered like that is so horrible. Then he dies in Harry’s arms like that. Aaaahhhh!

UP- Married life

Oh, Pixar. They really know how to sock you right in the feels. There is so much in those five minutes of montage. There are three parts in particular that stand out to me: Ellie’s infertility, Ellie not being able to make it up the hill just as Carl bought tickets to South America, and Carl at Ellie’s funeral. But there is SO much more! They just love each other so much. It’s not like Ellie had an untimely death or that they were unhappy or anything. They had an average happy life, but they were unable to live their dream of going to South America and it was just sad to see Carl lose Ellie. Waaaah!

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE- Ending

I think this is the only true “happy tears” I’ve got on this list. Holy cow, if you want to feel good about yourself, your life, family, friends, people, humanity, and everything in general, watch this movie. I love how the entire town comes to help George out when he thinks he’s going under. He was going to accept that there was nothing he could do, but then EVERYBODY comes and helps him because he was such a good guy his whole life. It just shows that being a good person eventually pays off. I love it so much!

DEAD POET’S SOCIETY- O Captain My Captain!

This movie is amazing and is also filled with moments that really pull at your heartstrings. But I think this moment really takes the cake; so many emotions! The music, the way they all stand up against “the man”, one last hurrah for the teacher who taught them to think outside the box, the way they all stand up one by one. Oh! It’s so good! It’s half happy, half sad. Plus, ROBIN WILLIAMS, man! 

CASTAWAY- Wilson floats away

Tom Hanks again. Did we ever think we would get so attached to an inanimate object? Well, we did in this movie. The loss of Wilson is seriously one of the saddest moments I have ever witnessed on screen. Tom Hanks really sells it. He struggles so hard to get to Wilson, but just can't. Wilson was his only friend for years and then he has to choose between his boat and letting Wilson go. "I’m sorry, Wilson!” Me: *sobs*

TOY STORY 3- Incinerator

Speaking of Tom Hanks, Pixar is back again. This movie really packed in the feels. I was debating between this scene and the ending, but I decided on this because I don’t think I had ever cried so hard in a movie theater than at this part. I was actually terrified they were going to get incinerated; these characters we grew up with, who have been through so much, who have stuck together until the very end. And the way they all hold hands, calming each other, and accepting their fate. STAAAAWP!!! Of course, everything turns out alright, but that doesn't even matter! This was an intense scene!

LION KING- Mufasa’s Death

Of course this was coming. This will never not be sad to me. Lion King was my absolute favorite movie when I was a kid, but I hated this scene; it was too sad. Of course, there was Bambi’s mom’s death which was sad and dramatic, but with this, you actually saw the body; Simba walks up to him and tries to revive him. I find it sadder than Littlefoot’s mom’s death because Simba didn’t get to say goodbye and THEN he thought it was his fault. And the music plays a huge part too. It’s too much! I cannot deal!