The Prince of Egypt (Western Animation)

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The story of two men.
One born to rule, the other chosen to lead.

"Deliver us, hear our call,
Deliver us, Lord of all,
Remember us, here in this burning sand.
Deliver us, there's a land You promised us.
Deliver us to the promised land..."

—"Deliver Us"

The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 Animated Epic Biblical Film based on the biblical Book of Exodus, as well as the very first 2D animated film made by DreamWorks Animation and their second film overall. Until The Simpsons Movie came out in 2007, it was the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time not to be released by Disney.^note

The film covers part of the life of Moses, from his being found and adopted by Pharaoh's family to his young adulthood, where he discovers his Hebrew heritage, to his adult life, when God tells Moses to confront the current Pharaoh and persuade him to free the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.

The Prince of Egypt admits up front in a disclaimer that it takes liberties with the original story, but is nonetheless one of the more accurate retellings in cinema. The film has an All-Star Cast to voice its characters, including several of the smaller roles, and featured numerous musical numbers throughout. The film won considerable acclaim in its time, and even got an Oscar for the song "When You Believe".

Compare with The Ten Commandments (1956) and Exodus: Gods and Kings, two live-action retellings of the story, and the animated film The Ten Commandments.

The movie also spawned a Direct-to-Video follow-up/prequel Joseph: King of Dreams.

A stage musical based on the movie debuted in 2017.

The movie provides Examples of:

