Joseph: King of Dreams (2000 Video) User Reviews

A pleasant watch...

[queeny479 · 7/10 · 17 January 2004]

This is Dreamworks' 2nd attempt at an animated movie based on a Biblical story (note the word "based"...plenty of artistic liberty is taken). Though it can't hold a candle to "Prince of Egypt", it is a fair attempt and a pleasant movie to watch.

The animation doesn't seem to be top notch (or at least as well as Dreamworks demonstrated in PoE), but it was easy to get used to. The songs were not particularly memorable (ie: I couldn't tell you more than a line of lyrics used), but I can't really complain because the music was very nice and the singing was good. Not enough to blow me away, but a pleasant background to the story.

Perhaps what I liked best were the characters themselves. After experiencing Andrew Lloyd Webber's take on the Joseph story, I was eager to see how someone would take it seriously. I found that the movie made Joseph to be a rounded character. I mean, he had character flaws! Good for him! The brother's sudden change (well, I guess there were 20 years...) wasn't bothersome, and I thought Potiphar was particularly well done. Asenath was a nice addition as well.

Overall, a nice way to get kids to enjoy the story. A good execution of the story, which did make me care about the characters. Okay animation and music. 7.5 out of 10.

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

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 27 January 2010]

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

Very good for a direct-to-video film

[soso104 · 7/10 · 4 July 2016]

The movie is a sort of companion piece to The Prince of Egypt. The art style is the same, but it is obvious that this was made on a far smaller budget. The animation is pretty rough in some places, but not so much that it really bothered me while watching it. There are some very beautiful backgrounds and landscapes.

Especially noteworthy are the dream sequences, which use some more experimental animation. Joseph's two dreams have a style like a van Gogh painting, which works very well. The Pharaoh's dream uses CGI, and looks like a video game cutscene. I didn't like that one, but kudos to the creators for taking a risk.

The songs are all very enjoyable and well sung, but none of them really stuck in my memory.

I definitely enjoyed rediscovering a biblical story that I had almost forgotten. I think anyone who liked The Prince of Egypt will enjoy this movie as well, as long as they keep in mind that this was made on a more modest budget.

Left me breathless

[BabyCarrot · 15 December 2000]

Ever since I started hearing rumors about this on Prince of Egypt message boards last year, I was pretty much looking forward to seeing it - though in the early stages of this news, I didn't take it too seriously. However, it is no longer a rumor but is now for real. And I must say, it left me breathless. I will probably sound high saying this but anyway...it was a *beautiful* movie. It made me laugh and cry. It was really emotional. The songs really touched my heart, and now they are stuck to my mind! Of course, that's not a problem and I loved the way the dreams were presented, they reminded me of the paintings of Van Gogh and other expressionist paintings. I also found a lot of things to be similar to PoE, especially those words before the start of the movie....but then I suppose I can understand that they made it like that since the two stories are related. Yhe characters look like the ones in Prince, too. It really reminds me a lot about Prince, yet I find it difficult to say which one is better.

Love it and I will watch it again. It is unforgettable. I really loved the scene when Joseph first enters Egypt, the city seemed sooo...majestic. I was totally glued to it and the way they portrayed the characters really interesting too. They made them seem so real, especially the relationships between the family members and Joseph was...amazing and I admire his personality too. If I were Jacob, I would be *swelling* with pride. Bwn Affleck did a superb job as him.

Indeed, I will see this movie again and again.

Modern Haggadah, Made for TV

[BabelAlexandria · 7/10 · 1 March 2021]

A generally good effort, which, as the introduction noted, took certain liberties, but was largely "faithful" to the story. One major difference was the handling of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (the scene was comparatively tame, which I appreciated, given that I was watching with a six and an eight year old): Joseph is spared death because Potiphar's wife declares to him that he does not deserve it. Potiphar immediately understands that she was lying, but has Joseph imprisoned anyway (apparently an act of bad faith on his part, despite his otherwise virtuous portrayal). Joseph nonetheless treats him as a "bro" when released from prison, apparently feeling solidarity because they both suffered familial betrayal. An interesting touch.

The music was not great, but the animation was decent, especially the dream sequences, which remind of van Gogh.

It also effectively conveyed the emotion of the story, especially Joseph's anger, pain, and mixed feelings upon seeing his brothers. So much so that Sebastian didn't want to keep watching it at first because he said it was too sad!

