this is my first review that i post to this newsgroup , and i kind of feel like i have to say something negative about this film . no one else seems to care that it takes certain liberties that should not be taken with a historical story . however , even if one thinks of it as fiction , " the prince of egypt " <NEG> remains shallow </NEG> . but i'll begin from the beginning . the biggest difference between the original , biblical story and this version is that moses has some semblance of divinity in the bible , whereas the animated version gives the impression of a reluctant hero . maybe it's just me , but if i knew i had god on my side , i'd have a little bit more confidence . there are other differences as well , such as <NEG> a lack of important female characters and the passing over of the original pharoah's death like it's nothing but a thing </NEG> . most of all , though , the story's focus has shifted . rather than being a story about father-son , man-ethnicity , man-god , " the prince of egypt " is almost solely about the brother-brother relationship between rameses and moses . i was originally excited about this story element until i saw the movie , where <NEG> it came off as maudlin </NEG> . rameses and moses squabble like children and then , in the interests of peace , moses saves rameses' butt , even though moses was the one who started it . . . <NEG> * yawn * i didn't care anymore </NEG> by the time moses ran off for murdering an overseer ( which , of course , never happened in the original story - moses was exiled ) . but enough about the differences . let's talk about the movie itself . it features a moses who , in the interests of making the character more human , lacks any divinity whatsoever , <NEG> which isn't convincing at all </NEG> to anyone who knows who god is . it features a cookie-cutter " i-wanna-please-dada " rameses , who at least is given dignity by the voicework of ralph fiennes ( from schindler's list , among other things ) . the film <NEG> also features an extremely annoying character </NEG> by way of the " new-improved " miriam , voiced by <NEG> the ever-antsy </NEG> sandra bullock , even though <NEG> the most irritating thing </NEG> about her is her tendency to burst into song for no apparent reason ( here bullock is replaced by a singing voice ) . speaking of which , <NEG> it contains * very * annoying music . it contains shallow writing </NEG> . it features extraordinary animation , which is one good thing i can say about this film . most of all , it contains an attempt to commercialize , homogenize , and mass-market a story about a manifestation of god . i am not christian , but i got the impression of blasphemy . the writers and producers <NEG> took a butcher knife and chop-chopped into the story </NEG> .
