MovieChat Forums > The Prince of Egypt (1998) Discussion > Who is your favorite character?

Who is your favorite character?

posted 11 years ago by mtman318
12 replies | jump to latest

One thing I like about this movie is that (for me anyway) there are no bad or annoying characters. Hence, there are plenty to choose from.

I think my favorite character is Tzipporah. I absolutely love her design. The character designs in general are very good, though Hotep and Huy might be a little too exaggerated. (Animation is my backup career choice, so I'm particularly interested in the visual aspect of characters.) Her blue clothes make a nice contrast both to Moses' reds and browns, and to her own skin tone. Her hair's pretty awesome. And she has amber eyes (or "firebender" eyes, as I now call them), how cool is that?! Not to mention that, if she were a real life person, she could easily be a supermodel (but probably wouldn't, based on what she does in the movie).

The writers gave her a good personality as well. She has a wide range of moods and emotions; she's not a "token" character. It's nice to have a character who can be both fiery and gentle (simultaneously even, like at the river scene before the first plague). She has plenty of self-respect, too, as well as moral integrity/courage, and that's always a good thing. And in a movie that's largely about faith, she shows plenty of it, mostly through deed rather than word.

Speaking of which, Michelle Pfeiffer does an excellent job voice acting. Tzipporah has relatively few lines, but Michelle's delivery is spot on and memorable. She even does her own singing, and as someone who truly can't sing, I have nothing but respect for that. The casting director chose wisely.

Anyway, that's my long-winded summary of why Tzipporah is my favorite character in this movie. Which are your favorites?

[–] OroVerde 11 years ago

One thing I like about this movie is that (for me anyway) there are no bad or annoying characters.

I found Rameses' arrogant British voice annoying. Why do they always make the villains British?

And wouldn't it make more sense for Moses and Rameses to have the same accent since they grew up together?

Anyway my favorite character is Moses. I think I prefer his more playful personality when he was still prince though. It was also nice seeing him half naked for the first half on the film, lol I know I'm a pervert.

[–] mtman318 11 years ago

And wouldn't it make more sense for Moses and Rameses to have the same accent since they grew up together?

Good point. I like Ralph Fiennes' accent, though, so I didn't mind.

[–] Manifest_12 11 years ago

I'd have to say Ramesses is my favorite character in the movie, although Tzipporah comes REALLY close, along with the Queen.

People say he was arrogant in this movie, but I didn't see it that way. Rather, he had his back to the wall from the beginning. He's extremely happy to see his brother again and hugs him (a Hebrew slave-child) in front of the whole court, then immediately pardons him of murder and reinstates him as a prince of Egypt. However, what his brother asks of him the one thing he simply CANNOT do as Pharaoh, which is to let the entire workforce just walk out of Egypt. Fancy construction projects aside, there are many reasons why you can't just do this as a ruler, among them being risk of invasion from appearing weak, risk of assassination by the court, risk of letting Egyptians die due to the sudden vacuum inviting civil war and starvation. Basically, he risks Egypt, all 2000 years of it. The weak link is EXACTLY what he would be. Going into the movie we are already implicitly on the Hebrew side (and I'm glad they got out) but this wasn't a good situation for anyone.

Anyway, I'm very sympathetic to him. He can be very warm, kind and playful, but strong when he has to be. He simply got stuck between a rock and a hard place. Besides, in the Bible, it was God hardening his heart OVER and OVER again, forcing him to see Egypt burn.

[–] mtman318 11 years ago

While Rameses isn't my favorite, he's probably the most well done. I think that is largely due to Ralph Fiennes; his voice work was perfect. The directors, during the commentary, call his voice "vulnerable" sounding, which I agree with--and I think is one of the reasons he's so sympathetic.

People say he was arrogant in this movie, but I didn't see it that way.

Both he and Moses acted arrogantly towards people outside the royal family, but that's definitely the fault of their upbringing. The difference between the two of them was that Moses was able to let go of that, but Rameses wasn't (though considering all the pressure put on him by Seti, that probably wasn't purely his fault, either). And I agree that Rameses would have been insane to grant Moses' request (or God's command, rather) from the beginning. But sometime after the plagues began, he ought to have reconsidered his decision. In the end, I think he truly was stubborn and arrogant (and lacking in faith, though the movie understandably didn't focus on that, lest it became overly preachy)--but I understand why.