Another good bible film from Dreamworks

[rigovega · 7/10 · 3 April 2019]

This might not be as well made as the Prince of Egypt, but it has its own unique qualities that make it an overall good film. The dream sequences feel like a Van Gogh painting, the animation is appealing, and the music never gets too boring.

If this is a fair adaptation of the biblical story or not is something for you to decide. This is a great animated film.

Solid, but not great

[Thalcos · 6/10 · 11 November 2000]

Prince of Egypt was a spectacular animated movie that blended seriousness, clever animation techniques, great voice actors, and a perfect soundtrack that avoided the pitfall of most modern animated movies - overbearing musical numbers.

Joseph King of Dreams came very close to matching Prince of Egypt in a lot of those areas. Though it's not quite as serious as Prince of Egypt, it deftly avoids any kind of slapstick comedy or cute animals. Ben Affleck gives a good performance, and the animation is near feature quality.

Where King of Dreams fails, however, is the music. The songs are not nearly as good as those in Prince of Egypt, tending to be more flowery and flighty. Furthermore, they interrupt the action in most cases and soon become overbearing. Prince of Egypt used songs to advance the story; the songs were in the background, and the characters rarely actually "sang onscreen." In King of Dreams, however, characters will break out into song in the middle of the action, and the song won't really have much to do with the plot of the movie. Fans of Disney animation probably won't have a problem with this, but I was disappointed in both the quality of the music and the timing of it.

The dream sequences in the movie were very well done, each having a surreal art style that reflected the dreamer.

If you were a fan of Prince of Egypt, you'll probably enjoy King of Dreams but be disappointed that Dreamworks didn't get Stephen Schwartz and Hanz Zimmer to do the music for this one.

Enjoyable but not really memorable.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 20 May 2004]

The movie is a good watch but it doesn't really impress.

The movie feels like it had been made in an hurry. The movie is pretty short and even though the story covers everything that needs to be told it still feels hasty all.

The animations are decent but turn pail compared to other Dreamworks animated movie "The Prince of Egypt". The only scene's that are above average are the early dream scene's that seemed to be heavily inspired on the style of van Gogh paintings. Some of the other later dream sequences rely too much on some weak computer animations.

The songs are simply horrible, there is no tone in them and are merely some spoking sentences that are sung with some music played under it. The song "Better than I" however is an exception and is actually very good.

Pleasant to watch but also very easy to forget.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Such a good film - I nearly rate it 9!

[Mightyzebra · 8/10 · 2 June 2007]

Genre: Cartoon Bible story Musical

My thoughts: To admit the plain truth, I was a bit shy of watching this because we had watched the "Prince Of Egypt" by the same makers and DID NOT like it! We watched this just over a month ago and I really like it! Since then I've watched it about four or five times (including once yesterday) and I'm STILL not bored of it (I think my bro's a bit bored of it. He keeps saying this film is "barking religious" but then he thinks that about anything that's religious). I like this film because of the beautiful songs (I can't stop singing "You know better than I", but of course my bro's bored of it because he's changed it to "I know better than you" and he gets a good laugh. I'm more bored of that version than the original!), stunning animation, good characters and it does a good job on the bible story.

What it all adds up to: Beautiful songs + Stunning animation + A good job on the bible story + Memorable characters = The beautiful film that is "Joseph: King Of Dreams. Enjoy! :)

What happens: Joseph is the first born of Rachel, which makes him a miracle child. In a way he is! He outshines his half-brothers and makes his father and mother happy. He even receives a beautiful, shining coat...

An Underwhelming Prequel

[thebrandedswordsman-34028 · 6/10 · 17 March 2022]

Following in the footsteps of a magnificently animated opera, King of Dreams unfortunately falls rather short of it's older brother. I don't think this movie is bad per say, but considering Prince of Egypt came first, it doesn't exactly leave a good taste in your mouth.

While the animation is still good, especially for a direct to DVD movie, it isn't as astonishing or purposeful. I don't know if it's the framing or the art style, but the world itself just feels small.

Another thing that pales in comparison are the songs. The songs in Prince of Egypt were so epic and they felt very important. These songs just kind of tell you what's going on when you could've been shown instead or the characters could've talked about it normally. There is still competence on display; nobody really sings poorly and the music is a nice compliment, but they all just end up leaving your mind shortly after they're over.

As for accuracy - and for those who care about that - it does get the story down pretty well. It isn't completely one-to-one, but it's still quite accurate.

