The Prince of Egypt

Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells direct this account of Moses, raised in the palace, who flees on learning who he is and returns to face the brother now ruling Egypt. The film declares itself in its first frame: a written foreword concedes artistic and historical licence and points the viewer to the Book of Exodus. Scripture scholars, Christian, Jewish and Muslim theologians and Arab American representatives were consulted. The voice from the burning bush is Val Kilmer, who also plays Moses and is uncredited for it; the sound team wanted the voice a person hears inside their own head, so the scene reads less as a command than as Moses talking to himself. Inside the film, When You Believe is sung by Michelle Pfeiffer and Sally Dworsky; the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey duet people remember is a separate Babyface arrangement heard only over the credits. The song Oscar went to Stephen Schwartz, who kept Babyface off the nomination because that version is not in the film. The film was also nominated for Original Musical or Comedy Score, losing to Shakespeare in Love. A good fit if you can take the plagues delivered inside one song and the death of the firstborn played straight. Not for parents who would rather not explain the drowning of the pharaoh’s army.