Animated movies have always been a favorite for moviegoers, but only a handful of films earn the title of greatest in animation. A decades-old movie that just started streaming on Peacock is among them, and it marked one of the earliest entries for one is now what of the most prominent animation studios in the industry.
That movie is The Prince of Egypt, and it joined Peacock’s streaming library on April 1st just ahead of the Easter holiday. The movie was released in 1998 as DreamWorks Animation’s second film and the studio’s first traditionally animated movie and nearly 30 years later is still regarded by critics and audiences as one of the greatest animated films ever made. The movie is an animated musical retelling of the Book of Exodus and follows Moses from his privileged upbringing as an Egyptian prince to his divine calling as the leader of the Hebrew people.
The Prince of Egypt Established DreamWorks Animation as a Serious Competitor to Disney
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The Prince of Egypt is often overshadowed by DreamWorks’ later massive hits like Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, but it holds a unique place as being the movie that firmly signaled the studio could match Disney’s prestige. The movie essentially bridged the gap between family entertainment and artistic, arthouse-level storytelling with a dramatic, sweeping narrative style that didn’t shy away from tackling mature themes and avoided tropes of the genre like talking animals and comic sidekicks. It also played out as a visually stunning spectacle that still holds up today. The Prince of Egypt utilized traditional animation combined with computer-generated effects to achieve the artistic and technical level of Disney and create iconic visual moments, like for the Red Sea parting sequence.
That all amounted to overwhelming success for an emerging studio. The Prince of Egypt earned a $218 million worldwide gross, making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated feature at the time of its release, and received widespread critical acclaim. It’s “Certified Fresh” critic score of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes is matched by a 90% audience score. The movie also won an Oscar for “When You Believe.” The Prince of Egypt set a very high bar for the new studio, which ultimately proved with movies like Shrek in the years that followed that DreamWorks was a serious competitor in the animation industry.
What’s New on Peacock?
Peacock is a great resource for entertainment, and its catalog just got a bit bigger. On the family entertainment side of things, April 1st also brought the arrival of Bee Movie, Captain Underpants, the first three Kung Fu Panda movies, and the iconic ‘90s movie Space Jam. Outside of kid-friendly fare, Peacock’s library now also includes titles like Crocodile Dundee, Face/Off, Liar, Liar, Pulp Fiction, and Straight Outta Compton.
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