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#-F

2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Moses's basket and the plague of frogs, among other things, have much more dimension than the rest of the animation. The pillar of fire and the parting Red Sea of the climax are not blended with the 2D elements at all, emphasizing just how awesome and frightening it is for the Hebrews to really see their God in action.
Accidental Murder: In Egypt, Moses tries to stop an Egyptian foreman from whipping an elderly slave and accidentally knocks the former off the scaffolding they're on in the process.
Actor Allusion:
- This isn't the first time (or the last) that Helen Mirren played the role of a queen.
- Patrick Stewart is no stranger to playing royalty, either.
- In "Playing With the Big Boys Now" Hotep, played by Steve Martin, briefly does a goofy Egyptian walk. Just like ol' King Tut!
- Once again, Ralph Fiennes is a cause of misery for the Hebrew/Jewish people.
- Hotep and Huy's powers can be explained as the Egyptian equivalent of Stage Magic. Steve Martin performed as a magician.
Adaptational Angst Upgrade: For Moses. As he was happily raised as a member of Pharaoh's household in this version, the plagues see him destroy the home and family he loved. He also never knew his real family, which adds to the angst.
Adaptational Friendship: Moses and Rameses were raised as brothers, leading to some We Used to Be Friends drama when Moses has to ask Rameses to free the Hebrews. The Bible does not mention the name of the Pharaoh of the Exodus or say anything about the nature of his relationship with Moses prior to the events of the Exodus.
Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Rameses is a much more sympathetic and tragic character here than the Biblical Pharaoh of the Exodus, as the film emphasizes his "Well Done, Son" Guy complex and his brotherly love for Moses. In the musical, he goes further, after remembering his life with Moses, he holds back on ordering the Egyptians to advance by the Red Sea, but is overruled by Hotep.
- Moses also kills the Egyptian overseer accidentally rather than deliberately. He shows a lot of guilt over it, and exiles himself as punishment.
Adaptational Villainy: Despite being an Adaptational Nice Guy for much of the film, Rameses crosses into this at the end. In the Bible, Pharaoh never threatens the Hebrew slaves with genocide, and after he frees them, he merely changes his mind about it and sends his army after them at the Red Sea to recapture them and return them to slavery. In the film, Rameses first resolves to kill all the Hebrews after the ninth plague, only to relent and free them instead after the death of his son in the tenth plague. But then after doing so, he goes into a Villainous Breakdown and Unstoppable Rage, and at the Red Sea, he unleashes his army to slaughter the Hebrews after all.
Adaptational Wimp:
- The Egyptian High Priests in the Book of Exodus were genuinely able to recreate both the snake summoning and bloody river miracles. In this movie, they're charlatans who make use of trickery to woo the King.
- Aaron is rather cowardly, compared to his Biblical self who stood with Moses against Pharaoh and took part in summoning the first three plagues.
Adaptation Distillation: Of the first half of the Book of Exodus.
- In Exodus, Pharaoh orders his slavemasters to no longer provide the Hebrew slaves with straw for brickmaking, forcing them to gather the straw themselves while still being expected to meet the same daily brick quota. This is simplified in the film as Rameses just orders the slaves' workload to be "doubled".
Adaptation Dye-Job: The historical Rameses II was red-haired, a detail which can still be seen on his mummy. Here he is black haired - when he is haired at all, as his head is mostly shaved in traditional pharaonic fashion. This was discovered in 1994, the same time the film entered development so unlike The Ten Commandments (1956) it does not have the excuse of predating the discovery. This dye-job extends to the royal family as a whole, since Rameses came from a family of redheads.
Adaptation Expansion: In the Book of Exodus, everything from Moses' birth to his exile and marriage is covered in a single chapter, which in a printed book would take up less than two pages. These two pages are expanded into the first half of the movie.
Adaptation Title Change: The Prince of Egypt is a retelling of the biblical story of Exodus.
Adapted Out:
- Moses and Tzipporah had two sons in the Bible, Gershom and Eliezer, but they don't exist here. Neither does Joshua, who plays a big part in the Book of Exodus and is actually one of the few people from the original group of Hebrew slaves to reach the Holy Land.
- Moses' father Amram actually lived to see the slaves being freed from Egypt (as did Yocheved) but he does not appear here. Yocheved does appear, but dies off-screen before Moses reaches adulthood.
- Aaron's family including his son Eleazer are absent.
- The historical Rameses II had seven wives, three or four of whom were his own daughters, with whom he produced something like one hundred children. In the film, this is pared down to just one wife and one son. All seven of Rameses' wives were Great Royal Wife at some point, the film just seems to be depicting the then Great Royal Wife.
- Historically, Seti I's firstborn was a daughter named Tia, and some historians believe he had a second one named Henutmire (who was one of Rameses II's wives). Neither daughter exists in the film, and Rameses is his only biological child.
- Rameses II owned a lion as a pet who even fought alongside him at Kadesh. No such animal appears, indeed there is a strange lacking of felines in the film considering how Egyptians thought them sacred.
Affectionate Gesture to the Head: A variant. Rameses playfully twists Moses' wig around at one point.
Age Cut: Whilst Moses is in the desert several years are implied to have gone by, shown by his beard growth between shots, and the fact that Tzipporah's youngest sister eventually looks to be in her early teens, if not older.
Age Lift: The above-mentioned Age Cut is shorter than Moses's time in Midian would have been in the Bible. The Biblical Moses was eighty years old at the time of the Exodus, but this Moses seems no older than his early forties. By extension, his older siblings Miriam and Aaron are also aged down.
Age-Progression Song: The song "Through Heaven's Eyes" shows Moses, after his exile from Egypt and staying in Midian, growing from a teenager/young adult to an adult. As the song progresses, his hair grows longer and his beard too. Not only physically he grows, but his love for Tzipporah has too, as in the end of the song, he and Tzipporah get married.
Agony of the Feet: While wandering in the desert during his self-exile, Moses trips on a sharp rock that tears his sandal and scrapes his foot. This prompts Moses to stumble in pain and remove his sandal before removing his Egyptian prince jewellery.
Alas, Poor Villain: Rameses's downfall is portrayed with all the pathos of a family member suffering hardship. As punishment for not releasing the Hebrews, God's ten plagues devastate Egypt, with the final plague taking his son. Later, when Moses parts the Red Sea to take the freed Hebrews to the Promised Land, he tries to charge at them with his army, only to have them completely wiped out when the Sea closes up. All he can do is scream out Moses's name as he lays broken and defeated.
Amazon Chaser: Both averted and played straight. While Rameses and Moses are both initially attracted to Tzipporah's beauty, once she tries to bite Rameses he quickly loses interest and foists her off on Moses. On the other hand, Moses is completely smitten after she ties up his guards and climbs out his window.
Anachronism Stew: For all the filmmakers' efforts to accurately portray 19th-Dynasty Egypt, some mistakes managed to slip through the cracks:
- The film is supposed to take place during the reigns of Seti I (1290 - 1279 BCE) and Rameses II (1279 - 1213 BCE), yet in the wall murals shown during Seti's lifetime, the cartouches don't bear his names◊, but rather those of Akhenaten◊ (1353 - 1336 BCE). Due to his monumental shake-up of the cultural/religious establishment during his reign, Akhenaten and his successors (Smenkhara, Tutankhamun, and Ay) were systematically erased from the official records, and their monuments either destroyed or usurped by later kings. Come Act 2, however, the cartouches correctly contain Rameses II's names◊. There are also a couple of shots (one during "All I Ever Wanted"◊, and the other during Moses' nightmare) that show images of Akhenaten's favored god, Aten (the solar disc, with rays ending in hands) in the murals in the palace.
- In one frame◊ during "All I Ever Wanted," we see a zebra skin on the floor in Moses' room. Zebras did live in Egypt during the last Ice Age, but as the Sahara dried out, they went regionally extinct, and wouldn't be seen in Egypt again until after it had become part of the Roman Empire (over 1,200 years after Rameses II died).
- In the movie, Rameses II firstborn is also called Rameses. Historically, Rameses was actually his second son. Amun-her-khepeshef was his firstborn, and now it is believed Rameses II had at least one daughter before both.
Ancient Egypt: The basic setting and circumstance. The film features references to the Egyptian pantheon and culture and illustrates several of its buildings and landmarks.
Angelic Abomination: The Angel of Death, in keeping with how biblical angels are depicted. It's an entity of pure, cold, intense white light.
Angry, Angry Hippos: After nearly getting eaten by a crocodile, baby Moses' basket is then picked up and bumped along by a chain of hippos, who nearly kill him.
Angry Mob Song: The slaves' part of "Deliver Us", though in the way that "Look Down" from Les Misérables is an Angry Mob Song; a desperate, bitter, pleading sort of anger.
Animated Musical: The film has a song for most of the major story beats. Deliver Us, Through Heaven's Eyes, The Plagues, and When You Believe are among the most major.
Animation Bump: In a remarkable subversion of the typical outcome for animated films of its era, the scenes which use CGI for the backgrounds, which manage to deftly integrate the film's relatively angular 2D character designs with the blockier, more geometric aesthetic indigenous to CGI of the period, thus augmenting the enormity and bombast of the film's environments and human scale as opposed to breaking the immersion of its visual aesthetic.
Antagonist in Mourning: Inverted. Moses, the protagonist, breaks down in tears after the final plague. He is crying not only for the loss of his nephew, and by extension all the first born of Egypt, but the loss of his relationship with Rameses.
Anti-Villain: Rameses, to the point where the creators had to rewrite some scenes between him and Moses because he came off as too sympathetic and Moses as too cruel. He is forcing the Hebrews to work as slaves and refuses to let them go, just cracking down harder on them when Moses returns and demands their freedom. However, we are shown that he has been raised on the beliefs of his father, that a single weak king could cause the collapse of a long and proud dynasty, and Rameses refuses to let that be him.
Arc Words:
- "All I ever wanted." These words frame the character arc of Moses, as he initially believes that "all I ever wanted" was to rule wisely and well as the Prince of Egypt. But as he learns who he is, Moses wistfully reflects that this isn't really what he wants. Also, Moses' inner thoughts during the Plagues are that "even now, I wish that God had chose another", since he still feels affection for Rameses.
- "The weak link in the chain." These words frame the character arc of Rameses, as he constantly feels like he has to live up to the same reputation of his father. Rameses insists that he will not be the "weak link", and he digs in his heels while letting his pride and vengeance consume him out of a misguided desire to not look weak.
Artistic License – Geography: Moses flees from Egypt to Midian with little more than a kilt and no supplies. While the film does show him wandering for quite a while in the vast desert, Midian is generally believed to have been in the area now currently the NW corner of Saudi Arabia or SW Jordan. Moses would have been wandering aimlessly for days if not weeks in the desert before reaching the well in Midian and is not quite as close to Egypt as the movie seems to imply it is.
Artistic License – History:
- The Egyptian Captivity and the Exodus as portrayed in the Bible are thought by nearly all historians to be heavily mythologized. There is no material evidence of Israelites living in Egypt at this time, which would have been extremely obvious even if only a few hundred lived in Egypt for a few decades - it is impossible for hundreds of thousands of people to live in an area for four hundred years and leave no archaeological evidence. Many scholars do think that there was some loose historical basis but are divided on what it might have been.
- The Bible never identifies Pharaoh by name, but the film goes with Seti I as the Pharaoh who ordered the purge, and Rameses II as the Pharaoh at the time of the Plagues, taking a similar route to the The Ten Commandments. This is one possibility, but not one considered very likely by most scholars, mostly because Egypt thrived under Rameses II and Canaan was part of the Egyptian Empire during his time. While, as mentioned above, the Exodus is generally not considered an actual reflection of historical events, scholars consider the 18th Dynasty (the Ramesside/19th Dynasty's immediate predecessors) more likely candidates as the Pharaoh.
- Rameses is portrayed as having been a small child when his father Seti I ordered the execution of the firstborn Hebrew children. Historically, Rameses was thirteen when Seti became Pharaoh following the approximately two year reign of his own father Rameses I; he would have been a small child during the reign of Horemheb (1320— 1292 BCE), his grandfather's predecessor. He also probably would've been in Avaris (in Northern Egypt) at that age, where his family lived, rather than the capital.
- On a similar note, Seti's reign is shown as being much longer than it actually was, with Moses having been taken in, and grown up during it. While the exact dates of his reign are not known for sure, Seti is believed to have reigned for at least nine years, and at most eleven, meaning Moses would've been a child when he died, instead of a young adult.
- Similar to the above, Rameses' firstborn son, Amun-her-khepeshef, is portrayed as having been a child when he died. Rameses' thirteenth son and ultimate successor, Merneptah, was nineteen when Amun-her-khepeshef died.
- The term "Pharaoh" was not used contemporaneously for a ruler until the reign of his thirteenth son and immediate successor Merenptah (1213-1203 BCE). That one may be chalked up to Translation Convention.^note
- Much like its predecessor, the movie obliges by the popular image of slave armies building the various temples and monuments for the Egyptians; throughout Egyptian history, the vast majority of such structures were constructed by skilled laborers, most often farmers during the Nile's flood season, who were paid for their work, in part because these projects were considered too important to leave to slaves. Slaves in Egypt were more likely doing more minor, household tasks.^note
- Though the exact location is not outright stated, the geography of the city (sitting on the banks of the Nile with the pyramids in the background) suggests that Ramesses is ruling out of Memphis (known to the Egyptians as "Mennefer"). While this was historically the capital for much of Egypt's history, during Ramesses' reign, the capital was moved further North to his own personal capital in Pi-Ramesses, which was located in the Nile Delta.