I didn't want this to be just a comparison to Prince of Egypt, but it was clearly difficult to avoid that. But comparisons are fun, too. Even without the comparison, King of Dreams isn't exactly as special as Joseph. It's more like the other sons of Jacob, actually: you don't hate it, but you don't really coddle it, either like you would a beloved child. Good thing it's just a movie then, huh?

How could Dreamworks even put their Logo at the beginning?

[sigrath-1 · 1/10 · 28 December 2018]

This short review is kind of unfair, because I only watched 2 minutes of this movie, but after watching The Prince of Egypt, I just can't watch this movie any second longer. The lack of quality in the animations and illustrations is horrible. It's such a down grade and so cheap, that I really ask myself how Dreamworks could even publish it?

Puts Disney's direct-to-video productions to shame!

[Animany94 · 8/10 · 27 April 2018]

I really liked the respect DreamWorks showed respect towards their biblical epic The Prince of Egypt and their biblical source material. Disney should be ashamed of themselves ruining their beloved classics!

While Joseph: King of Dreams is nowhere near the intensity of PoE it still does a pretty good job with what they had to work with. Personally, the only thing I felt was noteworthy is the look of the animation. You know a smaller budget when you see it, but hey, direct-to-video stuff.

Even by those standards the animators really did their best, because once in a while we are presented to these wonderful Van Gogh stylized dream sequences which were highlights along with some of the hieroglyphs in the palace.

The central theme of the movie of family and heritage is a bit similar to PoE, but different enough to make it its own. The voice actors also did good jobs conveying the emotional drama unfolding. I think all involved gave us their ultimate offering considering their limited resources.

In short, less heavy-weight on the drama and the music, but respectful of its source material. Recommendable.

Indirect lgbtq representation and probably offensive for the followers of the faith. Potrayal of every toxic behaviors of human. Great movie.

[sisubalan · 6/10 · 16 January 2023]

A great indirect lgbtq representation and probably offensive for the followers of the faith. Potrayal of every toxic behaviors of human that you can think of. Probably not for today generation. Good animation tho.

I know nothing about these religious/ cultural figures nor their biblical histories/ stories but one thing for sure, its something that wont sit well for some people lol. Im not even sure whether its accurate with the materials but the potrayal and the storyline itself felt so oddly enough for me to confirm that Joseph is gay. Didnt mean to offend anyone but based on the potrayal and the storyline itself, joseph was very likely to be gay. I mean look for yourself with all the hints and compare with the traits of every gay men. Sorry if i was wrong, but that how i felt. Although they did tried to cover it by marrying Joseph off with asenath.

Animation style was okay, early 2d animation. The original songs were okay, nothing memorable to be honest. Great sound scores and voice casts were okay except for few of them - i dont like rachel and jacob's voice cast choices. The storyline was okay but a bit disturbing for me especially on the bad parenting by Jacob (Rachael was great) which led to jealously (among brothers).

Not something for the childrens but adults are welcomed to watch.

An insult to the original.

[masoncheek · 4/10 · 31 August 2020]

The original film is a masterpiece and this isn't the worst thing in the world but its still not good.

A different film from Prince of Egypt ....less overwrought and more enjoyable

[vacao · 19 August 2007]

We bought this film in a two-pack with PoE and find ourselves watching King of Dreams much more than PoE. I personally find that:

1) The story is incredibly satisfying emotionally. Joseph's story of commitment to God in the face of such challenges and especially his struggle to forgive his brothers is something that I think everyone can relate to.

2) The acting is top notch. They didn't near as many high powered stars as PoE, but apparently Ben Affleck and Mark Hamil decided that they couldn't coast through this and put in super performances.

3) The music is less "soundtracky" and more singable. I 2 years later, I still can't get "You know better than I" out of my head.

4) The animation, sigh, is not quite as ambitious as PoE, but is definitely sufficient to tell the story. I didn't notice any letdown until I read a previous poster's comment about a lack of animation on the level of the Red Sea parting or burning bush PoE scenes, and they're right. But I didn't miss them. Go hang your PS3 screenshots in a museum -- I'll stick to my awesome Wii gameplay.

Great!

[briancham1994 · 7/10 · 20 June 2020]

This film is a worthy companion piece to The Prince of Egypt (1998). It has a similar setting but the story works well on its own. The characters are the best part of this film as we see Joseph's inner conflicts and flaws. Even though it is a Biblical story, it has appeal for everyone because it has so many universal themes like betrayal, family, power and redemption.

