Paige: What happens when Dreamworks green lights Disney's rejected project?
P: You're about to find out on this episode of the P&S Watch series.
Sarah: Today we'll be watching The Prince of Egypt, which was released in 1998.
S: It stars Val Kilmer, Ralph Finnes, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
S: And it was directed by Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and Simon Wells.
P: I grew up watching this movie as, you know, a Jewish kid.
S: I've never seen this movie before. It's not because I'm not Jewish.
S: It's just, I've never gotten around to it.
P: For a movie that is about Middle Eastern Jewish people and Ancient Egyptians there
P: are a [exaggerated] hella lot of white non-Jews that voice the characters.
S: I don't know if you heard…Michelle Pfeiffer is in this movie. [laughs]
S: This is about Moses! And it's basically the story of Exodus from the bible. Or...
P: The Old Testament, technically. S: Yeah.
P: Jefferey Katzenberg, in the 90's, was the chairman of the Disney Animation department.
P: He wanted to make this movie for a really long time and Michael Eisner, who was the
P: CEO of the Disney company, kept giving him a rejection every time [he pitched the movie].
P: Katzenberg went to Spielberg and Dreamworks and Spielberg was like, "Hell…yeah! Let's do this!"
P: So then they made a movie about the Jews leaving Egypt.
P: This is the reason why we celebrate Passover,
P: which is why this video is coming out before Passover! Let's get started!
S: Now I have seen, like, the first…couple minutes.
S: It's very scary because they're going around and killing babies.
S: And the mom sings because she's sad.
P: Because he's [Moses] gonna get fed to the crocodiles in the Nile.
Movie & Paige: ♪♪Deliver us!♪♪ S: That blade was awfully clean for killing a baby!
S: Maybe because it's a kid's movie.
P: The woman who plays Yocheved [Ofra Haza] song her part of he song in, like, 17 different languages.
S: [shocked] P: Yeah.
P: This movie was the most expensive animated feature ever made at the time!
P: And for a fledgling animation group to have made the most expensive animated movie of
P: all time and still recover the money and keep making movies…is amazing.
S: I'm guessing we meet his siblings again? P: Yes.
S: Is there any weird, like, incest that happens accidentally?
P: No, this isn't Oedipus.
S: This baby's not getting any kind of concussion?
S: I'm guessing that was foreshadowing, like, her holding the baby and the kid being like,
S: [exaggerated] "Mom! Pay attention to me!"
[Movie] Moses: "Come on, where's your sense of fun?" Rameses: "Oh, it's fun you want?!"
S: That's Ralph Finnes? P: Mhm. S: Wow.
P: When Rameses and Moses are racing each other at the beginning of the film, one of
P: their carts smashes some sort of board game two passersby are playing.
P: The game is authentically historic and accurate. It was called Senet, and can be found in
P: scrolls and wall paintings, and one set was even found in King Tut's tomb.
P: That is Hotep and Hoy. Those are Steve Martin and Martin Short.
S: Man, what jerks these kids are! P: [exasperated] Yep!
[Movie] Seti: "Why do the Gods torment me with such reckless, destructive, blasphemous sons?"
S: That is Patrick Stewart! P: Yes.
S: It's really funny that the one who's abnormally tall is Martin Short, and the one
S: who is very short is Steve Martin, who's…exceptionally tall!
S: I love the framing of having the Pharaoh in profile, and also his statute in the distance.
P: His whole point in this movie is to push legacy onto his son.
[Movie] Rameses: "Why is it that every time you start something,
R: I'm the one who ends up in trouble?" [Moses drops the bag] S: [gasps]
[Movie] Moses: "I propose that the High Priests offer tribute to their new Regent."
P: "Tribute" comes in the form of my favorite character in the movie.
S: It's not his sibling, right? P: No. S: [relieved] Okay.
[Movie] Hotep: "We offer you this delicate dessert flower."
P: This is Michelle Pfeiffer's character.
[Movie] Rameses: "Have her dried off…" [Tzipporah groaning]
R: "…and sent to Prince Moses' chambers."