As for the Bible, I guess it depends on how one interprets it. In my case, I believe that free will is something so important to God that He would never forcibly take it from anyone. Hence, my interpretation of those passages is somewhat liberal: I think it means more that God permitted Pharaoh's heart to be hardened (and thus it could be said that He indirectly hardened his heart), and this seems to be the view that the movie takes.

[–] a_bientot_105-467-230804 10 years ago

Rameses is my favorite character mainly because I love his voice.

[–] Tinny-Tinette 10 years ago

Tzipporah is my favorite because of the reasons that you mention; Her fiery and spunky personality and her design was fine, too. Her personality kinda reminds me of Esmeralda in Disney's "Hunchback", but an improved one. Esmeralda had many good qualities, but wasn't particularly the most smartest person in many ways.

A second place comes Miriam, because of her devotion to both God and Moses and for being an optimist.

[–] SaCha1689 10 years ago

Tzipporah was awesome for all the reasons you described, but my favorite character is probably Miriam. It took great strength and resilience for her never to lose hope despite all she went through. And she never gave up on Moses either. I think she embodies this lovely quote from the writer Mary Ann Radmacher: "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow."

I love Skyler White.

[–] mtman318 9 years ago

That's an awesome quotation, and it's true.

[–] ToastSandwich 10 years ago

Like the OP said, there really aren't any characters that are totally awful and unlikable (except for maybe Hotep and Huy, who are supposed to suck). Even Seti has his humane moments; he obviously cares deeply for both of his sons.

Miriam is my favorite though, I thought she was the real hero of this story. Moses was always faltering, ready to quit, and she kept picking him back up and giving him the confidence he needed to press on... she never stopped worrying about Moses no matter what happened between them in the past. She's actually the only person who consistently believed in Moses (even Tzipporah had her "But Moses, you're just one man" moment, and was initially angry at him for a moment.) How awesome would it be to have someone like that in your corner, who believes in you even when you don't believe in yourself.

She takes heat for putting her life (and possibly Aaron's) in danger to clue Moses in, and now that I'm older I totally sympathize with Aaron. But I admire Miriam's pluck and compassion - she set so much into motion by stepping up and speaking the truth when nobody else would. In spite of everything she'd been through, Miriam constantly put others first, choosing to be gentle and altruistic while the other slaves became bitter and hollowed out. That takes some serious inner strength.

[–] mtman318 9 years ago

If there's one thing this film is missing, it's a scene of dialogue between the four main protagonists. They all complement each other very well--Miriam and Aaron in particular; they're exact opposites in many ways, but I don't think either would have made it without the other. (They remind me of Sokka and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender, now that I think about it...)

Huh. I just realized Moses and Aang are pretty similar too; both are relatively laid back, both have staves of some sort, and both are basically reluctant messiahs for their people--the whole world in Aang's case. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Moses' story is such an archetype that most other heroes are bound to have similarities.

(It seems Tzipporah and Toph are kind of the odd ones out in this comparison. They're both girls, and they're both assertive--but it seems their similarities end there. And I just used all homophones of "there" in one sentence xD)

Anyway, back to what I was saying before. I wish they had more dialogue between the four of them, but I admit that it probably wasn't necessary. Conversations tend to form around our circumstances, and with their extreme circumstances I imagine nothing more really needed to be said than what we saw on screen.

[–] AndrewGS 10 years ago

My favorite character was Aaron, I like Goldblum generally, he had a good design, and his various reactions and growth felt the most realistic.

[–] mtman318 9 years ago

I remember when I first saw the movie many years ago, I didn't like him all that much. (Though I never forgot one of the best lines in the movie--"not that it was too much, w-we quite enjoyed it..." And that was ad libbed too.) But now he's one of my favorites. Assuming Miriam was always trying to stand up to injustice, I bet he's the only reason she wasn't ever killed. His character growth (much like Moses') is satisfying too.