->''Thus sayeth the Lord...''

!!Movie
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redsea.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"With this staff, you shall do My wonders..."'']]
* From the very first scene, the camera pulls back to reveal a stone head of Pharaoh being pulled by hundreds of slaves. At that moment, you know this is going to be an EpicMovie.
* The Plagues scene. Not only is it LaserGuidedKarma for a culture of [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil abusive slavers]], but God lets loose with His full power. And there is not a thing the Egyptians can do to stop Him. The climax would be the scene where God kills all of the firstborns of Egypt--including Rameses' own son, which is finally what breaks Rameses and causes him to free the Hebrews.
** A little digging into Egyptian beliefs brings out [[GeniusBonus a new level]] to this. God isn't just using generic plagues to attack the Egyptians. He is mocking the Egyptian gods in the process, who tended to be patterned after animals, as well as the concept of Pharaoh being a god himself since this entire time he is powerless. Essentially, He is [[BreakTheHaughty breaking the Egyptians]] by saying "See how your gods tremble before Me?" in addition to suffering. Their gods don't just tremble; they ''flee''. He has full authority and power, and the various Egyptian gods can't do a damn thing to stop Him. Here's a brief breakdown of how every single prodigy before the Exodus hit Egyptian beliefs and their very way of life:
*** The staff-to-cobra transformation caused such a panic because it's a symbol of two goddesses: Meretseger, the guardian of the royal tombs, and, more importantly, Wadjet, the ''symbol of the royal power of life and death'' (hence why the pharaohs and a few other members of the royal family wore a stylised cobra on their heads). That's also why Hotep and Huy could pull it: they ''are'' the court mages, playing with cobras is part of their job. Not only that, but Moses' staff-turned-snake manages to swallow the other two cobras whole.
*** The First Plague, transforming the Nile in a river of blood, is a mockery of the Nile god, Hapi, and of a good omen: the Nile would become red ''once'' per year, filled with the fertile silt that the incoming flood would deposit on the earth. And yet, this time not only do the red waters appear at the wrong time of the year and bring no silt, but they also cause the death of all the fish of Egypt. [[FridgeBrilliance And come to think of it, silt is probably how Hotep and Huy replicated the trick on a smaller scale]].
*** The Second Plague, the frogs overrunning Egypt, continues the mockery of a good omen: the frog is a symbol of fertility and the goddess Heket, a personification of the fertile silt the floods brought, and smaller 'invasions' of frogs would come right after the flooding.
*** The Third and Fourth Plagues, the mosquitoes and the lice, are a direct consequence of the end of the Second: there were no frogs to eat them anymore. What's worse, the Egyptians were used to dealing with them, but this time there were too many.
*** The Fifth Plague, the disease of the livestock, hits a major soft point: The domestic ox was a sacred animal of, among other gods, Apis, who was an avatar of Ptah -- patron god of craftsmen, and the Maker of the Universe in the creation myth of Egypt's legislative capital, Memphis -- and intermediary between men and the gods, who appears on Earth as a black bull with a white triangular marking upon its forehead, a white vulture wing outline on its back, a scarab mark under its tongue, a white crescent moon shape on its right flank, and double hairs on his tail. (The Egyptians pampered these bulls, and held burials for them worthy of Pharaoh himself when they passed.) Because Moses is now the intermediary, the Apis bull dies, and no other bull with the proper markings shall be found.
*** The Sixth Plague, the boils, hits particularly hard: boils and other illnesses fall under the dominion of Thoth, the God of Science and Knowledge, Medicine and, what's worse, the ''Arbitrator of the Gods'', who would bring justice and properly administer the law. Between the epidemics and the priests having no knowledge on how to cure this, this one is a warning that Egypt has brought itself outside of the law of ''Ma'at'' (cosmic order).
*** The Seventh Plague, the storm of hail and fire, is personal for the Pharaoh and the royal family: Storms are the dominion of Seth, lord of chaos. In this time, not only is Seth not yet demonized (that would happen only from the Twenty-First dynasty, and the names of the Pharaohs indicate the Nineteenth), but he's ''one of the most important gods'', with Ramses' own father being named after him and the current capital of Pi-Ramses (cited by name in the Bible as the starting point of the Exodus) is a center of Seth's worship. Ouch!
*** The Eighth Plague, the locusts, is pure NightmareFuel: While in small numbers, they were considered symbols of luck alongside grasshoppers, but in large numbers, they were rightly feared, and by being brought by the wind this plague entered the dominion of one of the most important gods, Amun.