S: I didn't miss that, right? There were some definite…sexual…implications? P: Yes.
[Movie: camel noises] S: Good for her! P: Yup.
S: I hate to say this but it's probably a lot better
S: that she got sent to Moses's room. P: It definitely is.
S: It's the hair from the siblings! P: The hair?
S: The sibling hair! P: There's Sandra Bullock.
S: That's Sandra Bullock? P: And Jeff Goldblum.
S: Is…their mom dead? P: Yes. S: Oh, that sucks.
P: I can imagine that the life expectancy of a Jewish slave in Ancient Egypt is not very long.
[Movie] Moses: "♪♪All I ever wanted…♪♪"
P: You know how every movie has the, "I Want" song? This is the, "What do I want?" song. [both laugh]
[Movie] Moses: "♪♪And if anybody doubts it… [Paige joins in] They couldn't be more wrong!♪♪"
P: This is pretty cool. S: Oh, is he gonna dream?
P: Yeah, and he dreams in wall paintings. S: Oh, that is cool!
P: God sends him this dream to be like, "Yes, okay the
P: woman you met was right about what's happening!"
S: It would make sense that God sends him the dream because that's usually what happens
S: with dreams and god, because I think that God is too powerful to talk to anybody directly.
S: Why would you do that, and then, like, commission a giant wall of it?!
S: See, the thing about whips is that they're strong enough to break the skin.
S: A couple of those and that man is going to get an infection.
S: Oh snap- [gasps, music blares] P: Yep. S: OH MY GOD.
[Movie] Taskmaster: "Who did this?" S: [whines] My bad!
S: He's like, "Nope- I can't… OH NO. [Paige laughs]
S: "I can't deal with the implications of this right now!"
S: I mean I also feel really bad for Moses because he
S: clearly didn't mean to push him over the edge, but like…YIKES.
[Movie] Moses: "I just killed a man!" Rameses: "We can take care of that!"
P: "We can blame it on one of the slaves!"
S: I have a bad feeling that this is going to backfire on you.
P: Moses has God on his side. S: I know, but he doesn't know that right now!
S: He's just gonna run out into the dessert and die…like an idiot!
P: Movie's not even halfway over, he's not gonna die.
S: He's like, "Please just kill me." P: "Just end the torment!" S: [groans]
P: The camel has no rider. It's just a camel in the middle of the dessert by itself.
S: You know, it really looks like a plot device. The movie's just like,
S: "Moses has lost the will to live, and now we need a camel to rescue him."
S: Are those her sisters? P: Yes.
[Movie, Moses breaks the well and falls in] S: [gasps]
P: At least there was water in that well.
S: Oooh, I've seen this part on Tumblr! That girl, who…escaped…is just like…
[Screen Junkies video, see card] The Rock [as Gaston]: "Listen bitch!!!"
S: "You're on MY turf, now!" P: That's why she's my favorite!
[Movie] Tzipporah: "You?" Moses: [grunts] P: Retribution!
[Movie] Tzipporah's sister: "That's why Papa says she'll never get married."
P: [laughs] S: OH MY GOD.
[Movie] Moses: "I've done nothing in my life worth honoring."
Jethro: "First you rescued Tzipporah from Egypt-"
P: She kind of rescues herself from Egypt. S: Yeah.
P: But, you know, k- fine, whatever.
[Movie] Jethro: "♪♪Look at your life through Heaven's eyes♪♪"
Ensemble: "♪♪lai-la-lai lai-la-lai lai-la-lai lai-la-lai lai-la-lai lai-la-lai♪♪"
P: This is Moses' "Growing up in one song" song.
S: So now he's a Midian? P: Yeah, he lives out with them for at least ten years.
S: Ten years?! P: Yes.
S: Ah, see now he's not. I'm just joking! This is where you see all the pictures of him on Tumblr.
S: What are they arguing about?
P: They're not arguing about anything, they're getting married.