Artistic License – Religion: The disclaimer at the start is open about this.
- In the original story, Moses was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, not his wife, and was nursed by his own mother. He would have been considered nobility as he was raised in Pharaoh's court, but was not a prince. This also means that the Pharaoh with whom he had to negotiate the release of the Hebrew slaves had never been his adoptive brother. He probably always knew that he was a Hebrew or at least non-Egyptian, but in this film he does not find out until he is a young adult.
- In Exodus, Moses secretly murders the Egyptian whipping the slave and hides his body by burying it in the sand. It is only when a fellow Hebrew pulls a "I know what you did" on him that he realizes that his crime has been discovered. Pharaoh then tries to have him executed, but he escapes. Here, Moses kills the Egyptian in an accidental act of public manslaughter, and immediately flees into self-imposed exile in shame, rebuffing the desperate attempts of the Egyptian Prince Regent to grant him amnesty.
- In Exodus, Moses and Aaron are 80 and 83 years old, respectively, at the time of the plagues. While Moses is shown to have spent at least several years as a shepherd, he is still very much a young man when he confronts Rameses here, while in Exodus, he spent 40 years as a shepherd.^note
- In Exodus, Moses actually had Aaron speak to Pharaoh on his behalf and also perform most of the miracles, as Moses was a poor orator. This is the original context in which Moses objects to being chosen as God's spokesman which provokes God's heated response "Who made man's mouth?". In a case of Adaptational Skill, this film has Moses speak to Pharaoh himself, which is common in adaptations of Exodus.
- The Ten Plagues of Egypt are depicted slightly out of order; the film depicts the order as the mass death of livestock, flies, raining fire, locusts, and then unhealable boils, but in Exodus, it was actually flies, the livestock death, the unhealable boils, raining fire, and then the locusts. It's also generally agreed by scholars that each individual Plague lasted for a certain amount of time before the next one began (though there's disagreement on how long that period was), but with the exception of the last two Plagues, the film shows them happening back-to-back if not simultaneously.
- Rameses II survives the parting of the Red Sea, while in the original story the Pharaoh either drowned or survived and became a wandering storyteller. This is another common change in adaptations of Exodus. ^note
Art Shift: The wall-painting dream sequence, which is stylized as Egyptian hieroglyphs and wall paintings.
Asshole Victim: Accident or not, the Egyptian that was whipping the old slave had it coming to him when Moses pushed him off the scaffolding.
Assurance Backfire: Played for drama. After Moses finds a mural depicting Hebrew infants being fed to crocodiles—this just after learning he is Hebrew himself—his adopted father, Pharaoh Seti I gives him a hug and comfortingly says... they were only slaves. His mother's assurance is not quite so horrifying, but her view that "the gods sent you here, so just forget the truth" doesn't help much either.
Atrocity Montage: "The Plagues" is a song that depicts the Ten Plagues of Egypt cast by Moses after failing to sway Rameses to free the Hebrews from slavery by turning the waters of the Nile River into blood. This is followed by the death of the Egyptian firstborn at midnight by the Angel of Death, which leads to Rameses letting Moses and his people go because of the death of Rameses' firstborn son.
Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: The soldiers that Rameses sends to arrest Moses charge across the river to reach him—until the river turns into blood, causing them to rush back to the boat.
Automaton Horses:
- In Moses' and Rameses' chariot race none of their horses panic or run out of control, despite their race leading atop construction scaffolding and collapsing buildings. Could be justified by a combination of the horses being very well-trained, as well as simply being used to this kind of thing - the race and the scene after it certainly seems to establish that this sort of behavior is nothing new for them.
- Averted during the cavalry charge of the Egyptian army at the end of the film. Horses are seen panicking, throwing off their riders and running wild after they are startled.
Award-Bait Song:
- "When You Believe", which won the Best Song Oscar. Also qualifies as a Breakout Pop Hit, as there are many fans of the song who only know it as "that Whitney/Mariah song". Especially combined with the "multi-lingual version".
- There's also "I Will Get There" by Boyz II Men, of which there are two versions: one is an acapella version featured in the ends credits and in the offical soundtrack and another is a R&B/pop version featured in the Inspirational soundtrack.
- The soundtrack also features a R&B version of "Through Heaven's Eyes" sung by K-Ci & Jojo.
Awful Truth: Moses sees his biological brother and sister in the Hebrew village, but he barely recognizes them. Miriam tells him the truth about his heritage, but Moses refuses to believe it. Miriam then sings the lullaby her mother sang to Moses when he was a baby. Moses recognizes it and begins to wonder about his identity. He finds out about the truth about his foster father via a dream he had and the hieroglyphic painting that proves it. His father committed genocide on all the newborn Hebrew boys by having his guards dump them in the crocodile-infested Nile river. Pharaoh Seti comes to Moses and tells him he did it because he feared the Hebrews would rebel against him and were growing too numerous in population.
The Bad Kingdom: "Exotic Despotism" variant. Egypt is portrayed as a brutal and outright genocidal realm, like in the Book of Exodus, but here its exotic nature is more greatly emphasized (because, of course, the majority of its intended audience are from modern-day republics of one sort or another). In addition (and probably intentionally playing on this, as the heroically-presented form of leadership is more likely to be familiar to the audience than the other), there is a greater emphasis placed on Moses and Pharoah (here identified as Rameses II) as foils, including in their leadership roles. Moses, a Prophet, as the very-literal Good Shepherd of his humble pastoralist people, leads the most benign possible take on The Theocracy. Meanwhile Rameses, like his father (both more and less so) is a hard-hearted tyrant.
Badass Boast: Rameses has this as Pharaoh. "I am the morning and the evening star" and "If I say night is day it will be written" are notable examples.
- God Himself also gets one during the Burning Bush scene.
  God: WHO MADE MAN'S MOUTH? WHO MADE THE DEAF, THE MUTE, THE SEEING, OR THE BLIND? DID NOT I?! NOW GO.
- "The Plagues" is half Quarreling Song and half one of these delivered from the point of view of God, promising to utterly destroy Egypt without discrimination or mercy if Rameses does not set His chosen people free.
  I send the locusts on a wind/Such as the world has never seen/On every leaf, on every stalk/Until there's nothing left of green/I send My scourge, I send My sword/THUS SAITH THE LORD.
- Hotep and Huy have one in "Playing With the Big Boys Now", even if in the end they couldn't back it up:
  Hotep: So you think you have friends in high places, with the power to put us on the run...
  Huy: Well, forgive us these smiles on our faces, you'll know what power is when we are done...
  Both: Son.
Bait-and-Switch Silhouette: After humiliating Tzipporah by letting her fall into a pool and seeing her being escorted to his bedchambers by a servant, Moses begins to regret of what he has done and decides to go to his bedchambers to apologise. He sees her silhouette sitting on his bed behind the curtains with her arms crossed and looking away from him. Moses approaches his bed, works up his courage and pulls back the curtain, only to find the same servant Bound and Gagged, and a Bedsheet Ladder out of his window.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: Averted. Men are shown to have visible nipples, and the Hebrew babies on the mural are drawn with visible, albeit stylized, genitals.
Barefoot Poverty: Several characters. Miriam and the majority of the Hebrew slaves are barefoot, which adds to their poverty. Very few of them, such as Aaron, wear sandals (and even then, Aaron went barefoot in his childhood).
Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: Tzipporah, a Midian woman who was kidnapped by the Egyptians and given Ramses as a concubine, is passed off to Moses, who tricks her into falling into a pool of water. Ramses gives the order, "Have her dried off and sent to Prince Moses' chambers!" Moses doesn't look any happier with the thought than Tzipporah, but she swiftly enacts her own escape before any awkward confrontations can occur. Funnily enough, this is inverted later—he winds up in Midian after wandering in the desert and is bathed by some old women. He seems just as uncomfortable as before.
Bear Hug:
- Jethro, the largest character in the film, gives Moses a big hug when welcoming him to Midian. Not long after, he pulls both Moses and Tzipporah into a giant hug after they decide to get married.
- When Moses returns to Egypt, he and Rameses eye each other in surprise. Rameses, however, quickly gets over the shock and grabs Moses in a giant hug, lifting him off the floor and apparently even squeezing the air out of Moses.
Bible Times: Since it's an adaptation of Exodus, it's natural that it would take place in these times.
Big Bad: Seti I is this in the first half, as the one who initially enslaved the Hebrews and ordered the purge of their infants that led to Moses' princehood in the first place, Rameses II is this for the second half, as he is the primary force stopping the Hebrews' from being freed.
Big Brother Instinct:
- Little Brother Instinct rather. When Seti summons Rameses for punishment about the cart chase, Moses immediately says that it wasn't his brother's fault; Moses goaded him.
- Rameses's first reaction to his little brother killing a man in front of multiple witnesses is to declare him innocent. When Moses returns after years of being gone, he is ready to give his brother a high position and wipe away the grime.
- Aaron is frequently seen trying to protect Miriam from the consequences of her actions, as her forwardness places her in trouble with the Egyptian authorities.
- Miriam displays big sister instinct towards her brothers, especially Moses. She comforts and motivates him whenever he's distraught or close to giving up and stands up for him when faced with an angry crowd. Even as a child, her main priority was to ensure that her baby brother was safe.
Big Little Brother: Despite being the oldest of the three, Miriam is the shortest of her siblings^note.
Big "NO!": Rameses, when God makes the Red Sea sweep him backwards.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Almost everyone. Jethro is the most prominent though. Averted with Rameses and most of the Egyptian royalty and nobility, who have thin, drawn-on eyebrows; this is historically justified, since ancient Egyptian priests and upper classes shaved and plucked almost their entire bodies.
Big Word Shout: Rameses, when we see him after the Red Sea returns to normal, alone and defeated:
"MOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!"
Bittersweet Ending: Moses successfully leads the Hebrews out of their lives as slaves, but his brotherly relationship with Rameses is destroyed forever, and he'll never see him again. And if you have read the Bible, you will know that things for the Hebrews will be going downhill.
Blessed with Suck: Moses comes to view being chosen by God as this, as he is forced to be the instrument of destruction, pain, and death, and he has to go against the man he sees as a brother.
Blood Is Squicker in Water: During the mural dream sequence just before Moses discovers the genocide of the Hebrew boys by Pharaoh Seti, as Moses falls into the water with the babies, the water turns red as they are about to reach the alligators deeper down, which wakes Moses up from the dream.
Bloodless Carnage:
- The Egyptian soldiers' blades are remarkably clean after walking out of the house of a Hebrew woman whose son they just murdered.
- We never get a good look at the corpse of the slave master that Moses accidentally kills, but from the glimpses we do get, his body is pretty pristine for having fallen over one-hundred feet and with enough force to completely smash through wooden planking.
Body Horror: The boils during the Plagues sequence. We see shots of Egyptians freaking out and in pain, and while it's difficult to see due to the lighting, you can faintly see red growths on their bodies.
Bonfire Dance: After fleeing from Egypt into the desert, Moses is taken in by Jethro and his tribe, and he lives with them for several years. One night during his stay, Jethro's eldest daughter Tzipporah is dancing near a bonfire, and she invites Moses to join the tribe in a communal dance around it.
Bookends: The movie begins with Jocheved singing "Deliver Us", and ends with her singing the single line "Deliver Us" as Moses comes down from Mt Sinai.
Boomerang Bigot: Moses does not give much thought to the Hebrews or even notice their suffering until he then finds out he is one. Over time he comes to accepts the fact and (with God's order) helps free them.
"Both Sides Have a Point" Remark: How Moses and Rameses react to the former killing a foreman by accident. Rameses saw what happened — it was an accident and Moses knocked him off of scaffolding by overreaching in his attempt to rescue a slave from being whipped — and reassures Moses that he's not a killer. Moses is shaken and asserts that it doesn't matter if it was an accident because he took a man's life, and Rameses insisting they pretend it didn't happen will not make it so.
Moses: You saw what happened! I just killed a man!
Rameses: Uh, we can take care of that! (stammers) I-I will make it so it never happened!
Moses: Nothing you can say can change what I've done.
Rameses: I am Egypt, the morning and the evening star! If I say day is night, it will be written! And you will be what I say you are! I say you are innocent!
Moses: What you say does not matter!
Break the Haughty:
- Moses is thoroughly broken when he learns the truth of his heritage. It takes an inspirational "You Are Better Than You Think You Are" song from Jethro to rebuild him.
- What God does to Rameses for repeatedly refusing to let the Hebrews go. The final straw was the death of Rameses's son.
Bring It: The "Playing with the Big Boys" number is basically the Egyptians telling God to bring it after Moses commands Rameses to release the Hebrews. God brings it... in the form of the Ten Plagues.
Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Hotep and Huy, the Fat and Skinny priest duo, are comedic villains, opposed to the dead-serious Rameses. They even get their own Villain Song.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: The Pharaoh to Moses: "They were only slaves."
Cain and Abel: Moses and Rameses are a deconstruction of this trope, as their history and affection lead to great turmoil and angst as they conflict with one another. Neither wants to kill the other (and it takes a spectacular Villainous Breakdown on Rameses's part before it gets to that point), but are thrust into their roles by a higher power.
Call-and-Response Song: The "Plagues" song is a back-and-forth between Moses and Ramses noting the way their relationship has changed, and Moses pleading for the Hebrews to be freed and Rameses refusing. The animation behind the song is a montage of Egypt being devastated by the plagues.
