[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dsl5nnggy8qtmxxtaammuyvqdy3.png]]

->''"You know better than I...''\\
''You know the way...''\\
''I've let go the need to know why...''\\
''I'll take what answers you supply,''\\
''for you know better than I..."''

Released in 2000, one of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's most obscure films, and their first DirectToVideo release.

Meant to be the follow-up/prequel to ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', although it was made ''during'' that film's production. Basically, imagine ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'', but in animation, and with Creator/BenAffleck to voice the title character.
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!!This film contains examples of:

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: In the Bible, Rachel had already died giving birth to Benjamin before Joseph was sold into slavery while in the movie, Joseph only finds out 20 years later. He laments that he NeverGotToSayGoodbye to her and is stunned when he finally meets his new baby brother.
* AdaptationDistillation: Of the tail end of Genesis. A number of characters are trimmed, Reuben (firstborn and previous leader of the brothers) has been DemotedToExtra, and the reason why Judah is also leading over Simeon and Levi, who were next in line after Reuben, is simply not mentioned; to put it mildly, this movie would have to have had a hard PG-13 rating at the very least if it had delved into the extremely family-unfriendly events that got them demoted.[[note]]Reuben had slept with one of Jacob's concubines (who was also Rachel's maidservant). Simeon and Levi massacred an entire city in vengeance after its prince raped their sister Dinah.[[/note]]
** Actually, it might just be glossed over as during a confrontation with his brothers, Joseph mentions something along the lines of "There's a lot Father doesn't know, I know about the drinking and the women".
* AdaptedOut: Rachel is the only one of Jacob's four wives to appear, though it's a plot point that the other ten aren't biologically hers. The existence of Leah is only vaguely alluded to at the very beginning, but her name is never spoken and it's heavily implied that she has already died by the time of the movie (even though Leah actually outlived Rachel in the Biblical narrative). Jacob's one named daughter, Dinah, is also nowhere to be seen. Although, again, showing her backstory, i.e. [[spoiler:the Rape of Dinah]] would ''definitely'' shove up the rating.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Joseph's brothers when they sold him into slavery. In the original, they were originally going to ''kill'' Joseph before Reuben talked the other brothers down into throwing him into a hole and selling him into slavery. Here, Joseph falling into the hole seems to be an accident seeing how they tried to grab him and seem to be genuinely ashamed at what their jealousy has done when they sold him into slavery considering [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone how they react to it.]]
* AmbiguousEnding: Zuleika. She isn't seen again after Joseph is sent to prison, and no one mentions her anymore (except Potiphar briefly, but he is cut short before he can finish his sentence). Did they divorce? Did she ''die''? In a movie all about forgiveness (at least for the penitent, ''which she was'' in her last scene), was she ever forgiven by either Joseph or Potiphar? If not, it's somewhat disconcerting and inconsistent with the rest of the film, [[MustMakeAmends especially since she immediately acted to try and undo her wicked deeds once she felt remorse and pity for Joseph]], [[DoubleStandard unlike Joseph's brothers and Potiphar who were eventually forgiven nonetheless]]. This is possibly an example of LeftHanging.
* AncientEgypt: Of course.
* ArtShift: The Pharaoh's dream, which transitions from traditional animation to CGI.
** Joseph's dreams too, which are in a living painting style (backgrounds at least) and the wall Joseph paints like his home of Canaan (which animates as he remembers it) as well as the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream.
* ArtisticAge: The passage of time really does not apply here. [[OlderThanHeLooks Joseph fluctuates in how old he looks]] throughout the movie. He spends years in prison, and grows a full beard to match his age. But then when he goes clean-shaven he looks like a teenager again.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion
-->'''Joseph:''' But why? Why should you care if I lock him up, beat him, make him a slave?
* AwfulTruth: The brothers kept their selling Joseph into slavery a secret for twenty years, knowing that, had they ever confessed, at best Jacob would be understandably ''furious'' and disown them on the spot for the betrayal and at worst they'll be given the same punishment for the crime, being sold in turn. They have to live with the fact that Joseph is likely dead and it's their fault for being DrivenByEnvy, and they can't tell anyone. Benjamin doesn't know, telling a disguised Joseph innocently that his older full-brother was killed by wolves. Joseph is even angrier about this than about the betrayal itself and punishes Benjamin by proxy when framing him for theft. Reuben and Judah finally confess to save Benjamin.