S: [gasps] And just think! A couple scenes ago, she was going to be your sex slave.
P: Ya know… S: I've got a [bleating] baaaad feeling…[laughing]
S: Because a goat is leading him somewhere!
P: Welcome to The Burning Bush. The Burning Bush is God.
P: So the voice of God, to avoid controversy, was played by all the major actors.
P: The actors were told to whisper the lines so that none would dominate the performance,
P: but by the time they got around to having Val Kilmer read his lines, they realized they
P: needed someone to be louder so that you could hear what it was saying.
P: You can still hear the rest of the cast whispering beneath Kilmer's voice in God's lines.
[Movie] God: "I am that I am."
Moses: "You've chosen the wrong messenger."
S: That shows up again and again.
S: Anybody who gets to talk to God is like, "OH NO. You have got the wrong dude!"
S: He looks so much older but she looks the same.
P: You know, maybe it's not 10 years in the movie, but it should be. S: Yeah, you're right!
S: He's gotten a lot older- P: In, like, six months! S: And nobody else has!
S: Oh, I guess he's going to [wavering] see the Pharaoh…
P: Yeah. S: Wow, they just let him in?
S: Do you think they recognize him? P: Rameses does.
P: That's Rameses' son. S: What?
P: There are inconsistencies but there has to be a few years, at least,
P: that he has been gone, because Rameses has a son.
[Movie] Rameses: "He is our Brother, Moses, the Prince of Egypt!"
S: He's like, "Um… I'm not really into that anymore."
S: Something gonna happen? P:…and…Snake Staff!
[Movie, swelling music] S: oH MY GOD.
[Movie] Hotep & Hoy: "♪♪Ra…Mut …Nut…Ptah…Hemsut!♪♪"
S: You're just naming all of them!
S: [mocking] Ooh, two snakes. We made two snakes!
S: I imagine that the God snake is gonna eat the 2 snakes?
P: Yes. S: Aww, what quality Father-Son bonding time!
[Movie] Rameses: "A greater Egypt than that of my father."
S: Yeah, it's way better because now there's…TWO statues! I'm SO great at being Pharaoh!
[Movie] Moses: "His hands bore the blood of thousands of children."
Rameses: "Slaves." P: Still human beings.
[Movie] Rameses: "Tell your people, as of today, their workload has been doubled."
S: Ooh, that's not good. Are the plagues gonna show up soon?
P: Yes. S: Because I think the plagues need to show up soon.
[Movie] Miriam: "God will not abandon you, so don't you abandon us."
P: Miriam is one of those side-characters who gets one personality trait.
P: It just happens to be compassion so you like her.
S: Where are they going? P: [singing] To the Nile!
[Movie] Moses: "Let my people go!"
P: There's a nice echo here but there's nothing for the sound to bounce off of.
S: Alright God. Now. Is. The. Time. To. Act.
P: Moses looks hypnotized. S: I mean, I'd be too.
P: [singing] I have a bag of Plagues! S: [wavering] Uh, what the…
P: All the water turns to blood. That's the first plague. S: HOOO. That's not gonna be good for the crops!
[Movie] Moses: "Pharaoh can take away your very lives." S: This is not an inspiring speech.
[Movie] Moses: "But there is one thing he cannot take away from you."
S: Your faith? [Movie] Moses: "Your faith." S: Called it!
P: Okay, the next one is Frogs. Everywhere - they're everywhere!
P: Next is Fleas? Which I think is this one [holds up toy].
P: And then the cows die. And then there's… S: Locusts.
P: Buggies. All kinds of bugs. Lots of bugs. There's lots of bugs.
P: There's hail. Except that that [movie] is fire. It's supposed to be hail.
P: Then there's boils. Everywhere.
P & Moses: "♪♪Let my people go!♪♪"
S: The last one is… P: Darkne- well. S: [singing] Taxes!
P: And then there's darkness. It's just all dark.
S: So now they're just in total darkness all the time? P: Yeah. Where the Jewish people live is totally sunny.
