Our resource recommendation this week is the Dreamworks film The Prince of Egypt.
You can find it on DVD available at most DVD retailers (HMV, Amazon etc.) You may also find a copy at your local Christian bookstore.
Who is it for?
This movie is suitable for the whole family, rated PG.
The Prince of Egypt is a wonderful film telling the story of Moses. It was created by a multi-faith team to re-tell the story of Moses journey and mission given by God to set the Hebrew people free from slavery in Egypt. As a re-telling of the Exodus story, it brings beautiful animation together with beautiful Hebrew music to create a powerful rendition of the Bible passages that are familiar to many.
While Dreamworks may be a secular animation studio they remain faithful to the Biblical text whilst sprinkling in some clever humour and reminding us that the people we read about in the Bible were real human beings, not merely characters in a storybook.
Moses story through Exodus is a powerful story teaching us of God’s faithfulness to his people, his ultimate authority over powers of oppression and, perhaps most importantly, God’s willingness to work with and through normal everyday people like you and I.
The animated film, The Prince of Egypt may be a good way to enjoy a family film night on its own, but it may also be useful to use as a discussion starter for many different topics, God’s faithfulness, Moses’ initial unwillingness to serve to his great trust in God, the stubbornness of Pharaoh…we can find application for our own need of a God who keeps his promises, our own sense of failures and our own stubbornness at times too.
It’s not often these days that I find myself being satisfied with a film re-telling of a Bible story or character, often they leave me despairing of how cheesy its been made, or I feel they’ve departed too far from Biblical truth. The Prince of Egypt manages to avoid all these pitfalls. It’s clear that it’s been made with care and attention to scripture and Hebrew culture, with children in mind but also not forgetting the grown ups who may be watching along with the young ones. There’s a wealth of treasure whatever your age. So, whether you watch The Prince of Egypt just for entertainment or for a teaching aid or both, we hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.