* BigBrotherBully: Taken to the logical extreme with Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery. It's no surprise that when he sees them again, Joseph goes OhCrap and immediately lashes out at them as the vizier.
* BigBrotherInstinct: In contrast to how they treated Joseph, Judah and the others react this way when Joseph frames Benjamin for theft and threatens to imprison him into slavery. Joseph certainly notes the difference and subtly asks why they didn't protect him, by asking why they should care if Benjamin is locked up, beaten, and treated like a slave.
* BittersweetEnding: Remember, the ending of this movie leads directly into ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', which means that the Hebrew descendants of Joseph and his brothers will be enslaved by the Egyptians for decades. Joseph also never gets to see his mother again.
* BlessedWithSuck: Joseph's dreams, at first. They are a great honor from God...that do absolutely nothing beneficial other than distance him from his brothers and eventually get him sold into slavery. [[spoiler:True to the original story, however, this trope is eventually averted.]]
* BookEnds: The eagle flying overhead at the very opening and ending of the film.
* BothSidesHaveAPoint:
** Jacob scolds Joseph's brothers for not only neglecting their shepherd duties to go swimming but for abandoning "[his] son" to do it alone when he could've been eaten by wolves. [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin Which he nearly was]]. But Joseph's brothers also have their point when they say "Aren't ''we'' (also) your sons?", calling out their dad on his favoritism.
** Asenath calls out Joseph for defying SacredHospitality and imprisoning a foreigner on trumped-up charges. She is correct and says that Joseph shouldn't treat his brothers this way when hearing the full story. Joseph in turn explains they made him a slave in the first place, so they are liars and haven't seemed to pay for their crime. This is also correct. Asenath reluctantly backs down because she knows how badly Joseph was traumatized as a slave, but sings a DarkReprise of "Bloom" about how the CycleOfRevenge will tear everyone apart.
* BoyMeetsGirl: Joseph and Asenath’s relationship - they first meet when Joseph is her uncle’s slave, and do some flirting. Their relationship (however unlikely, given the huge [[UptownGirl class gap]]) is smothered when Joseph is thrown in prison. They’re reunited when Joseph is made vizier and soon marry.
* BrokenPedestal: Joseph for his brothers. He's absolutely right to call them liars as adults.
* TheChosenOne: A DeconReconSwitch version. Joseph's status as a "Miracle Child" destined for some great, but as yet unknown, purpose from God and the resultant special treatment he receives from his father, in particular a scholarly education, means Joseph has a bit of an ego and engenders resentment from his half-brothers even before he describes his visions to them, culminating in their selling him into slavery. Thrust into such a low position, Joseph finally has to do the physical labor the half-brothers resented him for not having to do most of the time, but from here the reconstruction begins. His education helps him rise in usefulness to Potiphar's court, his dream-interpreting abilities free him from prison (after a dark night of the soul in which he wonders about that purpose, especially since his abilities don't guarantee a happy ending for everyone), and said abilities combined, again, with his education make him the second-most powerful person in Egypt. His purpose turns out to be to rescue the land -- and, from there, his repentant brothers -- from famine.
* ClarkKenting: Subverted. When the brothers and Joseph meet again, Joseph is older, tanner, more muscular, wearing a beard, and definitely not in a position where you'd expect a guy sold into slavery to be. To add onto this, Joseph uses a different voice and manner when talking to them, and his outfit hides a lot of his features.
* ClearMyName: In keeping with the Bible story, Zuleika accuses Joseph of forcing himself on her, resulting in his time in prison.
* CruelMercy: After Potiphar understands that Joseph was telling the truth about his innocence, he revokes his earlier sentence of death... and bestows the sentence of indefinite imprisonment instead. A unique example in that Potiphar did not consider himself justified in doing this but did it to protect his wife's honor (at least to others besides himself), and by extension his own.
* CursedWithAwesome: Zigzagged with Joseph (who kept getting in trouble over his prophecies) and invoked by the baker as he's taken away: "It's not a gift, it's a curse!”
* DeathByChildbirth: Rachel's fate, though it's glossed over in the movie. Benjamin only says that Rachel is dead is by the time he and Joseph meet; in the Bible, she actually died giving birth to Benjamin.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Multiple characters have dreams that Joseph is able to interpret as prophecy. Pharaoh even has two somewhat similar dreams that, according to Joseph, mean that God is putting extra effort into affirming what is to come.