[Movie] Rameses: "You were always getting me into trouble!
R: "But then…you were always there to get me out of trouble…again."
S: He's like, "Yeah I'm trying to get you out of trouble now, but you're not listening to me!"
[Movie] Rameses' Son: "Isn't that the man who did all this?"
Rameses: "Yes. But one must wonder…why?" P: For freedom.
S: We were having a good moment until your kid f*****g ruined it!
S: [disgruntled yelling] Locust, why?!
P: What's worse that the plagues? Both: Children. [laugh together]
[Movie] Rameses: "You hebrews have been nothing but trouble."
P: [mocking] You hebrews. You want to know what the last plague is? … Children.
S: Babies are gonna rain down?! I thought that was a boil
S: with a face, and I was like, "All the boils grow mustaches?!"
P: Wanna know why it's called Passover? God comes down in a cloud of light,
P: and He passes over all of the houses that have lamb's blood strewn across the top of the door
P: because those are the houses of the Jewish people. But He kills all of the first born children
P: in the houses that do not have lamb's blood. S: I mean, I guess it's, uh…it's an eye for an eye.
S: Rameses is only holding out because he's too proud.
S: He's like, "I guess this was kind of my nephew?"
S: Think of it this way, man: All of these kids got to die in their sleep.
S: Unlike what you'r dad did. He threw babies to crocodiles, and those babies
S: were probably in a lot of pain before they died.
P: It doesn't make Moses any happier to see
P: the man he once considered his brother to be in this kind of terrible pain.
[Movie] Miriam: "♪♪There can be miracles, when you believe."♪♪
P: Stephen Schwartz actually won an Academy Award for "When You Believe."
And of course there's the famous version that Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sing together.
P: And we're at the Red Sea. S: They're like, "What do we do now?"
S: What a dick move! He's like, "Yeah, you guys can leave…
S: "so that I can rally you all in one place where my people can kill you!"
[Movie, music swells]
S: That looks really cool! [clapping] That looks SO cool! P: And it took two years to animate.
P: Most Disney movies take about 2 to 4 years to animate in entirety. This scene alone took two years.
P: Okay, but did you see the whale? In the water? S: Yes, I saw the whale.
S: [singing to the tune of "Shake It Off" by Taylor Swift] "♪♪'Cuz the Jews gonna run, run, run, run, run
from the Pharaoh who sucked, sucked, sucked♪♪"
S: Rameses is either about to get trampled or drowned. …This is Israel?
P: I don't think they made it to Israel yet because
P: that's just Moses with the Ten Commandments now.
S: Now there's a lot more of them, since Pharaoh
S: stopped killing all their babies every couple years!
[Movie] Yocheved: "♪♪Deliver us!♪♪"
Mariah Carey: "♪♪There can be miracles, when you believe!♪♪"
S: So Paige…what was the moral of The Prince of Egypt?
P: Don't enslave people. S: Oh, yeah, that's a good moral.
P: [laughs] S: Babies are the worst. Don't have 'em.
S: Because if you do, and you get enslaved, that's gonna be the first thing to go.
P: And then if you are the enslave-er, it will be the last thing to go.
P: Which is worse? S: Yikes. Poetic Justice.
S: Don't just enslave people, not just because it's not good and you shouldn't do it,
S: but also because if you do, and you do it for long enough, God's gonna bring down
S: some locusts and cows and babies on you, and that's not good.
P: Alright. Thank you so much for watching The Prince of Egypt with us!
S: Happy Passover! P: Yeah! If you liked it, please give it a thumbs up!
P: In the comments below, let me know what your favorite part of The Prince of Egypt was,
P: or if you've never seen it…I don't know…what your favorite Holiday movie is?
P: If you're not already subscribed to The Princess and the Scrivener, please do so down
P: below, especially if you'd like to see more videos on Disney, intersectional feminism,
P: pop culture critiques, P&S Watch series, and more!
P: Sarah will see you next week!
S: Let's watch Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas!
P: Let's watch the Drunk Disney.
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