Call-Back: Moses mocks Rameses after Tzipporah tries to bite him, saying he isn't much of a snake charmer. Rameses calls Moses a snake charmer later when Moses returns, having married Tzipporah and having just turned his staff into a snake.
Call-Forward: Moses misdirects a guard to protect Tzipporah as she attempts to escape, similar to what Rahab, who also happened to be an affluent member of a pagan nation who later has a Faith–Heel Turn, does to protect the Israelite spies hiding in her home in Jericho later in the Biblical narrative.
Casting Gag: In the Biblical story, Moses was said to be "slow of tongue", indicating that he had a stutter or other form of speech impediment, and he relied on his brother Aaron to speak for him when confronting the Pharoah. Moses is perfectly capable of speaking in this film, while Aaron is voiced by Jeff Goldblum, an actor known for his distinct stutter.
Cathartic Crying: During God's onslaught of plagues upon Egypt, Moses is visibly distraught and even mentally sings about how the pain and devastation tortures him inside. He even looks horrified as Rameses indirectly proclaims the tenth plague himself. Still, he maintains a stalwart expression every time he pleads to Rameses to let his people go, and calmly concedes when Rameses has practially doomed himself and his family. After Moses is given the news of the Hebrews' freedom from a grief-stricken Rameses, he collapses in tears just outside the palace.
Censored Child Death: When the Angel of Death strikes, we see a little boy carrying a jar inside his home. A gasp is then heard, and through the doorway, his arm is seen slumping lifelessly on the ground. Other firstborns are seen after their death such as the Pharaoh's.
Chainmail Bikini: Downplayed The armor that Rameses wears during the climax only covers his chest, leaving his stomach exposed. It's also historically Justified, since the armor was based on one of the murals found in one of the real Rameses the Great's temples.
Changeling Fantasy: Inverted — Moses does not take the news of his real heritage too well.
Character Exaggeration: Averted in most respects (especially the Pharaohs), which is one of the reasons the film is praised.
Chariot Race: The movie introduces near-adult Moses by showing him racing through the city with adoptive brother Rameses, creating various forms of havoc.
Chekhov's Gag:
- The defaced monument of the Pharaoh is seen in the background of several scenes after it occurs, even when the conversations are otherwise serious. By the time Moses returns, however, the defacement has been corrected.
- When Tzipporah is offered to Rameses by the priests, she tries to bite his hand and Moses teases him: "Not much of a snake charmer, are you?" When Moses shows up at the palace for the first time and tells Rameses to "let his people go" and then transforms his staff into a snake, Rameses smirks and says "Hotep, Huy, show this snake charmer our answer". Moses had brought Tzipporah to the palace as his wife.
- When Moses and Tzipporah first meet, he humiliates her by letting go of the rope she's pulling on, causing her to fall backward into a pool of water. When Moses is trapped in the well in Midian, Tzipporah lets go of the rope she was using to pull him out as soon as she realizes who he is. Unlike the other two examples, Tzipporah was very well aware of the callback. Moses finds it Actually Pretty Funny and well-deserved.
Cherubic Choir: When the Israelites are finally leaving Egypt, a Hebrew song of praise to God is being sung by children in the background, starting with one young girl's voice that is soon joined by several, turning from lighthearted to joyous. The song in question is taken straight from the original Biblical text of the song sung by the Hebrews while crossing the Red Sea.
Children Are Innocent: Played straight in this film, as both the Hebrew and Egyptian children killed are viewed as victims of situations outside of their control. There is also a scene when the Angel of Death arrives and a curious Hebrew child looks out the window at it until his mother pulls him away.
Circling Monologue: Occurs when Rameses' two priests circle Moses during their Villain Song.
Clothing Damage: As Moses went into self-exile in the desert, one of his sandals got torn after tripping on a sharp rock, which leads to Moses to remove the torn sandal in pain and anger before removing his prince garments, except for the ring Rameses gave him. After the sandstorm engulfed Moses, who dug himself out from the sand to cling onto a passing camel, his kilt was tattered.
Cold Flames: When Moses comes across the bush burning with blue flames, he tests it with his staff and finds that it is not burnt nor even warmed. He then tests it again with his hand, which is again unharmed.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Moses and Rameses are associated with red and blue respectively.
- The Red/Blue split doesn't just apply to Moses and Rameses, but to the Hebrews and Egyptians more generally. Scenes in the royal palace have soft blue or purple lighting and cool-toned backgrounds; the Hebrews, in contrast, are surrounded by warmer lighting and more natural red/brown colors.
- One interesting thing to notice is that all divine beings are represented by white, and the Pharaoh dresses in white. The Pharaoh is meant to be a god to Egyptians.
Comedic Underwear Exposure: Used as a gag during the chariot race, when Moses says that looking up to Rameses is "not much of a view."
Construction Is Awesome: Subverted. The Pharaonic monuments are impressive, but they are built with slave labor.
Contrived Coincidence: Moses just so happens to stumble upon, and help, Tzipporah's sisters after he gets lost in the desert.
Counterpoint Duet: "The Plagues" is set as Moses sends the Plagues to Egypt, all the while he regrets having to do it and he hates how he must make the Egyptians suffer. Meanwhile, Rameses thinks that Moses hates him and tries to harden his heart, refusing to give up the Hebrews.
Covers Always Lie: Fitting its title, the film's official posters and DVD covers all depict Moses in his royal Egyptian garb from the first act, and his older, more unkempt appearance from the rest of the film is rarely shown.
Crack in the Sky: A blinding-white tear appears in the sky when the Angel of Death comes to smite the Egyptian firstborn.
Creator Cameo: Two of the film's directors perform some short but notable roles:
- Brenda Chapman provides the singing voice for Miriam during "River Lullaby" as well as the ghostly breath of the Angel of Death.
- Simon Wells voices the old Hebrew slave whom Moses saves from whipping by accidentally killing his slave driver.
Cruel Mercy: It's hinted that God deliberately had Rameses thrown onto the shore when the sea collapsed rather than drown with his army so that he may live with the consequences of his actions.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Gender-swapped. As in the original story, Yocheved puts her infant son in a basket to float down the Nile to safety, as a mass murder of all male Hebrew babies is happening. She's clearly heartbroken to do so.
Damsel in Distress: Tzipporah is introduced this way, captured by Hotep and Huy, and intended as a concubine of sorts for Rameses. She later escapes by herself. Later in the film, this is also how Moses meets her three sisters, as they are being harassed by bandits trying to make off with their sheep.
Damsel out of Distress: Though Tzipporah is introduced as a prisoner in Egypt being offered as a gift to Rameses and Moses, Moses discovers that she had made her escape on her own when he thought that she was tied up in his room. He covers for her, much to her surprise.
Darker and Edgier: Being the second Dreamworks animated film, it is arguably one of the darkest ever made by the studio as it depicts the book of Exodus without sugarcoating anything while touching upon serious themes such as slavery, death, and genocide. There is also a bunch of violent and disturbing scenes, such as Moses' nightmare, the murder of an Egyptian (albeit accidental), the Plagues, and the infanticide at the beginning during Deliver Us.
Dark Reprise:
- During the "The Plagues" sequence, we get a more bitter, anger-filled version of "All I Ever Wanted" from both Moses and Rameses.
  Moses: This was my home.
  and later
  Rameses: Is this what you wanted?!?
- Immediately following "The Plagues," the score mournfully reprises "All I Ever Wanted" as Moses walks through the now-damaged palace to once more attempt to reason with Rameses.
Dated History: In 1994, Rameses was discovered to be a redhead, and in 2016, he was discovered to be fair-skinned meaning the black-haired, brown-skinned depiction in this film has actually become dated. Given how genetics work, the appearance of Seti and Tuya also fall under this trope, as do all the Egyptians, as they were historically quite diverse due to Egypt having always been a melting pot and crossroads meaning there have always been Egyptians of every hair and skin color.
Dead-Hand Shot:
- Used with the Egyptian foreman Moses accidentally causes to fall from scaffolding.
- Used with an Egyptian boy fetching water during the final plague.
Deadly Dust Storm: After Moses leaves Egypt he wanders around the desert until he's engulfed in a sandstorm that leaves him nearly buried.
Deadpan Snarker: Hotep and Huy, the Egyptian high priests, have their moments - often mumbled in the background:
Seti : [to Moses and Rameses] I seek to build an Empire, and your only thought is to amuse yourselves by tearing it down! Have I taught you nothing?
Hotep: You mustn't be so hard on yourself, your majesty. You're an excellent teacher.
Huy: It's not your fault your sons learned nothing!
Hotep: Well, they learned blasphemy.
Huy: True.
Death from Above: The fiery hail is gloriously rendered as a serious, sky-lighting event.
Death Glare: After Moses leaves Rameses to mourn over his dead son, Rameses glares after him with deep hatred. Rameses shortly thereafter sets upon Moses and the Hebrews with an army.
Death of a Child: The Hebrew children are massacred as part of the Pharaoh's purge of the slaves right at the beginning. The Angel of Death pays Egypt back for it by taking their firstborns later on.
Death Wail: During the final plague when the Angel of Death kills all the first-born children in Egypt, what followed afterwards are the distant but anguished screams of thousands of parents mourning over their deaths in the background. And they continue in the next scene where Moses meets Rameses silently grieving the death of his son.
Deconstructed Trope: The film deconstructed Red Oni, Blue Oni through Moses and Rameses, respectively, by showing the qualities associated with them evolving in positive and negative ways as they mature.
Defeat Means Friendship: When the Hebrews are leaving Egypt, two of the Egyptian guards are seen throwing down their weapons and joining and aiding the Hebrews on their journey to the Promised Land, having grown disillusioned with their Pharoah after enduring the ten plagues.
Deliberately Monochrome: The scene where Moses confronts Rameses after the latter's son has been killed by the final plague, is shown in a stark black and white, comprised entirely of shadows and a single ray of sunlight shining from above.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Quoth Seti I, when genuinely trying to comfort Moses: "Oh, my son. They were only slaves."
Demoted to Extra:
- Aaron, Moses's aide and spokesman in the Exodus, becomes less relevant to the story and does not personally support Moses until after the plagues have been unleashed; conversely, Tzipporah becomes an Ascended Extra. She, instead of Aaron, is with Moses in the staffs-to-snakes scene.
- Definitely applies to Nefretiri, Rameses's wife and mother of Amun, who only is briefly seen standing by Rameses's throne at the beginning of the scene where Moses first demands the release of his people, but does not appear again.
Didn't Think This Through: Moses thinks that if he talks to Rameses like old times, he can try to release the Hebrew people peacefully. The thing is, that he barges in on his brother, who is now a Pharaoh, and claims that he is following a new god that wants the slaves to be free because it's the right thing to do. Rameses in public plays it off as Moses being mischievous, but in private has to go by The Chains of Commanding and point out the obvious: there is no benefit to the Egyptians by freeing the slaves, and he knows that his brother returned home expecting followers. If Rameses just frees the slaves like that, it will cause huge economic disruption and potential political chaos. He also is betrayed that Moses chose the slaves over him, and that starts their vendetta which leads to the Ten Plagues. It's likely that if Moses had come to him in private and tried to suggest a plan where everyone is saved, it might have led to more negotiations.
Disappeared Dad: Or at least we never see Amram, the father of Moses and his siblings.
Disappointed in You: Queen Tuya sorrowfully turns away from her adopted son Moses in shame after he humiliates a slave girl at the royal banquet. Given how she was ashamed of her son for humiliating what other Egyptians would consider a lowly life form, it is clear that she was one of Moses' major moral compasses in his early life.
Disappointing Heritage Reveal: Moses is initially horrified when he discovers he is of Jewish heritage since the Jews are enslaved under his adoptive family (and he has grown up believing that the Jews are lesser because of this). This leads to his BSoD Song "All I Ever Wanted", where he tries to deny this and say he's still a prince of Egypt. This is subverted when he discovers that the only reason he was given away was that his adoptive father was murdering Jewish infants, leading to a Heritage–Face Turn.
Disaster Dominoes: Moses being an irresponsible chariot driver is what leads to the defacement of a monument and the destruction of the surrounding structures.
Disc-One Final Boss: It seems like Seti I will be the Pharaoh Moses must step up against to free the Hebrews, but he dies offscreen halfway through the film and his son Rameses steps up.
Disney Acid Sequence:
- Used right after "All I Ever Wanted", when there is an Art Shift to a hieroglyphics style in Moses's dream.
- Justified in "Playing With the Big Boys Now", because the effects are being created within the film by the two characters performing the song.
Disney Villain Death: While trying to stop an Egyptian guard cruelly whipping a Hebrew slave, Moses accidentally pushes the guard off the scaffolding of the temple and the guard falls to his death. This causes Moses to exile himself out of guilt and shame. In the original, Moses deliberately killed the guard to save the slave.
Distant Prologue: The "Deliver Us" number takes place decades before the actual film.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: While the events are mostly adapted from the Exodus scriptures, the film's depiction of the Hebrews' plight in Egypt also draws many unsettling parallels to The Holocaust. The Egyptians are frequently shown dehumanizing their slaves to excuse their oppression of them, Seti justifies his killing of the infants by claiming that the Hebrews' numbers posed a potential threat, and Rameses later promises to finish what his father started and wiping the Hebrews out completely, both of which can bring to mind the reasoning that led to the Final Solution. Even when they are ultimately set free, the Hebrews have become so desensitised to their own suffering that they are hesitant to celebrate and are almost completely silent, as many prisoners were said to be when the concentration camps were liberated.