* DrivenByEnvy:
** Joseph’s half-brothers, who resent his “miracle child” status and accompanying ego enough to debate killing him and eventually sell him into slavery. They come to regret it.
** [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Arguably]] Joseph too, toward Benjamin--the obvious anger he shows when he first hears about him and then sees him and Simeon embracing, could indicate envy at the idea that not only was he "replaced," but Benjamin managed to get ParentalFavoritism ''and'' the love of their brothers as well. Unlike his siblings, however, Joseph refuses to actually make Benjamin a slave when his brothers admit they betrayed Joseph and broke his parents' hearts. What's strange, though, is that there seems to be no regard from Joseph's brothers to the pain they put ''him'' through. The guilt seems to be reserved solely for hurting Jacob and Rachel. Do his brothers feel bad for what they put ''Joseph'' through at all?
* EarnYourHappyEnding: CainAndAbel, MadeASlave, FalseRapeAccusation, MiscarriageOfJustice and then, ''finally,'' a happy ending for Joseph and his family.
* EasilyForgiven: Potiphar is remorseful when he belatedly releases Joseph from prison, but Joseph is genuinely happy to see him and shows no hard feelings.
* EntertaininglyWrong: When Joseph encounters his brothers again while he's the vizier, they mention having a brother at home while looking to buy grain. He calls them liars and accuses them of being thieves, while he flashes back to the silver they received for selling them, assuming that they are referring to ''Joseph'' as the brother at home. To save their brother Simeon from imprisonment, they have to produce the "brother at home". Joseph doesn't expect that his mother had conceived and gave birth to a child in the twenty years he was gone; he had no reason to think such a thing. He's very surprised at encountering Benjamin.[[labelnote:*]]This is different to the account in Genesis, where they tell Joseph about the brother who "died" at the same time as telling him about Benjamin.[[/labelnote]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: More of a ''Re''-establishing Character Moment when the brothers show up in Egypt--the first thing that we see is one of them picking up a little girl's doll and returning it to her. This shows the audience that they TookALevelInKindness and stands in contrast to the ScareChord representing Joseph's shock at seeing them.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Zuleika slanders Joseph out of spite when he refuses to comply with her advances, but realizes she went too far when Joseph was to be executed.
** For what it's worth, the other brothers realized they went too far by selling Joseph into slavery. He makes them admit that what they did was wrong, and hurt everyone in the long run.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Jacob may show blatant ParentalFavoritism, but when Joseph in a moment of anger calls out "''Half''-brother!", Jacob immediately tells him to apologize. Likewise, Jacob under great protest allows Benjamin to travel with the brothers to Egypt to satisfy a disguised Joseph's ultimatum because he doesn't want Simeon imprisoned indefinitely and they need the grain. The brothers do know, however, that if anything happens to Benjamin, there will be hell to pay.
* FalseRapeAccusation: Zuleika invokes this trope when she doesn't get her way with Joseph and tells Potiphar that he raped her. She regrets it when Joseph is set to be executed and begs her husband not to kill him. Potiphar quickly realizes that Joseph is innocent, but circumstance forces him to punish Joseph regardless to preserve his wife's honor.
* FatAndSkinny: In prison, the baker and cupbearer, respectively. The fat one goes and the skinny one is left. This {{foreshadow|ing}}s the Pharaoh's dreams and eventual fate of Egypt.
* FemmeFatale: Zuleika, to some degree.
* FiveStagesOfGrief: When Joseph tells the baker [[spoiler:that he will die in three days]] based on his dream, he shouts "You're lying!". He appears to have made it through the other stages in the three day fast-forward shouting "You knew!" as he's carried out.
* {{Forgiveness}}: A particularly striking example, as Joseph forgives Potiphar (which visibly surprises him) for throwing him in jail. And then again when he forgives his brothers [[spoiler:albeit after showing how much they care for the new youngest]].
-->'''Joseph''': Can you forgive me for thinking I was some miracle from God?\\
[[spoiler: '''Judah''']]: But you ''are'' a miracle. God sent you to save our family and all of Egypt. And you did.
* FrameUp: As part of a SecretTestOfCharacter, Joseph sneaks his golden goblet into Benjamin's bag of grain and accuses him of theft. He doesn't go through with it, however, when hearing the other brothers confess that they had sold Joseph into slavery.