*** The Ninth Plague, Darkness, is again personal with the Pharaoh and his family: The authority of the Pharaoh is associated with the Sun God Ra and the Sky God Horus, and worse still, the reigning Pharaoh is ''Ra''mses, meaning "Born from Ra". A message of paternal and divine rejection?
*** The Tenth Plague is linked to a specific Egyptian myth, the Eye of Ra. In that myth, humans had disrespected Ra and planned to rebel and kill him, so he sent his Eye (identified with either the war goddess Sekhmet or the [[BewareTheNiceOnes gentle Hathor]] [[DependingOnTheWriter Depending on the Version]]) to slay them as punishment for their insolence... And in one day she killed ''half of mankind'', all the guilty and many innocents, and to stop her from finishing the job, the gods had to get her drunk enough she passed out. The message here is: "Let My people go, for if you continue to sin, all of Egypt shall die in a heartbeat". No wonder Rameses finally relented...
*** And the worst part of it all? ''It's during the day.'' One of the most important parts of Egyptian cosmology is how Ra governs during the day, and when night falls he fights against the serpent-dragon Apep, so that he won't consume the world. This isn't even remotely subtle on God's part; He is directly saying, "''Your greatest protector is'' '''nothing''' ''compared to'' '''''Me.'''''"
*** Furthermore, at the end of the Final Plague, when the Angel of Death and the souls of the dead firstborn dissipate into the sky, the constellation we know as Orion is shown prominently in the night sky. [[GeniusBonus To ancient Egyptians, that constellation was associated with Osiris]], King of the Land of the Dead. ''That'' is [=The Hebrew God=]'s final assault on the gods of Egypt: He declares "''Even Life itself is '''Mine''' and '''Mine''' alone to give and rescind.''" An alternate way to interpret it is that Osiris ''is'' the Angel of Death, and [=The Hebrew God=]'s message to the ancient Egyptians is that ''their'' god is taking their firstborn on '''His''' behalf.
* The burning bush scene, especially when God comforts Moses and says that He will ''smite Egypt with all My wonders''. The music, the effects, everything about this scene sends chills every time.
** And afterward when Moses runs back to Tziporah to tell her what happened. No dialog at all for a full 30 seconds, but the joy of one man telling of his experience of God is conveyed utterly and emotionally all in that wonderful music and the way Moses moves to tell the story of his new divine calling. Just [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Hans Zimmer's sweeping score]] and Moses telling what happened through gesture.
*** This scene is also a masterful depiction of a quite awkward storytelling moment. It would seem odd to not show Tziporah learning what happened, but at the same time, simply seeing Moses tell her could very easily feel like just getting the same scene twice in a row. So instead the dialogue is left unheard while the music and physical performances take over for a completely different way of showing the scene that works beautifully.
* The parting of the Red Sea is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for both Moses ''and'' [=DreamWorks=] Pictures. And during their journey, the shot of the whale shark silhouetted against the wall of water, and the Hebrew people's torches.
** And just before it, the Pillar of Fire. Which has the audacity to make its appearance by erupting up ''from underwater''. It's just kind of awesome that after throwing all those natural disasters at the Egyptians, God's response to them '''still''' coming after His people to show his wrath in the most dramatic way possible.
*** Look at Moses's expression when the Pillar of Fire erupts out of the Red Sea. Even after all he's seen, from the Burning Bush to the ten plagues, his face is still full of shock, terror, and absolute awe.
** Ramses gets one in this scene as well. This is the same God that has devastated his people, destroyed his empire and killed his son. And now this god is directly attacking him with a pillar of flame. How does Ramses respond? By trying to ''outmaneuver'' Him by running around the fire wall.
** A blink-and-you-miss-it moment occurs when the Red Sea closes. Moses and a little child are the last ones fleeing. The child trips and Moses immediately grabs the child and bolts before the sea can close in on them.
* While it's pretty scary, the sequence of the first 9 plagues, along with the amazing musical number, featuring a DarkReprise of the song "''All I Ever Wanted''," is nothing less than awesome, even if it is one of the scariest things God has done since leveling Sodom and Gomorrah. The song itself is great, especially the lyrics, such as "I sent my scourge! I sent my sword! Thus saith the Lord!" [[NightmareFuel The 10th plague though...]]