Don't Make Me Destroy You: In the scene immediately preceding the plague of the firstborn, Moses practically begs Rameses not to let things continue, all the while staring at Rameses's son...who is a firstborn. Rameses not only refuses to release the Hebrews, but decides to finish what Seti started years ago by wiping them all out, vowing that "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as never has been or ever will be again!". From here, Moses has little choice but to resign himself to the final plague.
Moses: ...Rameses, you bring this upon yourself.
Don't Say Such Stupid Things!: Moses refuses to lead the Israelites out of slavery because they would never trust or follow him, but God loses His temper and tells him to go anyway. He does soften up to Moses shortly afterwards though.
Moses: You've chosen the wrong messenger! How can I even speak to these people?
God: WHO MADE MAN'S MOUTH!? Who made the deaf, the mute, the seeing, or the blind? Did not I? Now, GO!
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Rameses telling Moses to leave him after his son's death as a result of the final plague. This moment even provides the trope image.
Downer Beginning: It's an adaptation of the story of the Exodus, so this is a given; the film's opening has the Egyptians taking the infant children of the Hebrew slaves to be slaughtered, followed by Yocheved having to send the baby Moses down the river and being separated from him forever, with the only upside being that Queen Tuya found him and took a liking to him immediately, ensuring that Moses was saved from the horrific fate that the other Hebrew babies were dealt.
Dramatic Drop: A variation. During the plague of the Death of the Firstborn, we see a young boy carrying a jar of presumably water into his home. He gets through the door, we hear a loud exhale, and then the sound of the jar shattering. All we see is the boy's hand sticking out from the doorway.
Dramatic Irony:
- Seti tells Moses that he will never have to carry a burden like Rameses will when the latter becomes Pharaoh. If only Seti knew...
- In a meta example, Seti and Rameses both fear Rameses may bring down the dynasty. In fact, the historical Rameses surpassed his (already great) father's legacy and became the greatest pharaoh in history.
Dramatic Necklace Removal: After ripping his sandal when tripping over a sharp rock whilst walking aimlessly in the desert, Moses, in a fit of anger, breaks off his Egyptian chest plate necklace as he proceeds to remove his Egyptian jewellery, except for the ring Rameses gave him.
Dream Melody: Moses is seen casually whistling the lullaby his biological mother sang to him at the beginning. When he hears Miriam singing the song after she reveals his true heritage he recognizes the tune and realizes the truth.
Dreaming the Truth: Moses realizes where he came from in a dream depicted in various Egyptian art images.
Drives Like Crazy: The chariot race at the top of the movie. If it's to be believed, crazy teenage drivers have been a problem for much longer than we currently think.
Dropping the Bombshell:
- Moses learning of his true heritage is this for him.
  Miriam: I know who you are, and you are not a prince of Egypt!
  Moses: What did you say?!
- And then he gets another from his kindly father:
  Seti: Oh, my son... they were only slaves.
Drowning My Sorrows: Implied. When Moses arrives to plead with Rameses one last time during the plague of darkness, the troubled pharaoh is drinking deeply from a goblet.
Dying Candle: As the Angel of Death is passing through the Egyptian city, one of the houses it enters has a lamp burning in the window, which goes out after it leaves with the spirit of the household's firstborn.
Dying Object Drop Shot: God sends His Angel of Death to kill every firstborn in Egypt as the final of the ten plagues to break King Rameses into releasing the imprisoned Hebrews. At one point, the Angel sneaks up behind an Egyptian boy carrying a jug and kills him, and there is a Dead-Hand Shot as the jug shatters on the ground.
The Eleven O'Clock Number: "When You Believe". Miriam and Tzipporah, later joined in by the newly freed Hebrew slaves, marvel at the wonder and divinity of God, having kept His promise to someday free them through miraculous deeds through Moses, but also at their own enduring human spirit that has lasted through their time in bondage.
Epic Movie: From the point of conception, DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg intended this to be his Big Damn Epic Movie and marketed it as such. It was his first film since The Lion King, and he wanted to show his former studio what he was capable of.
Epigraph: The film ends on Moses-centric quotations from the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and The Qur'an, emphasizing how he became an important figure to all three Abrahamic religions.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: For Seti and later Rameses. Seti has his queen, as well as Rameses and Moses until Moses learns of his true heritage. Rameses has his queen (though we barely see her) as well as his son in the latter half of the film until he's killed in the final plague.
Everybody Cries: After the Angel of Death took away all the firstborn children's lives, all the Egyptian mothers begin to wail after seeing their dead children, breaking the silence of the night. Rameses mourns for his own son silently. After Ramses tells him to leave and that he lets his people go, Moses sits against a wall and breaks down along with the sounds of the wailing mothers. Not because he lost a firstborn child, but because he lost his relationship with his foster brother and nephew, plus all the destruction in Egypt that happened due to Rameses's stubbornness and pride.
Evil Malthusian: When Moses is horrified to find out his adoptive father Seti ordered a massacre of Hebrew babies years prior, Seti justifies himself with the excuse that he was trying to prevent a Slave Revolt.
Seti: The Hebrews grew too numerous. They might have risen against us.
Exact Words: "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as there never has been or ever will be again", said by Rameses when he decides that his father had the right idea of how to keep the Hebrews in line by killing their children and wants to finish the job. There's a great cry in all of Egypt, all right, but it doesn't come from the Hebrews... Moses's reaction to Rameses's statement makes it clear he knows exactly how those words will play out.
The Faceless: Jethrodiadah, the youngest of Tzipporah's sisters. We get a brief glimpse of her face when she excitedly asks Moses to sit with her at Jethro's banquet table, but otherwise, her eyes are the only part of her face not concealed by her oversized headscarf.
Facial Profiling: The Hebrews are depicted with curly mops of unruly dark hair and many of them have larger noses. They also have lighter skin compared to the darker Egyptians. The Egyptians themselves have round, smooth faces with high cheekbones, narrow eyes, and smooth black hair. This was intentional, as explained in the promotional materials. The Egyptians in general are composed of angular, symmetric, geometric lines in contrast to the Hebrews' rounded, more natural, and varied forms. Authentic Egyptian art depicts Semites as bearded and lighter skinned in contrast to the clean-shaven, slightly darker Egyptians. This is also historically justified; ancient Egyptian priests, nobility and upper classes in general shaved and plucked their bodies, which marks Moses out as an outsider from the very beginning: he has short hair under his wig, a small beard, and natural eyebrows.
Fake Wizardry: Pharaoh's priests rely on magic tricks to simulate magic powers. Obviously, Moses (via God) becomes able to do what they pretend to do and more.
Falling-in-Love Montage: A montage of Moses building a new life among Tzipporah's people after fleeing Egypt set to the song "Through Heaven's Eyes", which also includes him falling in love with Tzipporah and marrying her right at the end of the song. It's a particularly beautiful sequence considering that their relationship, while sweet, is not really central to the story of the film.
Family-Values Villain: Despite ordering the mass infanticide among the Hebrew slaves, Pharaoh Seti I gives every sign of being a family man who genuinely loves his wife and sons. However, this is a rare example that serves to make him creepier rather than sympathetic due to the cognitive dissonance involved; he ignores the obvious implication that he nearly murdered the babe who later became his favorite son (Moses) because he doesn't seem to consider him a Hebrew at all, instead of a prince of Egypt.
Fan Disservice: The men of the Hebrews are depicted as practically naked, wearing nothing more than a brief loincloth, while they are working. Its meant to evoke their degradation by the Egyptians since they're treated as essentially walking tools.
Fed to the Beast: Pharaoh Seti has his soldiers kill Jewish babies by taking them from their mothers, and throwing them in the Nile where they become crocodile meat; the event is later depicted in Moses' nightmare and shown on a mural.
Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: The Egyptians genuinely fear the Hebrews as a group that could only day topple their kingdom with their growing population despite the fact the Hebrews did nothing to them. This is why they subjugate the Hebrews into slavery, abuse them whenever they have the chance, and even kill their babies just to keep their numbers under control. All of this becomes a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy when God sees the Hebrews suffering and decides to punish Egypt with 10 devastating plagues.
Final Solution: When Moses tries one last time to talk down Rameses before the final plague takes his son's life, Rameses starts ranting that Seti had the "right idea" how to deal with the Hebrews and that perhaps he should "finish the job". When his son dies, Rameses relents and lets Moses's people go, but later changes his mind and pursues them with his army to simply kill them all.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Symbolically in "The Plagues".
I send the thunder from the sky, I send the fire raining down
I send a hail of burning ice on every field, on every town
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Not a coincidence that God sends a pillar of fire to stop the Egyptian army before parting the Red Sea.
Flipping the Table: Rameses does this to the priests' table right before he jumps into his half of the emotionally-charged "Plagues" duet.
Flowers of Romance: During the "Through Heaven's Eyes" montage, Moses ties some beautiful flowers to Tzipporah's shepherds staff while she's not looking, which she greatly appreciates. Unsurprisingly, they're married before the end of the song.
Follow the White Rabbit: Moses finds the burning bush when searching for a lost sheep. It's only moments later when you realize this was the same sheep that Moses helped deliver during the Falling-in-Love Montage.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Rameses is the responsible older brother, while Moses is the freewheeling younger brother. Both grow out of their roles as the movie goes along, but they each remember and refer back to their roles from when they were younger.
Forced Overwork: The Hebrews are forced to build nonstop for the Egyptians, whipped to go faster, and starved, and the ones who collapse in exhaustion are even more cruelly whipped. On top of that, their babies are murdered, so the number of Hebrews will decrease. Moses survives only because his mother puts him into a basket and drops him in the Nile, leading him to be found and raised by the Pharaoh’s wife. Moses doesn’t give a thought to the Hebrews’ suffering until he learns he is a Hebrew, too; then he becomes very conscious of every abuse and every scream of pain. Finally, when Moses sees an exhausted old man whipped by an overseer, he runs to stop the latter but accidentally pushes him to his death. Horrified, Moses leaves Egypt in an imposed self-exile.
Foreshadowing:
- Several scenes at the beginning of the film obliquely refer to later events, particularly when the Pharaoh is scolding Rameses and Moses, and the conversation Moses and Rameses have afterwards. The scenes get numerous call backs later in the film. Also, during the scene when the Queen names Moses. From the angle of the "camera", Rameses (as a small toddler) is completely covered up by Moses in the Queen's arms.
- At the climax of "Playing With The Big Boys", the snake created from Moses' staff is swallowing the two brought out by Hotep and Huy whole, practically screaming how well Rameses' refusal to let the Hebrews go will fare. This is actually how it goes in the Bible as well.
- When Moses confronts Rameses about the final plague, his son interrupts their meeting before Rameses declares his intent to wipe out the Hebrew firstborn sons like his father. Rameses' son is standing in front of the mural part of the where the Hebrew boys are being drowned and killed, showing that he and Egyptian firstborns will die when the Angel of Death comes.
Formerly Friendly Family: Moses and Rameses are very close at the start of the movie, with Moses even trying to defend him from their father. Even after Moses returns many years later, both want to continue their close relationship. However, due to Moses being the one who has the free the slaves, he is forced to do worse and worse things to the people Rameses rules over as Rameses continues to refuse, despite Moses begging him to. Finally, after the final plague which results in the death of every first born son in Egypt, Rameses lets the slaves go. However, at the crossing of the sea, Rameses returns to try and kill all the slaves, Moses included, making it clear things are over between the two former brothers.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: God does this twice:
- During the dream where Moses learns of the murder of the Hebrew infants one can see the Disc of Aten, Aten being, in a (forcibly eradicated) variant of Egyptian religion, the One True God and Creator of All Life.
- As the burning bush He uses Moses's own voice throughout the conversation.
Four-Philosophy Ensemble:
- The Cynic - Aaron. Years of slavery have stolen his faith from him, and he's initially hostile towards Moses for trying to intervene (and unintentionally making things worse). He also tries to keep Miriam from doing anything reckless to keep her out of trouble.
- The Optimist - Miriam. No matter how hard her life as a slave gets, she never loses faith, and she encourages those around her to do the same.
- The Realist - Moses. He serves as a middle ground between Miriam and Aaron, knowing that the harsh treatment of the Hebrews is unacceptable, but not impossible to be freed from.
- The Apathetic One - Tzipporah. The thing she cares about most when it comes to the whole situation is that Moses is unharmed.
Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- Watching carefully during the final plague (the Angel of Death) reveals that it takes Rameses' son last, symbolized by a gasp and a small wisp that rises out of the palace and blends into the maelstrom a moment later.
- After Moses turns the Nile to blood, the water immediately around where he's standing remains clear and pure.
Freudian Excuse: The film gives a more-down-to-earth reason for the Pharaoh's refusal to let the Hebrews go. The royal family is raised under the belief that they are gods and if they are seen as weak, their entire kingdom could collapse. Rameses, in particular, fears being the weak link thanks to his harsh upbringing from his father, and he sees the emancipation of Hebrew slaves as a sign of great weakness to his authority.
Funny Background Event: After they are both scolded by Seti, Moses goes to comfort Rameses. During the scene he can be seen idly sewing a piece of cloth without comment or focus. At the end of the scene, having sewn it into a sack, he fills it with liquid from a present dish and drops it on the passing priests as a water balloon.

