Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)

A prophet who has the ability to interpret dreams is sold into slavery in Egypt, where people learn of his gifts.

Directors:

Rob LaDuca, Robert C. Ramirez (as Robert Ramirez)

Writers:

Eugenia Bostwick-Singer (screenplay), Raymond Singer (screenplay)

Stars:

Ben Affleck, Mark Hamill, Richard Herd

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ben Affleck	...	Joseph (voice)
Mark Hamill	...	Judah (voice)
Richard Herd	...	Jacob (voice)
Maureen McGovern	...	Rachel (voice)
Jodi Benson	...	Asenath (voice)
Judith Light	...	Zuleika (voice)
James Eckhouse	...	Potiphar (voice)
Richard McGonagle	...	Pharaoh (voice)
David Campbell	...	Joseph (singing voice)
Steven Weber	...	Simeon / Slave Trader (voice)
Dan Castellaneta	...	Auctioneer / Horse Trader (voice)
Rene Auberjonois	...	Butler (voice)
Ken Hudson Campbell	...	Baker (voice) (as Ken Campbell)
Tom Virtue	...	Reuben (voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	Levi (voice)

Storyline

When Joseph receives a beautiful coat from his parents, his ten brothers hate him even more, and are driven to sell him to desert merchants, who take him to Egypt. There he is made the servant of a wealthy Egyptian who misunderstands him, and has him thrown into prison. He shows his God-given gift by interpreting the dreams of two other prisoners. Eventually, the Pharaoh begins to be plagued by dreams, and sends for Joseph, who interprets them and saves Egypt in the process. He is made second in command to Pharaoh, and has most of Egypt's grain stored. Eventually his brothers arrive in Egypt to buy food because of famine, and he must forgive them. Then the dreams that had angered his brothers, were in reality prophecies that had come from God.

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Plot Keywords:

bible | egypt | dream | pharaoh | prison | 

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Biography | Drama | Family | History | Musical

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks SKG

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 November 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Joseph: King of Dreams

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks Home Entertainment, Universal Home Video

Technical Specs

Runtime:

75 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

DreamWorks Animation only direct-to-home video film.

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Goofs

When Joseph is inspecting the scale from the horse trader, he only lifts the bag of silver and the weights. The extra pieces of silver put on the scale by Potiphar to balance it seem to have suddenly disappeared.

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Quotes

Joseph: I've let go the need to know why,
Joseph: I'll take what answers you supply...

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Connections

Follows The Prince of Egypt (1998)

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Soundtracks

Whatever Road's at Your Feet
Performed by David Campbell
Produced and Arranged by Danny Pelfrey
Music and lyrics by John Joseph Bucchino

User Reviews

A very pleasant watch, but I don't think it is as good as The Prince of Egypt

Joseph:King of Dreams is a very pleasant direct to video film. Like Prince of Egypt, this is also based on a story from the Bible. However, while this is worth watching and underrated I think too, I don't think it is as good as Prince of Egypt. I have to be fair though, considering how superb Prince of Egypt was, for that movie is one of the most evocative, compelling and stirring animated movies ever, this film had a lot to live up to. In general, this does a more than acceptable job at telling the story from the Bible.

The film's criticisms are very few. The story while quite faithful to the story is a little choppy in places, but manages to be compelling enough in others. In its defence though, I have always felt the biblical story one of the less interesting stories in the Bible, but that is probably just me. There are also one or two moments when the character development is a little shallow, primarily with Joseph's brothers-Joseph was a very convincing and fleshed out protagonist- and the ending is perhaps abrupt. All these problems are probably disadvantaged by one major factor, the film for me is too short.

However, there is so much to recommend. The animation is superb, the background art is audacious, and the fluidity of the character movements is evident. I loved the look of Joseph's coat, and how the animators animated his dreams. I also think the music is under-appreciated, as I really liked the songs. You Know Better Than I is my favourite, and I may have a confession, I have a slight preference to the songs here than I do to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The characters are good, Joseph is convincing as a protagonist, especially in the latter half of the film, and Asenath is one of the more vivacious female characters in a non-Disney animated movie. She reminds me a bit of Tzipporah and Chel. And the voices were well done, quite the opposite. I don't normally care for Ben Affleck, but he wasn't that bad here. Going on a tangent, people complained of Matt Damon being dull in Spirit and I not only really liked the film but I thought Damon was good. If I had any thoughts on who voice acted better, I think Affleck was slightly better. Jodi Benson proves what a wonderful voice actress she is by providing a strong and emphatic persona for Asenath, and Mark Hamill is great as Judah.

In conclusion, this is a good film, not perfect, but it is underrated. 7/10 Bethany Cox