* HalfSiblingAngst: Joseph's 10 half-brothers are keenly aware their mothers were not Jacob's favorite wife and their father clearly favors Joseph. This leads to them resenting Joseph and eventually selling him to slavery. When Benjamin is born, however, they resolve not to let the same mistakes hurt them.
* HappilyMarried:
** Joseph and Asenath.
** Jacob and Rachel, although Rachel is clearly frustrated at the unnecessary tension Jacob causes amongst his sons.
* HappinessInSlavery:
** Played with and kicked around a bit. Joseph begins to enjoy his servitude when he meets and falls in love with Asenath. Though to Zuleika's attraction to Joseph, he's given less physical labor while in slavery, and Joseph's intelligence and wit win over the Pharaoh. But some of the times in between these events aren't so happy.
** The entire marketplace scene is dedicated to showing how being a slave ''[[SubvertedTrope sucks]]'', complete with Joseph being terrified at the sight of whip marks on other slaves for sale and his being made over to look like a proper Egyptian slave as a violating and undignified act.
* HardWorkMontage: Two of them -- one showing Joseph's work in Potiphar's house, and one showing Egypt preparing for the upcoming famine, both accompanied by singing.
* AHeroIsBorn: The very first scene takes place on the day Joseph was born.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Defied. While Joseph threatens to enslave Benjamin to make his brothers suffer, he refuses to ultimately go through with it. He even points out that they sold out a previous half-brother and didn't seem to care if he was beaten up, locked up, or put to hard labor. It was a SecretTestOfCharacter to call them out for what they did to him and to see if they had ultimately changed. Pointedly, Joseph then says he won't ever hurt Benjamin after the brothers confess their crimes, looking guilty at the possibility of going through with it.
* ICantLookGesture: A form of this happens whenever Joseph pleads for help and is unjustly ignored.
* IronicEcho:
** "''[[KickTheDog Half]]''[[KickTheDog -brother]]!”
** “My brothers will come for me!"
** When Joseph accuses Benjamin of theft, he uses the same phrases that Potiphar used against him earlier.
** “You’re a busy man…anyone could make a mistake."
* {{Irony}}:
** Mainly in the form of a SelfFulfillingProphecy. By selling Joseph into slavery so that (among other things) they would never bow to him like his dream said they would, his brothers set themselves on the path to fulfilling (willfully) that same dream.
** In a small case of dramatic irony, when Joseph says no one cares he's in prison, we see Asenath going to sneak him some food immediately afterward.
** One of the lines in the Marketplace song is "What we (the kingdom of Egypt) have made shall not be torn asunder." Then years later comes Moses and the Plagues...
** At the beginning of the story, on the morning Joseph was born, his older brothers ''were'' set on being good big brothers to him. But as [[ForegoneConclusion fate]] would have it, they end up [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis becoming just the opposite]] and grow jealous of Joseph, to the point they eventually bully and ''sell him'' as a slave.
* IveComeTooFar: Judah is clearly heartbroken as he sees Joseph being dragged away by slave traders, but Simeon dejectedly states that they've gone too far to renege on the deal.
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** While Jacob is in the wrong for showing favoritism towards Joseph, he is right that the brothers shouldn't have left Joseph alone to defend their flock from wolves. What's more, the brothers never confessed about selling Joseph into slavery, because the earful they would have received would have been entirely justified in how it hurt more people than Jacob.
** When Joseph as vizier encounters his brothers again, he calls them liars and thieves while they are buying grain. No one else knows, but he is right: they stole him from his father, and stole his freedom from him, and lied about his death to Jacob. He's also right to tell a worried Asenath that it doesn't look like they suffered or were sorry for selling him into slavery.
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: At first it seems to Joseph that his brothers were this when he sees them in Egypt looking to buy grain. He even mentions to Asenath that if they're sorry then they haven't shown it, and to an extent, he is correct in that Jacob for all those twenty years never found out what they did and punished them. Judah finally confesses, however, that they've been living with the guilt that they lost Joseph forever, hence why they treat Benjamin more kindly. Plus, Joseph goes to see his father, who is ''not'' going to be happy about the lie his other sons maintained.