G-L

Genre Throwback: To biblical and historical epics of the 50's/early 60's, especially The Ten Commandments and Lawrence of Arabia.
Get Out!:
- During the plague of darkness, Rameses shouts this to Moses, throwing his goblet of wine at him. Moses, however, stays and tries to make Rameses talk to him.
- Later, after the death of the firstborn, Moses tries to comfort Rameses, but Rameses, in a fit of rage shouts at him, "LEAVE ME!"
Gilligan Cut: After the Chariot Race:
Rameses: You don't think we'll get in trouble for this, do you?
Moses: No, not a chance.
[Cue Moses and Rameses being scolded for the chaos the race caused.]
Seti: Why do the gods torment me with such reckless, destructive, blasphemous sons!?
God: The one who commands Moses to free the Hebrews, and who uses His power to punish the Egyptians until they consent.
A God Am I: Rameses repeatedly refers to himself as "the morning and the evening star," pointing to the fact that as Pharaoh, he is supposed to be a god incarnate.
God-Emperor, the Pharaoh, as per actual ancient Egyptian belief.
God Is Good: The all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe is here represented by a soft, beautiful white fire. The fire speaks to Moses in the most familiar, soothing voice it can must: Moses's. Not only that, but the fire surrounds Moses without hurting him and leaves him in a blissful state of awe.
God Save Us from the Queen!: Queen Tuya is a loving mother to both Ramses and Moses and doesn't care at all that Moses was a Hebrew child who washed up in a basket. On the other hand, from the perspective of the Hebrew slaves, none of the Egyptian royal family is particularly sympathetic or kind.
Go-Go Enslavement: Downplayed. When Tzipporah is presented to Rameses and Moses, she's wearing a more reaveling outfit than the one she'd wear for the rest of the film.
Gold Is Yellow: Averted. Gold objects are given both realistic tones and realistic shading.
Good Is Not Soft: God is working to free His enslaved people as promised, but the film does not gloss over how thorough His vengeance on Egypt was, especially in the eye-for-eye smiting of the firstborn even down to the young children.
Good-Times Montage: During the song "Through Heaven's Eyes" we see Moses being welcomed by Jethro and his people, finding peace and happiness as a shepherd, and finally marrying Tziporrah.
Gory Discretion Shot: Several times.
- In the opening massacre of the Hebrew sons, we follow an Egyptian soldier as he shoves his way into a woman's house and raises his blade above her child's crib, before a rather disturbing Smash Cut to him calmly walking out of the house, past the sobbing mother.
- Zigzagged with Moses' staff devouring Huy and Hotep's snakes. The shot initially cuts away from the three snakes striking at one another to their shadows, showing Moses' snatching one of the others, before cutting to Hotep and Huy singing, then cutting back to the shadow of Moses' snake now devouring both of the others, then panning back to Moses' snake as the tails of the other snakes disappear down its throat.
Happily Adopted: Moses was this until he learned the truth.
Happily Married: About halfway through the movie, Moses marries Tzipporah, and the two stick together through thick and thin for the rest of the film, with Tzipporah deciding to come with Moses to Egypt even if it would mean leaving her family behind forever, as well as rushing to help him when he's knocked into the dirt by the angry Jews.
Happily Ever Before: The film stops immediately after the Red Sea Crossing, with a brief subsequent image of Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments, leaving out all mention of the Golden Calf, the destruction of the original tablets, or subsequent hardships for the fleeing Hebrews.
Heaven Above: The song "Through Heaven's Eye" has a wise old man motion upwards to the clear, night sky when advising Moses to look at life as God would see it.
Heel–Face Turn: Two Egyptian guards lay down their spears and join the Exodus at the end, and manage to cross the Red Sea with the Hebrews as part of them.
Held Gaze: Moses and Tziporrah during the last part of the "Through Heaven's Eyes" musical sequence.
Heritage–Face Turn: Moses finds out about his Hebrew heritage from his sister, Miriam, and decides to leave the comforts of his Egyptian upbringing as penance for the acts of genocide and slavery committed by the Egyptians against the Hebrews and to free them on the order of the Abrahamic God of the Hebrew People.
Heroic BSoD: Moses has several: the first occurs when he discovers he is an adopted Hebrew, and the second comes after the 10th Plague, as does Rameses' Villainous Breakdown.
Hero vs. Villain Duet: "The Plagues" is sung between Moses and Rameses as the titular plagues ravage Egypt, with the former begging the latter to stop being so stubborn so he can stop making innocents suffer, which the latter declares to the former that he isn't giving up no matter what. Interestingly, unlike most Hero vs. Villain Duets, this song is rather somber and rather then coming off as triumphant for both sides, it instead displays just how poorly both brothers are taking having to fight each other over what they believe is right.
Hope Spot: When Moses visits Rameses to reason with him during the Plague of Darkness, the two start reminiscing about the experiences they had as devoted adoptive brothers and how Moses always helped Rameses escape trouble, and the latter laments that their relationship has changed, clearly longing to reconcile with Moses and looking almost willing to listen to him and finally free the Hebrews. Unfortunately, his son comes in and expresses his fear of the dark and distrust of Moses as the perpetrator of the plagues, triggering Rameses' Papa Wolf instincts and leading him to double down on rejecting Moses' pleas, finally resolving to finish his father's campaign and slaughter the Hebrews. With that, Moses is forced to proceed with the final plague, which kills Rameses' own son to finally make him relent, causing irreperable damage to their relationship.
Humble Pie: Moses starts to lose his haughty prince attitude when he discovers his true heritage.
"I Am" Song: Deconstructed in "All I Ever Wanted". Despite following the pattern of a traditional version of this trope and Moses explicitly declaring "I am a sovereign prince of Egypt/A son of the proud history that's shown," the song implies that he is beginning to doubt his identity and the life that he thought he knew.
I Am the Noun:
Rameses: I am Egypt, the morning and evening star.
I Did What I Had to Do: Subverted. Seti expresses regret in regards to ordering his soldiers to slaughter the Hebrew newborns. However, his following remark makes his real feelings about the matter even clearer.
Seti: Sometimes for the greater good, sacrifices must be made...Oh my son. They were only slaves.
Internalized Insult: Early in the movie, after Rameses and Moses have a rather destructive chariot race, their father calls Rameses a "weak link that will break the chain of a mighty dynasty". While Seti later admits he was being a bit harsh (and even gives Rameses the position of regent a bit later), the comment still hurt Rameses. When Moses returns years later (now a Midian shepherd come to free the Hebrews), Rameses refuses to release the slaves and swears that he will not be the "weak link". His determination to not be the bad ruler his father said he'd be drives him to stubbornly hang on to his beliefs, even as the Seven Plagues bring Egypt to its knees.
Ironic Echo:
- The song "The Ten Plagues" is punctuated by the words "Thus saith The Lord", demanding Rameses yield to God. The words are repeated when he refuses, implying that "The Lord" is himself.
- When Moses is fleeing Egypt after killing the Egyptian who was torturing a slave, Rameses sympathetically and lovingly tries to stop him. Moses says only "Goodbye, Brother" before running away. Rameses then yells out "Moses! Moses!!" in pleading despair. At the end of the movie, when Rameses crashes onto the shore from the Red Sea closing in, he once again screams out "Moses! Moses!!", but this time it is out of fury at having lost not only his son, but his slaves and effectively his kingdom, all by Moses's hand. Once again, Moses only states "Goodbye, Brother."
It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Moses touches upon this in The Plagues.
"And even now, I wish that God had chose another,
Serving as your foe on His behalf
Is the last thing that I wanted."
"I Want" Song: Inverted with "All I Ever Wanted". Rather than singing about wanting more out of life, the song is about Moses trying to convince himself that he already has everything he could ever want and has no reason to be dissatisfied.
It Was a Gift: After fleeing from Egypt, Moses abandons all his royal insignia in the desert, but can't bear to throw out the ring that Ramses gave him earlier in the film. When he returns to Egypt to confront Ramses, silently returning the ring is what makes the latter realize that he's not kidding about throwing his lot in with the Hebrews.
Jaw Drop: A sheep does this around halfway in when it sees Moses drinking out of the sheep's trough.
Job Title: The Prince of Egypt.
Juxtaposed Halves Shot: Done during "The Plagues" between Moses and Rameses. It shows a closeup of Moses's face as he looks over the city, torn up over all the suffering brought by the plagues. Then the left side of his face (from the viewer's perspective) changes to that of Rameses, who by refusing to accede to Moses is allowing the plagues to continue. For added contrast, Moses's face is cast in yellow lighting while Rameses's is cast in blue.
Karma Houdini Warranty: Moses gets away with accidentally killing a man because Rameses proclaims him innocent and clears him of all charges, despite Moses's guilt over the crime and Hotep and Huy reminding Rameses of this after Moses returns. Being the adoptive brother of an absolute monarch God-Emperor hath its benefits. Then Moses reveals he is not here to stay, but to free the slaves, explaining he can no longer become a prince. Rameses not only refuses but also increases their labor, pointing out pragmatically that the slaves will blame Moses for rocking the boat.
Karmic Jackpot: While Moses mistreats Tzipporah at first, he distracts the guards when he notices her escaping, effectively freeing her from what would have been a life of slavery. After he has his Heel Realization, she ends up finding him and takes him back to her family's home in Midian where he is nursed back to health, treated as an honored guest, and eventually made one of them.
Kick the Dog: Seti does this and Pet the Dog at the same time when he sees Moses staring at the hieroglyphics showing the massacre of Hebrew babies. The "petting" part comes when he notices that his son is clearly distressed, hugs him tightly, and tries to comfort him, the "kicking" part comes when he casually brushes off the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of infants because, after all, "they were only slaves."
Kissing Discretion Shot: When Moses and Tzipporah are married, the camera shows them as they pull their faces apart from each other, implying Moses has already kissed the bride.
Kneel Before Zod: During the song Playing With the Big Boys, the Egyptian priests Hotep and Hoy try to make Moses bow down to them.
Kubrick Stare: Rameses gets one when Moses returns the ring and effectively ends their brotherly relationship.
Laser-Guided Karma:
- Under Seti's order, Egypt slaughters all Hebrew newborn children to prevent any sort of future uprising. Karma strikes decades later when God sends the Plagues upon Egypt, but especially the worst one of all: the Final Plague, which kills the firstborn children of Egypt, including Rameses's son. However, beforehand, He lets Moses try one last time to talk Rameses out of it before the final Plague is unleashed, and Rameses decides to try and imitate his father's actions, resulting in this trope being done to him as well.
- More humorously, when Moses and Tzipporah first met, he made her fall into a water basin by releasing his grip on her whip. When they meet again after his exile, Tzipporah just pulled Moses out of a well with a rope. When she recognizes him, she releases her grip on the rope, letting him fall back down the well.
Last-Second Chance:
- Before the final plague is unleashed, Moses pleads with his brother to stop before God releases it. Rameses then states his intent to repeat his father's atrocity by committing another mass murder of Hebrew children, sealing his fate.
- Once the Hebrews are nearly to the other side of the Red Sea, God takes away the fire tornado that blocked Rameses's army without closing the path through the waters. Technically, Rameses could have turned back rather than pursue the people under the protection of a God that can part a huge body of water and create fire tornadoes. But he didn't.
Leave No Survivors: In the climax, Rameses and his army pursue the Hebrew refugees, during which he orders his men to kill all the unarmed Hebrews. Utterly ironic as well; all his life Rameses tried to be a greater Pharaoh than his imposing father Seti I ever was. Without realizing it, he tried to outshine his father's legacy even in something as extreme as mass murder.
Light Is Not Good: The 10th plague plays this trope when the angel of death, in the form of a white cloud, comes down for the firstborn Egyptian sons. The played with element comes in that the angel's nature — good, evil, or simply an impassive agent of God — is up for debate.
Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair: At the beginning of the movie, during the song "Deliver Us", the Hebrew slaves are being forced to construct a huge statue of the Pharaoh. Near the end of the movie, at the end of the song "The Plagues", the statue collapses. God is more powerful than any Pharaoh.
Love at First Sight: Implied by the look on Moses's face when he first sees Tzipporah.

M-R

Manly Tears: Moses at the deaths of all the firstborn Egyptian sons. After Rameses finally grants the Hebrews permission to leave (while mourning over his own son's body), as Moses walks back to the Hebrew dwellings amid the echoing sound of bereaved mothers' cries, he is overcome with grief and collapses against a wall, sobbing.
Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Egyptian soldiers, just before the Red Sea sweeps over them.
Match Cut:
- "Through Heaven's Eyes" shows the diamond pattern on a carpet dissolve into the contours of Mount Sinai.
- During "When You Believe", a tracking shot of a now empty working site has some abandoned pickaxes transition into beams of wood on top of two of the village houses.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Hotep and Huy's snake conjuration was done with such theatrics that it's unclear if it's real magic or sleight of hand. Their attempt at turning water to blood and other "magic", however, is demonstrably accomplished through showmanship and artificial tools. At some points in their song, the positions they're in could only be managed by Offscreen Teleportation (unless they had body doubles). They also do some unambiguous magic in the same song, summoning glowing sigils in the air and controlling flames, although this could just be musical convention rather than actually happening In-Universe.
Meaningful Echo:
- "Look at your family/people. They are free."
- Miriam's line to Moses, when she's trying to tell him about his true heritage, is later repeated by Moses when he confronts Rameses before running away from home.
  (first)
  Miriam: Our mother set you adrift in a basket to save your life!
  Moses: Save my life? From who?
  Miriam: Ask the man that you call "father"!
  
