When you think of biblical epics in film, what comes to mind? Do you envision Charlton Heston hefting the Ten Commandments in, well, The Ten Commandments? Or maybe Charlton Heston locked in a life-or-death chariot race in Ben-Hur? Or Charlton Heston in … well, you get it. Charlton Heston was in a lot of those movies.
But one biblical epic that Charlton Heston (surprisingly) wasn’t in?
The 1998 film wasn’t produced by Old Hollywood, but a different kind of studio: DreamWorks Animation. Though the inspiration for the film—aside from, you know, the actual biblical account of the Exodus—wasn’t far off from Old Hollywood. DreamWorks co-founder and former CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg had long dreamed of making an animated version of The Ten Commandments.
What the DreamWorks team created, in my opinion, far exceeded the 1956 Heston film, presenting my favorite film adaptation of Exodus to date. But is it as good as many people (including myself) remember? Does the film divert from the biblical text, or does it stay faithful to the story? And what are the hidden details that you might have missed?
In this episode of Plugged In Rewind, I’m joined by Emily Tsiao to talk about this acclaimed 1998 film: the story, the music, the cast, the animation and much more! Check out the video below. We hope you enjoy it.
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