* KickTheDog: Subverted. It at first seems that Joseph will impress Benjamin, who is completely innocent of what happened to Joseph, into slavery so as to test his brothers about their guilt and character. He ultimately wasn't going to go through with it and promises not to hurt his little brother.
* KneelBeforeFrodo: When Pharaoh gives Joseph his new name and puts him in charge of Egypt, his former master, Potiphar, kneels to him.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Joseph invokes this as his SecretTestOfCharacter when his brothers come to Egypt begging for grain. They fail the first bit by lying about what happened to him, and so he demands to see Benjamin, his ReplacementGoldfish for his parents. He then threatens to make them relive his being sold into slavery, by impressing Benjamin into his service after framing him for theft. It's only when they beg for Benjamin's life and confess does he reveal his identity.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the Prince of Egypt, King of Dreams is much more lighthearted as a whole, from the animation to the characters. Even the Pharaoh in this movie has none of the cruelty and indifference as his successors Seti and Ramses.
* LittleNo: Joseph says this when Zuleika tries to seduce him.
* LoveFatherLoveSon: PlayedWith; depending on how the Bible is interpreted, Asenath might be Zuleika's daughter, playing this trope straight. In this movie, however, they're a niece and aunt.
* MadeASlave: Joseph, sold by his brothers to get him out of their hair. He threatens to do the same thing to Benjamin.
* TheMakeover: Joseph is washed, powdered, trimmed and painted to look more Egyptian.
* MeaningfulRename: Pharaoh dubs Joseph 'Zaphnath-Paaneah', meaning 'The god speaks and he (He?) lives'.
* MisplacedVegetation: Sunflowers in Canaan. They're actually rather popular in Israel these days, mind you, but they're native to the Americas.
* MoodWhiplash: 2 years as a slave, 2 years in prison, to being made second only to the Pharaoh, then seeing your brothers, who sold you into slavery at the first place?
* MoralityPet: Benjamin for Joseph's brothers. He has no idea what they did to Joseph, and when his life is threatened they beg on his behalf.
* MrsRobinson: Potiphar's wife Zuleika takes a shine to her new slave Joseph and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce him before [[FalseRapeAccusation falsely accusing him of defiling her]]. She's drawn with visible wrinkles to highlight her middle age compared to the younger female characters like her niece Asenath.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** In a somewhat plausible interpolation of events from the original story, Zuleika starts to show some regret for framing Joseph and pleads to her husband to spare his life. Potiphar originally wanted to execute Joseph, as befits a slave raping a highborn woman. It's also hinted that she may have pined away to an early grave from grief and guilt for what she did.
** Potiphar also greatly regrets imprisoning Joseph and apologizes profusely when he's released. It's implied that the main reason he had him imprisoned was that he didn't want to acknowledge that his wife tried to seduce a slave, and regrets not doing the right thing.
** Joseph's brothers only admit this many years later, when Joseph as the vizier threatens to make Benjamin a slave on charges of theft. By the time they realized how much they had broken Jacob and Rachel's hearts, with Rachel dying after having Benjamin, Joseph was lost to them forever, and they didn't dare confess what they had done.
* NeverSayDie: Or "rape," for that matter.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: While Joseph's brothers weren't downright villains, them being pushed over the edge by his dream of them bowing to him while he was on a pedestal is what eventually led to their selling him into slavery. If it hadn't been for that action which several years down the road ended with Joseph being one of Egypt's rulers, they wouldn't have ended up indeed bowing to him when meeting him again as second only to Pharaoh.
* NonVerbalMiscommunication: A subtle example during Zuleika's first scene. Between the way she walks and her facial expression, she's clearly interested in Joseph. However, he either innocently mistakes her favorable words and visual cues as kindness/admiration for his hard work, or simply does not notice the flirting going on--and he smiles back in return. It's possible ([[TruthInTelevision this part isn't as clear]]) that she, in turn, mistook his smile as him returning her advances knowingly/favorably, especially since the way he smiled mirrored her own.
* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: Played with when Joseph is questioning Benjamin about the events surrounding his own disappearance. He knows full well what happened and what the truth behind the questions he's asking are but because his brothers don't recognize him his questions to Benjamin come across as this trope.