  (later)
  Moses: No! All I've ever known to be true is a lie! I'm not who you think I am.
  Rameses: What are you talking about?
  Moses: Go ask the man I once called "father"!
- In "Deliver Us", the enslaved Hebrews wonder desolately if God can hear His people cry. Much later, when Moses finds the Burning Bush, God says that "I have seen the oppression of My people in Egypt, and heard their cry."
Memento MacGuffin: Rameses gives Moses a scarab ring to mark his promotion to chief architect. Later, as Moses starts his self-imposed exile, he discards all of the princely trappings from his wardrobe, but can't manage to throw away the ring. He keeps it until he returns to Egypt, then gives it back to Rameses as a symbol that he has returned as an enemy, not a brother.
Memory-Restoring Melody: As the Egyptian soldiers carry out a mass killing of Hebrew children, baby Moses is taken by his mother to the river bank and sent adrift in a basket in hope of a better life. Before his mother lets go of him, she sings him one last lullaby, which he still remembers after being Happily Adopted and raised as an Egyptian prince. Upon their coincidental meeting, his biological sister Miriam tries to convince him that they're both siblings, but he brushes her off as being delusional. It isn't until she proves it by singing the lullaby that he realizes she's telling the truth, revealing his true heritage and causing him to spiral into a Heroic BSoD. Unlike other examples of this trope, this reveal happens relatively early on in the story.
Midword Rhyme: The song "Deliver Us" includes the following line:
Help us now,
in this dark hou-
-r
A Million Is a Statistic: Defied. Seti and Tuya adopt a Hebrew baby and love him as their own son. However, they think nothing of enslaving and slaughtering countless other Hebrew babies since they don't know any of them. When Moses learns the truth, they try to convince him it doesn't matter since "they were only slaves." However, even though Moses doesn't personally know the countless Hebrew slaves in Egypt, he's so haunted by empathy for their suffering that it's part of what pushes him to obey God's will to free them.
Minor Character, Major Song: Jethro with "Through Heaven's Eyes".
A Minor Kidroduction: In the beginning, we see Miriam, Aaron, Rameses, and Moses as children, the last one being a baby.
Mirrored Confrontation Shot: Moses and Pharaoh Rameses during the song "The Plagues". The sequence is done rather symbolically. During the song, both Moses and Rameses sing about how they saw each other as brothers and how none of them wanted the plagues to happen. Near the end of the song, their faces do a Juxtaposed Halves Shot. Then their faces rotate apart so that they are facing each other, signifying that whatever bond they had is now permanently broken.
Misplaced Wildlife: One shot in "Deliver Us" shows several, presumably wild generic monkeys. Even though monkey-like primates (i.e. Apidium) have lived there for most of the Age of Mammals, it's unlikely that any native primates other than baboons and humans survived in Egypt after the drying out of the Sahara. Possibly justifiable if they were brought there from elsewhere in the Old World.
Missing Mom:
- Just who is the mother of Rameses's son?
- The mother of Tzipporah and her sisters is never even mentioned.
The Mockbuster: There were not one, not two, but three direct-to-video cash-ins that were not only released the same year as Prince Of Egypt, but (in the case of two of them) made little to no attempt in changing their titles.
Modesty Towel: Downplayed. After being bathed upon arriving in Midian, Moses awkwardly covers his front side with a towel before Jethro gives him one of his own robes.
Monumental Damage: During their chariot race at the start of the film, Ramses and Moses drive into a construction area at one of the main temple complexes in Memphis, causing some damage (including inadvertently breaking off the nose of a colossus of Ramses' father, Seti, though it might have been intended as The Sphinx).
Mood Whiplash: "When You Believe" is an inspiring song about how the strength of faith can bring about miracles. Played right after the plagues, it's either a glimmer of hope against the destruction or an iffy implication that the horrors counted as miracles.
Mook Horror Show: The Plagues is one where the "mooks" are the entire Egyptian people, with one nightmarish plague after another striking them. Unusually, in this case, the hero is shown to himself be horrified by the pain he's inflicting, but, of course, he can't stop without condemning his own people to continued slavery.
Morton's Fork: Rameses, in his desire to avoid being the "weak link" his father dismissed him as. On one hand, if he frees the Hebrews, he'll go down in time as the king who willingly gave away the main source of labor on which Egypt's power and overall magnificence greatly depends. On the other hand, if he fights to keep the Hebrews as slaves, Egypt is destroyed by God and the plagues. Either way, he, his legacy, and his dynasty's legacy are completely screwed. Although, given that history remembers him as "the great" and his reign marks the absolute pinnacle of Egypt's power, authority, and glory, maybe he doesn't do too badly, though he doesn't know this at the time (though this is probably more to do with the fact that the real Rameses likely wasn't actually the Pharaoh ruling Egypt at the time the plagues took place).
Moses in the Bulrushes: The movie opens with Pharaoh Seti ordering the mass infanticide of all newborn Hebrew boys. Yocheved and her other two children, Miriam and Aaron, rushes to the Nile River, where she places her infant son in a basket on the water. Miriam follows the basket as it sails to the Pharaoh's palace and witnesses her baby brother safely adopted by Seti's wife, Queen Tuya.
"River, oh river, flow gently for me!
Such precious cargo you bear!
Do you know somewhere he can be free?
River, deliver him there."
Mr. Fanservice: More than a few female viewers have admitted to having very, ah...un-Christian thoughts about Moses when they were kids (or adults, for that matter), considering how he's very tanned, very clean, very fit and spends about the entire first half of the movie without a shirt on.
Multilingual Song: The film version of "When You Believe" is in English except for the bridge, which is a condensed version of the Hebrew "Song of the Sea" from The Book Of Exodus.
Naked People Are Funny: Tzipporah and her sisters all giggle as they watch Moses being bathed.
Named by the Adaptation:
- Pharaoh's magicians are not named in the Book of Exodus so the film calls them Hotep and Huy. Ancient tradition calls them Jannes and Jambres, which is reflected in the Christian scriptures.
- For that matter, the Bible does not name the Pharaoh either. The Pharaoh of the Exodus is traditionally (and controversially) identified as Rameses II, and that's what this film goes with.
Nepharious Pharaoh: Like most works based off the Book of Exodus from The Bible, it has the Pharaoh Rameses as the Big Bad. Unlike most examples, though, he's something of a victim of circumstance who has to stick with his culture.
Never Smile at a Crocodile: The Nile crocodiles, much like Real Life ones, are extremely dangerous, they nearly make a snack out of little baby Moses and it's shown later on a grisly mural (plus Nightmare Sequence) that the Hebrew babies were fed to crocodiles by the Egyptians. Sobek is also mentioned later by the high priests when threatening adult Moses in song.
Never Trust a Trailer: The original trailer made this look like a more action-packed, definitely more kid-friendly film.
Never My Fault: Rameses blames Moses and the Hebrews for the catastrophic Ten Plagues, never accepting that the Plagues were caused by his own stubborn refusal to let the Hebrew slaves go.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!:
- After Moses tells Rameses that God has sent him to free the Hebrews, Rameses was angry with this and informs him that, thanks to 'his' god, he will increase the workload for the slaves.
  Rameses: "...or is it thanks to you?"
- In the next scene, when the slaves hear of this, they are greatly displeased with Moses and one of them throws mud at him to show their frustration.
Nice Job Breaking It, Herod: The film shows this scenario through an Egyptian-hieroglyphic animation dream sequence, followed by a final confrontation between the Prince Moses and Seti I, his adoptive father: "Sometimes," Seti says, with a look approaching actual regret, "sacrifices must be made...." Then he tries to comfort his son with the worst words possible: "They were only slaves..."
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: By presenting Tzipporah to Rameses, Hotep and Huy inadvertently end up beginning a chain of events that results in the conflict of the third act of the film.
Nothing Is Scarier: The Animated Musical format is taken advantage of for almost all significant plot developments, including the first nine plagues of Egypt, even when the sky is raining fire and the people are stricken with boils, so the audience gets very well acclimated to hearing some kind of music, even in the darkest scenes. Consequently, watching the Angel of Death sweeping through the streets of Egypt is so much scarier for occurring in complete silence that feels unnatural on a deep and primal level, with no sound effects whatsoever except for a soft rushing wind and the quiet sighs of its victims.
Oh, Crap!:
- Rameses had one when Moses tells him that they are late for the banquet.
- Aaron, in the background, when Miriam tells Moses "You're our brother." Also, Moses when he realises that Miriam is right as she's singing him the river lullaby.
Ominous Latin Chanting:
- Used to a degree in "Playing With the Big Boys", in which the names of several Egyptian gods are chanted at the beginning and later in the background.
- The Plagues includes a backing chorus of Ominous English Chanting.
Omniscient Morality License: God. A point made at several times in the Old Testament (especially referenced in the Book of Job,) and referenced when Moses is speaking to the Burning Bush, is that God's knowledge is so much vaster than any mere humans that no one can fully comprehend His actions. When Moses questions why he is being selected to free the Israelites, God explicitly states that He has done so much more than Moses will ever even be able to conceive.
"WHO MADE MAN'S MOUTH? WHO MADE THE DEAF, THE MUTE, THE SEEING OR THE BLIND? DID NOT I? NOW GO."
One-Woman Wail: Used to great effect. "Deliver Us" and several other tracks feature vocals by Ofra Haza, who also voices Moses' mother, Yocheved.
Opening Chorus: An ensemble of Hebrew slaves sings the first song, "Deliver Us", with solos from Yocheved and Miriam.
Orange/Blue Contrast:
- The back-and-forth in "The Plagues" casts diametric opposites Moses in orange and Rameses in blue.
- Paired Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Just after God sends a pillar of fire to stop the oncoming Egyptian army (orange), He and Moses part the Red Sea (blue).
Orphaned Etymology:
- Seti warns Rameses, "One weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty." Moses' time, however, is generally placed between 1400 - 1200 BCE. Metal chains constructed in the sense that Seti's talking about weren't around until at least 255 BCE. So this is either taking liberties with history or linguistics. The figurative phrase "weakest link" wasn't even established until the 18th Century. Could also be a rough translation of a then-current phrase that means essentially the same thing - especially since modern English itself wouldn't actually exist for almost 2,500 years.
- In the Taiwanese Mandarin dub, instead of calling Rameses a "weak link", Pharaoh Seti calls him a "fu bu qi de Adou" which translates to a "weak and inept person", a "hopeless case", or a "person who cannot be helped". Adou was the nickname for Liu Shan, a Chinese emperor who ruled from 223 AD to 263 CE. He was also the second and last emperor of the Shu Han dynasty. He was called Adou due to being an incapable and mentally handicapped ruler. Nowadays, Adou is used to call people who are useless and will not achieve anything.
Our Angels Are Different: The angel of death looks like it came through a portal from outside of existence and is a giant glowing white cloud that pulls the breath of life from the first born children. No wings, no halo, no sword dripping with the blood of Egyptians.
Outliving One's Offspring: The murder of the newborns in the prologue, which is the reason why Yocheved sends baby Moses away in the river. Also, the final plague.
The Pardon: After Moses returns to Egypt, Rameses pardons him of his manslaughter of the Egyptian foreman.
Parental Love Song: "Deliver Us" has a section sung by Yocheved as she sets her infant son afloat to save him from the genocidal Pharoah, singing about how she's doing this to give him a chance to escape death and she hopes they'll meet again.
Parting the Sea: While God keeps Rameses and his army at bay (with a pillar of fire), Moses uses his staff to part the Red Sea to give him and the Hebrews an exit. While passing through it, some of the undersea creatures are seen through the wall. For a bit of drama, Moses has to race to the other side when the water starts to recede. He makes it, but Rameses army isn't so lucky.
Pep-Talk Song: "Through Heaven's Eyes", which Jethro sings to break Moses out of his Heroic BSoD and help him see himself in a new light.
Pet the Dog: Subverted. Seti clearly cares about his sons. When he finds Moses reeling at the fate of the Hebrew children, Seti hugs him, speaks in the soothing tones of Patrick Stewart...and tells Moses it was justified because they were just slave children. The worst part of this is that Seti genuinely thought this would make Moses feel better.
Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Inverted. Tzipporah wears a blue dress, while Moses (following his abandonment of Egypt and his former royal life) wears a red robe. Even during his time in the Egyptian royal household, Moses' clothes and jewelry were trimmed with red accents.
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Rameses names Moses Royal Chief Architect early in the film, but at no point between then and when he flees for the wilderness do we see him actually planning any architecture. Granted, exactly one night passes between the two events, but a construction project is being planned out at the very moment when Moses flees, and it's Rameses of all people who is planning it, not Moses.
Please, Don't Leave Me: Rameses all but begs Moses not to do this as he attempts to flee Egypt after killing a man.
Rameses: (desperately holding out his hand to Moses) Moses... please.
Moses: [clearly heartbroken at the choice, but with no other option] Goodbye, brother.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: The chorus of "The Plagues"
"I! SENT! THE! SCOURGE! I! SENT! THE! SWORD!"
Prodigal Hero: Being an adaptation of the story of Moses the film tells this story, mixing both the accidental murder as well as disgust of the Egyptians' treatment towards the Hebrews.
Protagonist Title: The Prince in question is Moses, who eventually rejects the title when he discovers his true heritage.
Pyrrhic Victory: As an adaptation of the Exodus, it ends with the implication that the Hebrews end up in Canaan, the land promised to Abraham. There's a bit of problem with that. Canaan was actually part of the Egyptian empire during the time of Rameses II, having been actually conquered by Seti I, his father. To make matters even worse, Rameses II would eventually lead several military expeditions into the Levant and the tribe of Israel would eventually be very nearly wiped out by Rameses' thirteeneth son and successor Merneptah.
Quarreling Song: The song "The Plagues".
The Queen's Latin: Most of the Egyptian characters (save for Hotep and Huy) speak with British accents, while the Hebrews speak with American accents.
Reality Has No Subtitles: Many of the songs contain individual lines or choruses in Hebrew, sung along with the predominantly English lyrics. No translations are offered ^note, but the tone and context of the songs at least hint at their meanings.
Reality Is Unrealistic: Four years prior to this movie's release, it was discovered that Rameses II was a fair-skinned ginger. The reason he's depicted as tan, bald, and swarthy is likely because audiences would have wondered why they made the Egyptian Pharaoh look like an Irish man, amusing given Goidel Glas, the mythological father of the Gaels, was a grandson of the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Given how genetics work, Seti and Tuya's appearance likewise fall under this trope.
Recruit the Loser: Towards the end of the "Playing with the Big Boys" number, after supposedly "beating" Moses in a contest of magic, Hotep and Huy offer to take him on as an acolyte, just to show there's no hard feelings.
Recurring Riff: Yocheved's lullaby, which she sings to Moses as she lays him in the basket of reeds. It plays a prominent part in the soundtrack - it's even the first and last thing the audience hears during the film. But it also serves a purpose in the plot: Moses is later shown to remember the song even as an adult, and it's not until he hears Miriam singing it that he realises the truth of his origins as a Hebrew.
Red Is Heroic: Red is symbolically used to represent the heroes.
- Moses is the prime example as he's the hero trying to liberate his people from Rameses and he mostly wears red throughout the movie, even when he was a baby.
- Other heroic characters who wear some red are his mother who saved him from being killed by Seti I and his sister Miriam who supported him through the entire endeavor. His wife Tzipporah also wears a red ponytail holder and has a red cloth during "Through Heaven's Eyes" and is just as devoted to supporting Moses and protecting him from harm.
Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- Moses and Rameses, respectively. As young men, Moses is rambunctious and flippant while Rameses is more introspective and prone to angsting. When they grow up, they retain their Oni roles, but in a different way. Moses is passionate and warm while Rameses is cold and ruthless. Even their clothing reflects this. Rameses wears blue and white while Moses wears red and earth tones. They're also represented by their respective colors in one shot during "The Plagues." The juxtaposition is somewhat literal, too. During the scenes where Rameses and Moses are together in Egypt, Moses wears red jewelry and decor with his clothing, while Rameses wears blue.
- Also Miriam and Aaron: Miriam wears red and is warm and kind, passionately faithful in her beliefs, and very direct and straightfoward, while Aaron wears blue and is more sensible and cautious, often trying to shield his sister from the consequences of her behaviour or keeping her out of trouble when she tries to intervene.
Refusal of the Call: Questioning of the call, at any rate. Upon being told that he's been chosen to return to Egypt and free the slaves, Moses argues that he was the son of the man who slaughtered Hebrew children and that God must have picked the wrong messenger. God gets snippy, then significantly less snippy, and that settles the matter.
Rivers of Blood: The scene from Exodus is played out when Moses uses his staff to turn the river Nile into blood, sending Rameses's soldiers into a panic.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The climax, where Rameses, despite freeing the Hebrews earlier, snaps and decides to lead his men in a chase to slaughter the Hebrews before they escape. Thanks to God's intervention, they fail miserably.
Rule of Symbolism:
- In the opening sequence the Hebrew slaves look with awe at the statue of Ra that they just put up, which symbolized the power of the Egyptians over them. Toward the end of the plagues sequence, the statue crumbles. Some scholars believe that the plagues were meant to rebuke the various Egyptian religions and their gods (Ra, god of the Sun falls on the onset of the plague of darkness).
- When Moses first returns to Rameses, he shows God's power by turning his staff into a snake; in an effort to rebuke him, the priests apparently turn their staves into snakes, too, but in this version of the story Egyptian polytheism is shown to be a sham with all of the "miracles" performed by the priests being stage magic. Not only does this emphasize that, from the perspective of millions or billions of people, the Ancient Egyptian religion is all lies and deceit whereas the Abrahamic religion^note is the one true faith but also that the singular Hebrew God is more powerful than the false Egyptian ones. Hammering this home, by the end of the scene Moses's staff-snake has devoured the two fake ones, symbolizing the power that God is shown to have over the false gods of Egypt throughout the rest of the story.
- Several times in the film, Rameses is shown to be behind a mural of bound Hebrew slaves (in the scene where he begs Moses not to run away, shortly after Moses wins the showdown between the high priests, and in a brief moment during the plagues sequence) and culminates in Rameses declaring his intentions of finishing what his father began right behind the mural of Seti ordering the deaths of the Hebrew babies. These were at pivotal moments of his deteriorating relationship with Moses. The slavery of the Hebrews by the Egyptian Empire (and Rameses' unwillingness to relent to end their suffering) kept coming between any of their attempts to reconcile.
- At the end of "The Plagues", Ramses and Moses both appear in the shot at the same time, despite the distance between them. Ramses ends his verse by stalking away into the shadows, leaving Moses standing on the clifftop to survey the devastated land of Egypt. Even if it wasn't obvious from multiple other aspects, that one shot indicates whose side is going to win.
- When Moses explains his Mission from God to Tzipporah, a flock of sheep and their shepherd passes them by, highlighting his role as the chosen shepherd of God's people.
- Once the Angel of Death disappears into a vortex in the night sky the stars become visible, including one of the constellations: Orion, The Hunter. Very appropriate given how the Angel just finished hunting down all the firstborns of Egypt.
- During the scene where the Hebrews begin leaving Egypt, an old lady briefly leans close to the same mural of slaves that featured when Moses first left Egypt. Slavery—depicted in the portrait—was likely all she and her family ever knew, and the uncertainty that freedom brought felt overwhelming. With the help of a small girl, she moves forward, joining her people in leaving that image behind.