** Every musical number doubles as this.
* The ''When You Believe'' piece. It starts out as a single voice, joined by another, then a small group, until finally the nation is singing praises to their God for liberating them from slavery.
** A tribute to the animators' sense of detail: as the Hebrews are leaving during the song, two Egyptian guards throw down their spears and join the group. What could have been a throwaway moment of two guys turning sides ends up being a detail that sticks; they're occasionally seen in crowd scenes until the end of the film.
* In spite of it brimming with arrogance, and being the closest thing the movie has to a VillainSong, ''Playing With The Big Boys Now'' is a very impressive musical number, whether its the truly intimidating backing track that combines darkly building chords with the names of the Egyptian pantheon, or the admittedly impressive showmanship of Hotep and Huy.
* The animation in this movie is flawless, not just in its appearance but in its implementation, with every scene being framed perfectly. The direction of this movie is ''masterful''.
* Speaking of the animation, there are several moments where there is [[TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects CG]] included in parts of the film, including the chariot scene, several of the plagues, and ''the Burning Bush''. Both first-time and hardcore viewers don't notice this unless they view the [[http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mTX_qo0xRFs Behind the Scenes]] for the film. Yes, [=DreamWorks=] combined both 3D and 2D animation into their film '''and successfully pulled it off'''.
* Tzipporah ''openly'' biting at the hand of a ''prince of Egypt''! Why is this badass? Because she probably knew that doing so could get her beaten or killed, but she does anyway because she's a woman who ''won't'' take crap from anyone! Including a prince.
** Then, how she was able to escape with no one detecting her (except Moses).
* When Moses looked like he was going to be injured by Ramses's armed guards, Tzipporah immediately moved to stop them (or at least try to get Moses out of the situation). Aaron stopped her for a few seconds to keep her from getting hurt, but she broke free quickly and continued to run. However, the first plague (turning the river into blood) stopped any violence from occurring at that time.
* Miriam is a Hebrew slave, somebody with zero power or agency. Yet she is able to channel the only resource she has -- her faith (and not just the spiritual kind) -- and uses it not only to rise above the despair of her own situation, but she also uses it to push her brother into liberating a people. She constantly lifts everyone else's spirits, no matter how badly they treat her. She is Moses' first supporter, the only one who has never doubted him or his mission, and often it seems her unshakable belief in her brother is what keeps Moses from giving up. No wonder he pulled her aside and thanked her at the end of the movie.
** And she does it all without being fanservice or somebody's love interest. Which is pretty rare for an animated heroine.
* A small moment that is still a nice touch from the animators; when God, through Moses, turns the Nile to blood, the whole river runs red...except for a small clear circle right where Moses is standing.
* Yocheved. While she didn't have a major crowning moment, her MamaBear instinct to save her youngest child (Moses) from death is not only beautifully heartwarming, but pure awesome.
* Another moment from the burning bush scene is when Moses repeatedly questions God and doubts that he can do what He wants. God decides to persuade him via a BadassBoast.
-->'''God:''' ''WHO MADE MAN'S MOUTH?!'' WHO MADE THE DEAF, THE MUTE, THE SEEING, OR THE BLIND? DID NOT I?! NOW ''GO''.
* One for the writers: the character of Tzipporah, and her relationship with Moses. What could have easily been a RomanticPlotTumor is instead handled with maturity and excellent CharacterDevelopment. Tzipporah doesn't even start giving Moses a second thought until he openly declares that he's "done nothing in [his] life worth honoring." That's when she realizes he has the power to change--and the movie, unlike so many others, makes it clear that ''he'' needs to change, rather than Tzipporah needing to [[DefrostingIceQueen tone down her outspoken nature]]. She comes to love him over a period of months, if not years (we don't know how much time passes during "Through Heaven's Eyes"), and only after he's proven himself with hard work and compassion for others, two qualities he was sorely lacking before. In the end, the two have genuinely fallen in love, and the result is a strong, beautiful depiction of a fair, balanced, equal marriage.
* [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight How Miriam convinces Moses that he is her brother]]. She sings Yocheved's last lullaby, her voice nearly breaking with the weight of her conviction, love, and sorrow. In the span of 20 seconds, Miriam unravels Moses' Egyptian identity, proving to him that her tear-stricken face is too familiar, too similar to the first face he ever saw...

!!Musical
* Much of the stagecraft used was highly lauded, particularly the parting of the Red Sea which ends with the stage tilting up and dropping Hotep and the Egyptian Army into the orchestra pit.
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