Quality

I have to say, out of curiosity I went to the official website for the series and viewed some of the footage, specifically the Christian Slater promotional clips, and my reaction is, Wow! Whatever portion of that 11 mil paid for the voice cast of actors who are definatley on the downside of their careers, the animation looks like the cutscenes from a below average Playstation 2 title. Is the market for so-called "Christian" entertainment so desperate for content that they will pay eleven bucks for this crap at the multiplex?

The trend in Christian - only media tends to desturb me in the context of who is creating and consuming it, not because I take any issue in theory with religious entertainment. I can appreciate spiritual and even specifically religious entertainment for what it is, after all the larger themes are present all over the general media because they can be widely relatable and applicable to most of us regardless of background or affiliations. Beside which, biblical tales like myth and folkloreof all cutures are often just really good stories, with drama, suspence, humor, romance and heroism. But the church crowd, especially the evangelicals seem to desire film and music that speaks ONLY to them, their scripture and their worldview. They also tend to be superficial renderings of biblical passages or contain dry and reverant repetition of such passages without insight or deeper meaning.

Regardless of animation quality, these productions appear to be primarily concerned with their own narrow marketing focus than anything artistic. I'm sure these are nowhere near is noxious as something like the "Left Behind" or "Omega Code" series or "Passion of the Christ", I'm thinking more in the vein of "Facing the Giants". It's a shame that they could not do better. I have nothing against religious films, and I have really enjoyed movies about or incorporating themes of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, whatever, and apprieciate the classic spiritual relevance in everything from Star Wars and The Matrix to "The Last Mimsy" to "The Last Tempatation of Christ". Unfortunatly these particualr producers are squandering on opportunity to achieve real relevance and reach a wider audience, opting for a rout rehash that only a select "Christian" audience will ever see, and most savvy children will be sorely dissapointed if they do.

(Disclaimer: I have obviously not seen the film, and this response is primarily my thoughts on the so-called "Christian entertainment" industry. For all I know, the screenplay and vocal performances in this film could be outstanding, in which case I would hope the filmmakers would have enough 'Faith" to promote it to wider audiences.)

Incidently, I live in San Francisco, California {yes, that's right], and this movie will not be playing within at least 20 miles of my fair city. The closest theaters scheduled to show it are in Concord and Santa Rosa. Somehow, this does not suprise me.

Also incidently, I happen to have been raised in a fairly religious Jewish family. I mention this also because, well for one, you might say that Moses is a fairly important characer in our traditions. For another, the same production company also made "One Night With the King" about Queen Esther, who is also a jewish figure of no small consequence. And considering that along with the Muslims the vast majority of the western world is familiar with these stories, I would think that with some attention production values that there is no reason to sequester such stories in a "Christian-media" ghetto.

keeping in mind hoodwinked is now quite old...

Exactly what I thought when watching the trailer. While Prince of Egypt was well-executed, original and stylish, this one is just bad, bad, bad and bad.

I can't believe they went as far as simply lifting details like the Pharao's son's hairstyle, or the walls of water in the red sea sequence RIGHT OUT of the Prince of Egypt. Complete ripoff, no merit whatsoever.