S-Y

Sarcasm Mode: "Let me guess. You want me to...let your people go."
Sarcastic Title: Moses is the Prince of Egypt; his brother Rameses ascends the throne to become Pharaoh. However, Moses is a former Hebrew slave who specifically rejects his adoptive family's legacy to liberate the Hebrews from bondage.
Scam Religion: The Abrahamic God has demonstrable power (as proven by Moses' miracles of turning his staff into a snake, turning the Nile to blood, and parting the Red Sea), while the gods of Egyptian Mythology are completely fake. Hotep and Huy replicate Moses' stick-to-snake miracle, but it's all about creative lighting, ominous statues and chanting, sleight-of-hand tricks, and a big helping of showmanship. While Rameses is impressed, he fails to notice Moses' snake devouring the priests' snakes during their Villain Song. Hotep and Huy are later exposed when they prove to be utterly useless against God's ten plagues. This is actually a departure from the Book of Exodus, where it seems both sides' gods are real, but the Hebrews' is much more powerful.
Scenery Porn: The opening sequence showing the Hebrews raising Egyptian monuments, the Plagues, and the crossing of the Red Sea.
Scenery Gorn:
- After the plagues are done with Egypt.
- An odd mix of this and Scenery Porn: "When You Believe" has some massive shots of the ruined Egypt, set with the triumphant score and shots of the Hebrews finally leaving their slavery in Egypt. Particularly noticeable during the lines "We were moving mountains/Long before we knew we could".
The Scourge of God: The Plagues
I send the locusts on a wind
Such as the world has never seen
On ev'ry leaf, on ev'ry stalk
Until there's nothing left of green
I send My scourge, I send My sword
Thus saith the Lord!
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Rameses promises to absolve Moses from the crime of murder because he is "the morning and the evening star" and can change the laws however he deems fit. He goes far enough as to say he can make it "as though it never happened."
Screw This, I'm Outta Here!:
- When the Angel of Death starts its rounds, two guards see it coming and promptly turn tail and run.
- When the Hebrews leave Egypt after being freed, two Egyptian guards join them.
- When the Egyptians follow the Hebrews across the Red Sea, the horses decide that they'll have none of it, leaving their riders to pursue on foot.
Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Played with. When Moses is chasing after Tzipporah, he tells the guards that there's a man tied up in his room to get the guards to leave. While this is true, Moses is lying that he knows nothing about why there's a man tied up in his room.
Self-Imposed Exile: Moses's departure from Egypt was an act of self-exile, unlike in the source material (where he fled to escape punishment) and The Ten Commandments (1956) (where it is his punishment).
Serpent Staff: As in the Bible, Moses turns his staff into a snake to show Rameses the power of God. The pharaoh's priests replicate his feat (though unlike the Bible, this is implied to just be sleight of hand) while delivering a Villain Song calling Moses out of his depths, oblivious that his snake is easily eating theirs.
Setting Update: A minor example. Rabbinical Judaism tells us that Moses's lifespan corresponds to 1391 — 1271 BCE, telling us the Exodus happened in 1311 BCE and thus that the Pharaoh of the Exodus would have been Horemheb, the predecessor of Rameses I, the father of Seti. Jerome, on the other hand, gives Moses's year of birth as 1592 BCE, meaning the Exodus would have been in 1512 BCE with Thutmose I as the Pharaoh and Ussher gives Moses's year of birth as 1571 BCE, meaning the Exodus would have been in 1491 BCE, with the Pharaoh being Thutmose II.
Sexy Silhouette: Subverted. After Moses has Tziporrah sent to his chambers by Rameses, he sees a shadowy figure sitting on his bed behind a curtain, looking as if it is her sitting there with her arms crossed defiantly. He visibly works up his nerves before pulling the curtain back to reveal that it is the servant who had escorted her there all tied up. He then realizes that his dogs are tied up as well and there is a Bedsheet Ladder going out his window.
Shadow Discretion Shot: Used when Moses' snake devours the two produced by Huy and Hotep, cutting back just in time to see their tails vanish into its mouth.
Shaped Like Itself: God's famous line, "I AM that I AM."
Shoot the Dog: God sending the Ten Plagues to wreck Egypt. A horrible punishment, particularly for the suffering innocent, but necessary to free the Hebrews.
Shoo Out the Clowns: During "The Plagues", Rameses enters a room with Hotep and Huy as they are applying ointment to their boils. Enraged at their inability to stop the plagues, Rameses orders them to "Get Out!!" They are not seen again in the film. Things get very dark afterwards.
Show, Don't Tell: After Moses' encounter with God and the burning bush, he returns to tell Tzipporah what happened and what he needs to do, all while the short scene had no dialogue and only the use of body language.
Shown Their Work:
- The silhouette of a whale shark is seen behind the watery walls of the Red Sea passage, which does connect to the habitat range of the species. Furthermore, Rameses specifically mentions "white limestone." One guess as to what color the buildings would be in those days (hint: it isn't yellow).
- During "The Plagues", Rameses says 'then let my heart be hardened.' While many translations translate the description as 'God hardened Pharaoh's heart,' an alternative translation is 'God suffered Pharaoh's heart be hardened,' exactly what happens here.
- There actually was an important priest during the reign of Rameses II named Huy, with his specific position being High Priest of Ptah. There was also another important figure named Huy during Rameses's reign, in this case, the Viceroy of Kush.
- The production team behind the film consulted with Jewish, Biblical, Muslim, and Arabic scholars for cultural accuracy.
Sidekick: Tzipporah functions as a rare wife version, as she accompanies the hero throughout most of his epic journey.
Significant Double Casting: Both Moses and God are voiced by Val Kilmer. In an even greater version of this trope than usual, while Kilmer provides God's "main" voice, the entire cast can be heard whispering His words underneath Kilmer's performance, signifying that God exists in everyone.
Silence, You Fool!: "Be still! Pharaoh speaks!" It's downright awesome because it's said by Patrick Stewart. This was later said again by Rameses, who is now pharaoh, to the priests who are trying to convince him to sentence Moses for his previous crime prior to his exile.
Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!: Tzipporah, with one of her sisters commenting at one point, "That's why Papa says she'll never get married." She warms up to Moses and the two are wed at the end of the "Heaven's Eyes" montage.
Single Tear:
- Yocheved when she sends baby Moses away on the river.
- Miriam sheds two tears when she repeats Yocheved's lullaby to Moses. Symbolically, one tear is hers and the other is from their mother.
- Moses after seeing God's wonders.
- Moses within the hieroglyph nightmare sheds one as he watches Yocheved set his basket in the river.
Smash to Black: Both the opening and the ending end with this.
Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter:
- A dramatic variant, depending on your interpretation; after breaking Egyptian law by accidentally killing one of the guards overseeing the slave labor, Moses exiles himself to the desert, even though Rameses is fully willing to pardon him. Eventually, a sandstorm hits; rather than try to find shelter, Moses drops to his knees as if to surrender to the wrath of the gods.
- As in the Bible itself and Played for Drama, Rameses keeps doing this despite the very obvious signs that God is very real and sending His wrath upon his people. Most obviously during "The Plagues" song where he asks for his heart to be hardened so that he won't release the Hebrews.
Solid Cartoon Facial Stubble: Moses briefly has this in the scene in which he's being bathed by the Midian women. He's never seen with it before or since.
Song of Prayer:
- "Deliver Us", the opening song which portrays the Hebrew slaves in Egypt crying to God to deliver them from their bondage.
- "When You Believe" has a segment where a children's chorus begins singing in Hebrew a verse praising God for His deliverance of the Israelites. This is an example of the movie having shown their work as the Hebrews actually do sing a Song of Prayer after the Exodus in the Bible.
Squick: In-Universe; the soldiers in the Nile have an epic Freak Out when they realize that they're wading through a river of blood.
The Stinger: The credits end with quotes from the Torah, the New Testament, and the Qur'an stating how important Moses was as a prophet.
Sudden Soundtrack Stop: The scene accompanying the Angel of Death during the final plague contains absolutely no background music for extra unnerving effect.
The Swarm: Several of the plagues, including frogs, locusts, and pestilence.
Sympathetic P.O.V.: The film does this with Rameses, focusing equally on him and Moses. He's generally shown as a nice guy struggling between responsibility and his own feelings (but with two Evil Chancellors) who genuinely loves his (foster) brother. It's just that at the same time he doesn't see the Hebrew slaves suffering and dying for his empire as people, and every step Moses takes to try and free them only makes him act increasingly villainous.
Tagline: "Two brothers, united by friendship, divided by destiny."
Take Back Your Gift: Non-romantic example: Moses giving Rameses back his ring after returning to Egypt is presented as symbolic of Moses (reluctantly) cutting his brotherly ties with the Pharaoh in order to carry out the mission God gave him.
Taking the Heat: When Seti is disciplining Moses and Rameses for their chariot race misadventure, Moses takes full responsibility as he had goaded Rameses. It doesn't help Rameses, as Seti then lectures him for his own failure to do so.
A Taste of the Lash: The Egyptians make liberal use of whips to speed the Hebrew slaves along and to punish anyone who falls behind or stumbles. Moses attempts to intervene in a particularly brutal whipping of an old man, and his accidental killing of the guard forces him to flee Egypt.
Tearful Smile:
- Moses has one right after meeting God for the first time.
- Miriam gives a horrified Moses one when she sings their mother's lullaby and he recognizes it, fully realizing he is a Hebrew and he runs away in shock and confusion.
Tears of Awe: When Moses meets God as the burning bush, he's briefly picked up by the holy flames as The Almighty gives him words of reassurance about his mission to come. Immediately after he's set back down, Moses wears a Tearful Smile, in complete awe of what he'd just experienced.
Technician Versus Performer: The Moses vs. Hotep and Huy "snake duel" has shades of this. When summoning their snakes, the priests use a big theatrical musical number complete with a lot of smoke and mirrors; Moses, by contrast, just trusts in God, puts down his staff, and voila! Instant snake. Moses ends up winning.
Tempting Fate:
- At the beginning, Moses and Rameses have caused chaos during their chariot race.
  Rameses: You don't think we'll get in trouble for this, do you?
  Moses: No, not a chance.
  [Cue Moses and Rameses being scolded for the chaos the race caused.]
  Seti: Why do the gods torment me with such reckless, destructive, blasphemous sons!?
- Later at when they're late for the banquet:
  Rameses: I'm done for! Father will kill me!
  Moses: Don't worry. Nobody will even notice us coming in!
  (They walk in; the entire crowd sees them and cheers loudly)
  Rameses: "Nobody will even notice..."
  Moses: [chuckles sheepishly]
- "Playing with the Big Boys Now" can be seen as a challenge to God. As the next song ("The Plagues") shows, this was not wise.
- Rameses says that "there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt", threatening to kill off the Hebrew population. The "great cry" that comes about is not the one he expected. Lampshaded as Moses' reaction to this makes it clear he knows exactly what his brother is doing by saying that line.
Then Let Me Be Evil: Rameses invokes this during "The Plagues".
You who I called brother, how could you have come to hate me so?
Is this what you wanted?
Then let my heart be hardened, and never mind how high the cost may grow
This will still be so: I will never let your people go!"
Think Nothing of It: Of the Heroic Self-Deprecation variety—when Jethro honors Moses for helping Tzipporah escape Egypt and defending the other girls from brigands, Moses (in Heroic BSoD mode) says that he's done nothing worth honoring.
This Means War!: "This will still be so: I will never let your people go..."
Three-Month-Old Newborn: Shown with a ewe's lambing. The newborn lamb has a fat coat of wool and is instantly alert and bleating.
The Three Faces of Adam: Moses goes through all three stages. Other male characters vary.
- The Hunter. Moses and Ramses being reckless, destructive, blasphemous sons during this stage. Ramses in particular is burdened by the responsibility as the next Pharaoh.
- The Lord. Moses becomes one after learning his lineage. Ramses rises up to Pharaoh to uphold the traditions. Aaron stays as the Lord by conforming his place as a slave.
- Moses becomes the Prophet once given him his mission from God. Seti is the Prophet as he expects Ramses to become his successor.
Time Skip:
- The film's prologue shows how Moses' family sent him away as an infant to protect him from the Egyptian soldiers, and how he was found by Tuya. The main narrative then jumps forward approximately twenty years, where Moses is now a young man and has been raised as a member of Egypt's royal family.
- "Through Heaven's Eyes" is sung over a montage of Moses living with Tzipporah and the Midians, during which he's shown growing longer hair and a full beard. Though it is initially unclear how long he spends here, when Moses and Tzipporah return to Egypt they find that Rameses is now Pharaoah and has a young son, implying that at least a decade has passed since Moses left. Two brief glimpses of Tzipporah's sisters in the scenes following the Burning Bush also reveal that they've grown from children to young women since Moses and Tzipporah were married.
Title Drop: At several times in the movie, Moses is referred to as "a/the Prince of Egypt". The term is solely used to refer to him and not to Rameses, who is instead viewed as the future Pharaoh.
Tomato in the Mirror: When Moses slowly realizes that he is a Hebrew, during the sequence preceding "All I Ever Wanted".
Too Desperate to Be Picky: When Moses comes across a trough full of water sheep are drinking from after wandering the desert for a long time, he plunges his face in and starts drinking himself.
Tooth Strip: The human characters all have these, but the camels and sheep have lines between the teeth. The closest human aversion in the film can be seen in some close-up shots, where the teeth are drawn with noticeable bumps along the lower edge to imply separate teeth.
Toppled Statue: The same statue shown being raised in the opening is destroyed during the Plagues.
Tragic Villain: Rameses, unlike his counterparts from The Ten Commandments (1956) and The Bible.
Twirl of Love: Moses twirls Tzipporah after his experience with God in the Burning Bush.
Underestimating Badassery: The Egyptian priests and, especially, Rameses, have absolutely no idea what they're dealing with in the God of the Hebrews, and at first, treat this new deity with sneering contempt. Then the Plagues hit...
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Everybody is so busy cheering for the Egyptian priests when they match Moses's miracle that they don't seem to notice Moses' snake eating the two that they conjured.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Just as Moses and Rameses seem as if they might reconcile during the ninth plague, Rameses' young son comes in and triggers Rameses' Papa Wolf instincts, making him not only still refuse to free the Hebrews, but resolve to kill them all. The result is the tenth plague, in which every firstborn son in Egypt dies, including Rameses' son.
Victory Fakeout: The Hebrews finally leave and there's a long song, "When You Believe", showing them on their way and out of Egypt...until it is revealed that Pharaoh and his entire army are behind them and rapidly gaining ground.
Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: The Egyptian priests Hotep and Huy, being voiced by Steve Martin and Martin Short respectively, have their funny moments. Neither of the two Pharaohs that they work for do.
Villainous Breakdown: In a very tragic example, Rameses snaps after the death of his son, riding after Moses and the Hebrews and, when they try to escape him through the Red Sea, he shouts to his men "Kill them! KILL THEM ALL!" The last of him seen in the film is him screaming in rage and agony, cursing Moses (or perhaps still crying out for him.)
Villainous Face Hold: Rameses grabs Tzipporah's face so he can "inspect this desert flower" — and she nearly bites him.
Rameses: More like a desert cobra.
Villain Song:
- Rameses' Dark Reprise of "All I Ever Wanted" might count, and while they are more inept evil sidekicks than true villains, Hotep and Huy's "Playing With The Big Boys Now" counts.
- "The Plagues" can be interpreted as God's Villain Song, if you're opting to go that route. The lines sung by the choir are quite boastful, all taking place over the suffering of Egyptian peasants and families.
Villains Out Shopping: When Moses confronts Rameses at the Nile. Not only is Rameses just lounging in his boat, Huy and Hotep seem to be entertaining his son with magic tricks.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Nearly every male character due to the scorching desert heat, including Moses (until he goes back to the Hebrews) and Rameses.
Walk Like an Egyptian: Seen in a few dream sequences. Also, Hotep shortly during his song with Huy.
Was Too Hard on Him: Moses asks Seti if he was too harsh on Rameses by calling him a weak link who will bring shame to Egypt just after Moses took the blame for goading Rameses on their wild chariot race. Seti replies that he needs to put more pressure on Rameses than on Moses because Rameses is heir to the throne and needs to learn utmost strength and responsibility.
We Can Rule Together: Hotep and Huy make an offer something like to Moses during their Villain Song.
"You put up a front." "You put up a fight."
"And just to show we feel no spite"
"You can be our acolyte!"
"But first, boy, it's time to bow."
- This is also what Seti did by naming Rameses prince regent. He was essentially declared co-pharaoh with his father.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Even after the death of his father, Rameses is still struggling to get out from under the man's immense shadow and wants to be the kind of Pharaoh his father was. This leads to tragedy for the Egyptians. Truth in Television for this one, at least for the first half of that statement. Rameses II is, by all accounts, one of Egypt's greatest kings, and many speculate that his achievements were motivated by a desire to live up to his father's legacy.
Moses: All he cares about is your approval. I know he will live up to your expectations. He only needs the opportunity.
We Need a Distraction: Moses helps Tzipporah escape from Egypt by quickly summoning two guards that otherwise would have caught her in the act to him and sending them to his room to investigate the man Tzipporah left tied up there.
We Used to Be Friends: The major driving force of the movie, which sets it apart from the Ten Commandments Love Triangle. Rameses and Moses were raised as brothers. They became enemies when Rameses was Pharaoh and Moses returned from hiding to free the Hebrews from bondage.
"You who I called brother, how could you have come to hate me so?"
Wham Line:
Seti: Oh my son... they were only slaves.
What the Hell, Hero?: Aaron calls out Moses for not caring about Hebrews until he found out he was one himself. Moses agrees with him (it's implied to be one of the reasons for his self-exile, and one of the reasons he felt unworthy to lead them).
What You Are in the Dark:
- Moses is given the chance to arrest Tzipporah when he sees her about to escape. Instead, he lets himself be a diversion so she can leave.
- When he meets Tzipporah's younger sisters, he is tired and hungry and saw the girls being harassed by water thieves. He could've just not butted in but used his guile to get the harassers away.
Why Did You Make Me Hit You?:
- Rameses is so hurt and enraged by Moses returning only to free the slaves, that he increases their workload and blames it on Moses pleading for their freedom.
  Rameses: Tell your people that as of today, their workload has been doubled, thanks to your God. Or is it, thanks to you?
- Interestingly, Rameses and his son view Moses as the one doing this, since in his mind his brother is asking the impossible by demanding he free slaves, then inflicts so much suffering on Egypt and then blames Rameses for what he is doing.
  Rameses' son: Isn't that the man who did all this?
  Rameses: ... Yes. But one must wonder why?
  Moses: Because no kingdom should be built on the backs of slaves. Rameses, your stubbornness is what brings this misery upon Egypt. It would cease if you only let the Hebrews go.
  Rameses: I will not be dictated to, I will not be threatened. I am the morning and evening star! I...am...PHARAOH!
Widescreen Shot: The three scenes set in the Pharaoh's throne room are occasionally shot side-on, showing the characters in profile and looking out over the city. These shots are in a widescreen format much wider than the rest of the movie to illustrate the backdrop the characters are up against. The background is different in each scene due to the progressing time, showing the status of Egypt at that moment; Egypt during the reign of Seti I, Egypt prosperous under Rameses II before the return of Moses, and Egypt in ruins after the Plagues.
Winds Are Ghosts: The final plague of taking the firstborn is represented as a wind that takes the souls of children.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Rameses constantly feels stuck in the shadow of his father, had to watch his brother run into the desert after hearing that "everything I've known to be true is a lie", and when said brother returns, he immediately says that Rameses is wrong and in danger. While Rameses still goes way too far in his vengeance and pride, he's presented with at least some sympathy.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: Referenced when Jethro is singing to Moses about true value.
A lake of gold in the desert sand is less than a cool, fresh spring! And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy is greater than the richest king!
Writing About Your Crime: Seti has hieroglyphics made detailing his murder of Hebrew children.
The X of Y: The Prince of Egypt.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Jethro singing "Through Heaven's Eyes" is a song about asking "how can you see what your life is worth or where your value lies" if you only look at the surface level, and that the worth of a man is what he does with the opportunities given to him. Moses clearly takes this to heart, embracing the life of a shepherd.
You can never see through the eyes of Man
You must look at your life...look at your life through Heaven's eyes
"You!" Exclamation: Tzipporah, when she sees Moses being pulled out of the well and recognizes him from Egypt. His response is a nonverbal Oh, Crap!.
You Shall Not Pass!: When Rameses catches up to the Hebrews at the Red Sea, a pillar of fire emerges from the sea and cuts him and his army off long enough to allow Moses to part the sea and get his people through it. There's also the sea coming back down when Rameses and his army attempt to give chase through the parted sea, killing the soldiers and expelling Rameses out onto a lone rock.
You're Not My Father: Moses doesn't actually say this to his adoptive father the Pharaoh, but to his brother instead, when Rameses ask Moses why he's leaving Egypt.
Moses: Go ask the man I once called "father".

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The Prince of Egypt

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