Wonderful!!

[Julia1989 · 10/10 · 25 July 2004]

This is a good film in every which way. It's the best animation I've seen so far. It's not only has a fantastic plot but the animation was also great. The character designs are very lively looking. Even without the singing animals and fairies and gnomes it's an exceptionally enjoyable. I love the movie particularly because it's so devoted to the original Biblical plot. (unlike "Prince of Egypt" which is very inaccurate. no offense though, "Prince of Egypt" was a nice one, too!) it's a great film to introduce people into Bible. *It's the 1st time I've developed a crush on an animation character!*(the cartoon figure of Joseph)

PERFECT!!! 10/10 from me!!

As good as Prince of Egypt? Yeah right!

[lillyessa · 3/10 · 7 March 2001]

I've just finished reading the comments for Prince of Egypt, and then came to read a bit about King of Dreams...and was absolutely shocked at the 7/10 rating! Ye gods, people.

1. Joseph was a low budget production with not even half the effort put into animation as Prince of Egypt. The textures, particularly on Joseph's coat, were cheap and probably manufactured with an hour's tweaking in Adobe PhotoShop. The computer and hand-drawn animation was sloppily merged, reminiscent of the new Spiderman show, where it's obvious that Spidey's a 2-d character swinging through a world of 3d buildings. One dream sequence is a direct replication of the dream sequence in Joseph, with the stylised Egyptian art, and another done in makeshift watercolour is confusing and sloppy, and gave me a headache.

2. The music was cheap. Hardly living up to the PoE soundtrack, which I am listening to right at this very moment. Actually, if I recall, one song in particular was just a cheap rip off of a song from PoE.

3. The story and acting was horrible. Dialogue was badly written. Joseph's character was acted very badly.

My commonlaw spouse and I rented this movie in hopes that Dreamworks would have put out a film topping the calibre of PoE, but we were sorely disappointed. Dreamworks released this film with the intentions of catching the PoE wave before it had subsided (read: they wanted more money), and Joseph carried none of the passion, spirit, or tremendous impact that the Prince of Egypt carried off oh-so-well.

Strike one, Dreamworks. Don't become another Disney - they make their money with quantity, more often than not...stick with getting our dollars through quality.

Three out of ten stars for the occasional glimpse of character and story.

Not Exactly Biblically Correct, but still a great story.

[Iammymothersdaughter2 · 8/10 · 6 November 2001]

No, I'm not a Bible-Thumper. However, Joseph is one of the most precious examples of a man who trusted God with everything he had and did, and how God was with him throughout his life.

Joseph, King of Dreams doesn't quite reflect that total, precious trust in my opinion. However, this is a children's animated story and I know that some liberty has to be taken to get the point across to kids in a way that they will be both entertained, and remember well. This story does achieve that goal in spades. My nieces and nephew are glued to the set whenever we put this movie in, and my oldest niece can almost recite it verbatim.

I can just imagine how hard it must be for the actors to put life and feeling into an animated character, and all of the actors who lent their voices were positively excellent. I gave this film an overall rating of 8 - if you have little children and are wondering how in the world to introduce your kids to the greatest story ever told, here's your answer for a stupendous start.

Very simple

[namgamerbr · 4/10 · 15 November 2021]

This biblical story I didn't know. Compared to the prince of Egypt, the soundtrack of this movie is pretty bad. The features are pretty simple but that's because it's just home video. Watched it for the first time and I wouldn't watch it anytime soon again. Movie watched on November 15, 2021.

The Prequel OF Egypt.

[cinephile-27690 · 10/10 · 19 August 2018]

The Prince of Egypt, which tells the story of Moses, is one of my absolute favorite animated movies ever. Actually, scratch that. It's one of my absolute favorite movies of ANY kind! I saw this prequel about 9 years ago but I do remember some of it.

This direct to video prequel tells the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis and what happend in cause of his brother's jealousy. It can be found in the 37th-46th chapters, except in chapter 38.

Like The Prince of Egypt, the movie has famous actors voicing the characters. Here, Ben Affleck of Pearl Harbor voices Joseph. His brother Judah is voiced by Mark Hamill, who is best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. Jodi Benson-who voiced The Little Mermaid, and Dan Castenella of The Simpsons and the voice of The Genie in The Return of Jafar also lend their voices.

The music is decent too. The movie opens with a catchy song called Miracle Child about how much Joseph's parents love their favorite child.

