In 1998, DreamWorks Animation took on the monumental task of bringing the Exodus story to animated life. "The Prince of Egypt" would need a commanding voice to match its epic scale and intimate brotherhood story. The crucial question: Which actor would bring Moses from hieroglyph to life?

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The answer is: Val Kilmer

Moses has been played by everyone from Charlton Heston to Christian Bale, but there's only one actor who's played both Moses AND God in the same film. Back in 1998, Val Kilmer pulled off this divine double act in "The Prince of Egypt," creating an eerily powerful dynamic when prophet meets maker at the burning bush. Fresh off playing Batman, Kilmer brought both gravitas and vulnerability to the prophet's journey from palace prince to desert wanderer.

Here's the thing about "The Prince of Egypt" – it was an absolutely wild swing for DreamWorks. Picture the animation landscape of the '90s: Disney's churning out talking teapots and lion cubs while Jeffrey Katzenberg, having just split from the House of Mouse, decides his new studio's first hand-drawn film should tackle... the Book of Exodus. Talk about zigging while everyone else zags.

The assembled cast reads like someone's dream dinner party guest list: Ralph Fiennes bringing shakespearean weight to Rameses, Michelle Pfeiffer as the fierce Tzipporah, Sandra Bullock as Miriam, and Steve Martin and Martin Short somehow making ancient Egyptian high priests genuinely funny without turning them into cartoon buffoons. But it's the brotherhood between Kilmer's Moses and Fiennes' Rameses that hits you in the gut – two men torn apart by fate, faith, and pharaonic stubbornness.

The animation team went all in. They didn't just flip through some history books – they had separate teams diving deep into Egyptian, Hebrew, and Midianite art. That Red Sea parting? It ate up 318,000 computer hours, and still looks jaw-dropping today. The whole film has this unique visual personality – part ancient relief carving, part cutting-edge technology, all stunning.

Even the music swings for the fences. Stephen Schwartz wrote songs that sound like Broadway got lost in the desert and found religion, while Hans Zimmer's score makes you feel like your couch has somehow transformed into a front-row seat at the exodus. Sure, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey's version of "When You Believe" snagged the Oscar, but real ones know the Michelle Pfeiffer and Sally Dworsky film version hits different.

Twenty-five years later, while so many '90s animated films feel stuck in their era, "The Prince of Egypt" still hits hard. Maybe it's because they treated the story with respect instead of turning it into a singing animal extravaganza. Maybe it's because Kilmer and company treated their roles like they were performing Shakespeare instead of just cashing an animation paycheck. Or maybe it's because sometimes the most powerful stories are the ones that have been moving people for thousands of years.

DreamWorks bet big that audiences were ready for animation that didn't talk down to them. The $218.6 million box office and a legacy that includes a hit West End musical suggest they were right. In an industry that often plays it safe, "The Prince of Egypt" parted the seas and walked right through – and we're still following its path today.

Posts tagged with Voice Acting

Who voices Moses in "The Prince of Egypt"?