* OhNoNotAgain: The brothers have this response when a disguised Joseph demands they produce the "brother" at home or he'll imprison Simeon on charges of false entry into the country. You can tell from the looks on their faces that convincing Jacob to let Benjamin travel to Egypt with a hostile vizier is going to be one heck of a challenge after what happened with Joseph.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Joseph looks to be about 14 (even though he was actually 17) until he starts getting stubble, and Judah and the other older brothers look the same 20-something when they sell Joseph as they do when he's born. Heck, Jacob, who looked to be in old age even when Joseph was born, seemed perfectly healthy by the end of the movie. Note that Joseph is in his thirties by that point.
* ParentalFavoritism: [[BlatantLies Not at all]], not at all...
** What makes it all the worse is that much of it could have been avoided if Rachel and Jacob had taught Joseph just a little humility. At the end of ''Miracle Child'', he's been convinced by his parents that he's perfect and destined to lead a charmed life free of any suffering whatsoever. It doesn't excuse what his brothers did, but still.
*** And even ''worse'': his brothers seem entirely happy to accept him into the family despite that attention given to him as the "miracle child". Just listen to what they sing at the start of the film in comparison to their father: "Our baby brother/ He is one of us, we'll keep him from harm/ And we will teach him all he needs to know/ We'll stand beside him and together/ We will show him what it means to be a family". Which is sweet and brotherly and exactly what you would expect. Then there's Jacob's lines: "He is special/ ''I'' will teach him all he needs to know/ He'll stand apart from other men". Granted, he's ''right'', but note that the eldest brother even goes to hold his newborn brother and gets completely blanked by his father- and for the rest of the growing-up sequence Jacob keeps him away from his other brothers, which means that they never really get to know him and just builds up this resentment between them. Kind of an unintentional jerk, Jacob.
*** Rachel at least seems to be aware of this, as evidenced by her taking Joseph aside to sing ''Bloom'' (using the sunflowers as a metaphor for how every living thing is precious). Unfortunately, it comes too late for him and his brothers to make amends before they sell him into slavery.
** There’s the favoritism Jacob shows towards Benjamin too, being normally unwilling to risk even potential harm coming to Benjamin (though this was more out of fear because of what he thought happened to Joseph, as well as from being the apparent last surviving child of Rachel, his late wife and love of his life).
* PartingWordsRegret: The brothers as adults admit that they regret what they did to Joseph forever, and sold him into slavery, with the last thing being said in his presence was about how much he was worth. For all they know, he is ''dead'' and they feel they don't have the right to mourn him since they essentially took silver coins in exchange for his life.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Defied. Joseph refuses to make Benjamin pay for his brother's crimes by making him a slave. He instead takes the opportunity to call them out for being so heinous.
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: In Joseph's DarkestHour, when it's raining inside his cell and any food he'd hoped to have that night was eaten by rats, he climbs as close to the roof of his cell as he can just to ask God what he did to deserve this.
-->'''Joseph''': "Oh, God, why are you doing this to me? Do you hear me?! Any kindness you take away. You're the one who gave me the dreams. You brought me the gift! Some gift! My dreams are lies. '''''WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!'''''
* RagsToRoyalty: More of a [[GoldMakesEverythingShiny nice coat]] to rags, to better rags, to worse rags than before, to riches and being second only to Pharaoh.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Benjamin is one for Rachel and Jacob, to replace Joseph. Joseph's brothers notably treat Benjamin as a second chance, though for much of the movie they initially deny what they did to Joseph.
* SavageWolves:
** Joseph [[DreamingOfThingsToCome dreams about]] a pack of wolves that attack his father’s flocks and kill the ram; the next day he encounters the wolves in reality.
** Later [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by the other brothers as a cover story for Joseph’s disappearance.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Joseph gives his brothers one at the end, framing Benjamin for a crime and seeing if his brothers will allow him to be taken as a slave. [[spoiler: They will not, and pass the test.]]
* SheWillComeForMe:
** Joseph tells the Ishmaelite slavers who pull him out of the well, “My brothers will come for me!” Subverted, in that when his brothers do show up, it’s not to rescue him, but to collect their earnings from the slavers.
** Recurs later in the film as an IronicEcho: a disguised Joseph, now the vizier of Egypt, imprisons Simeon, who defiantly calls out “my brothers will come for me!” when he spots the vizier and his wife outside his cell. It doesn't help endear Joseph to him and he orders Simeon to not receive any food for a few days.
* ShootTheMessenger: Applies figuratively to Joseph. First, he takes the brunt of his half-brothers resentment, though Jacob is the one who caused the resentment in the first place. Second, he gets sold to slavers for a dream/prophecy he unwillingly received from God.