It also has a song called You Know Better Than I, which is a contender for my favorite song. In context, Joseph is in prison for being accused of attempted rape(which is wonderfully watered down to make it family friendly). Joseph became upset that God keeps putting him through tough times, but then he realizes and sings that God knows better for Joseph and he does himself.

I was abused years ago and dealt with PTSD. I found this song on You Tube and it has greatly impacted me and has helped me deal with it. It's helped me with other tough times too. Whenever I ask God why these things have happend to me I close my eyes and sing or whisper(depending where I am) "I've let go the need to know why-for you know better than I!" Then I feel much better. I've learned the exact lesson that Jospeh has.

If you don't know the song, I highly reccomend looking it up on You Tube!

It's amazing how much of this movie I remember since I haven't seen it in so long. That should be a sign of how great it is. It's not as great as The Prince of Egypt(what could be?) but it's still very good.Too bad Dreamworks does not do movies like this since Shrek was more profitable!

8/22 edit: I saw this yesterday and it is now my favorite animated movie ever, along with The Prince of Egypt!

A Good Work...

[jwrowe3 · 21 July 2002]

In this day of pure junk that gets foisted off on our kids(and parents that buy the movies) this film is a treat. I can't sit and tell you how close that this story follows the Bible, and in the opening credits, it states that some license was taken. Fine. My children sat thru it and enjoyed it. That's the sign of a good movie for a young person.

With the sole exception of the folks that make the "Veggie Tales" series of videos, there seems to be a great lack of good movies with a positive tone, without a ton of violence, and good "values" tossed in. Like Prince of Egypt, this movie has it's Biblical tone, but never forces it down your throat, in the way that some kid's Bible videos, do.

Even if you have a problem with movies along those lines, "Joseph" is a pleasing piece of work.

I'm not a Pollyanna by any means, but in light of what our kids have been watching since September 2001, isn't it nice that there are a few feature length films that can be shown to youngsters, without worrying about what might be seen?

A good 6 out of 10.

BORING

[invisibleunicornninja · 3/10 · 18 December 2018]

I couldn't even get 10 minutes into this movie. Its extremely boring and the first song (that lasts like 5 minutes) is really bad. The look of the movie is really bad (which I guess makes sense since this was straight to dvd). The only reason why I'm giving this movie such a high score is because I didn't watch the whole thing and there could be something at the very end that is good.

Pretty Good!

[angelginel · 8/10 · 23 October 2007]

Not bad at all! I really missed the Egyptian-like music from PoE, but these songs worked great too. However, to that person who said this movie was completely accurate with the bible, well, you're wrong. One of the things that caught my attention was that they named Juda as the leader of the brothers, when according to the Bible Reuben was the oldest. Then we see that he meets his brother Benjamin in Egypt for the first time, and also finds out that his mother has passed away.According to the Bible when Joseph was sold as a slave his Benjamin was already born and his mother had died during labor. By the way, why were the pyramids shown when he first got to Egypt, if, according to history they weren't built yet? Well, I guess I could understand that one, since people usually think of pyramids when they think of Egypt, it must have seen like a good idea to add them to let people know where he was. For those of you out there who don't read the bible, we must explain that this story actually precedes Moses' story in the bible, which can help them understand better how these 2 stories are connected... Joseph's family move to Egypt by the end of the movie, and as the years went by they were obviously multiplied, which brings us to the beginning of the Prince of Egypt, which shows how Egypt is now filled with Hebrews. The bible tells us that this new Pharaoh and his generation had forgotten what Joseph had done for them many years ago, the Hebrews were forced into slavery and finally a law was made to kill all the male babies to keep the Jewish population from growing, since Pharaoh thought that they might raise against the Egyptians.

Mediocre Follow-up

[johnmichael-2 · 5/10 · 17 May 2007]

Dreamworks made this film after their runaway success with another Biblical movie: "The Prince of Egypt." That film was an amazing film, both in story and in its groundbreaking animation and wonderful music.

This film, however, while it still retains the great storyline that the Bible will always give, fails on all other levels. The voices aren't that great, the music is boring, the animation is ho-hum, and it all comes together rather sloppily. Worst of all, this movie is screaming the fact that it's a follow-up of "Prince of Egypt." Sure, watch this film once for its great themes on forgiveness. Also watch this if you have little kids, who won't mind the mediocre talent behind this piece. After that, rewatch "The Prince of Egypt" and enjoy it some more, because it's really a lot, lot better than this little creation.