* SiblingRivalry: Joseph versus all his older brothers, especially Judah. Becomes an example of CainAndAbel once they sell Joseph to slavers (though unlike the TropeNamer, this story ends well).
* SlaveMarket: There's a sequence where Joseph is sold to Potiphar [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBXg16U2-Lg that gets its own song.]] He's mercifully passed over for hard labor by another prospective buyer as he's considered too scrawny, instead becoming a household slave.
* SleepingWithTheBosssWife: Defied, Zuleika tries to seduce Joseph, but he refuses her advances.
* TheSmartGuy: Joseph. He shows a lot of ingenuity throughout the movie, compared to other characters.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: The "dies later than in the source material" variation applies to Rachel. In Literature/TheBible, she [[DeathByChildbirth dies giving birth to Benjamin]] before Joseph is sold into slavery. Here, it happens during Joseph's years in Egypt; he doesn't learn of her death or meet Benjamin until his brothers come to Egypt during the famine.
* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', although it's actually a prequel.
* TakeMeInstead: The ten brothers make this plea when Joseph is going to have Benjamin MadeASlave because none of them want to break Jacob's heart a second time. It's a [[CharacterDevelopment critical moment]] because it shows how they have changed since the time when they sold Joseph.
* TeenGenius: Genius compared to those around him; Joseph irrigates his family's field (a bit of a ChekhovsSkill as he does the same to the lands of Egypt) and makes a scarecrow for Potiphar's vineyard (single-handedly restoring it to fruitfulness).
* TimePassageBeard: Joseph grows one during the time that he spent in prison in Egypt.
* TimeSkip: Sneaks in there a lot; the main part of the film takes place over 20 years with only an off-hand comment from Asenath and one from Simeon to tell of it.
* UndyingLoyalty: Joseph exhibits this when Zuleika tries to seduce him.
** Also, he probably knew that sleeping with his master's wife would get him into ''big'' trouble.
* VillainSong: "The Market" serves as one for Egypt's slave trade overall, rather than a specific individual.
* WaifProphet: Book-learned and unused to the same work as his brothers, Joseph is a fairly [[SquishyWizard squishy]] prophet until he is put to slave work.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Joseph wears his coat over a bare chest for the first part of the film and an [[BuffySpeak Egyptian skirt thingy]] for much of the rest.
** For that matter his brothers only bother wearing shirts for the Egyptian scenes.
* WeAreNotGoingThroughThatAgain: PlayedForDrama. When Joseph as the Vizier threatens to make Benjamin a slave after framing him for theft, the brothers plead for their brother's life and explain that Jacob and Rachel were heartbroken after they faked Joseph's death and that they couldn't make their father relive that.
* WhamLine: Benjamin delivers a rather jarring one when Joseph asks how his (and unbeknownst to him Joseph's) mother and father are doing.
-->'''Joseph:''' So, Benjamin. Tell me about your mother and father.
-->'''Benjamin:''' My mother's no longer alive.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Many years later, Joseph as the Vizier through a SecretTestOfCharacter calls out his brothers for what they did, selling him into slavery all because of his arrogance and leaving him to rot. He only forgives them on seeing how protective they are of Benjamin, and they admit what they did wrong to him.
** Asenath in turn calls out Joseph for being so cruel to his brothers, though she does this before he reveals who they were and what they did to him. He ignores her and continues the test.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark:
** Potiphar could've turned a blind eye and taken the crooked horse merchant's offer that he take a free horse if he spared him. Even Zuleika lampshades this. But in response, Potiphar says "What would that say about my {{honor|BeforeReason}}?"
** Later, Joseph invokes this to test and see if his brothers have changed after all these years. While at first, they lie about what they did to Joseph, they all offer up their lives when Joseph threatens to press Benjamin into slavery, and confess about selling their previous little brother to slavers.
* WomanScorned: Zuleika becomes this after Joseph rejects her advances, falsely claiming he tried to rape her and getting him locked up for it.
* WonderChild: Joseph, born to the [[LawOfInverseFertility previously barren]] Rachel. He’s commonly referred to as a “miracle child” and there’s even a whole musical number oriented around it.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Zuleika claiming that Joseph tried to rape her.
* YankTheDogsChain: Asenath tries to sneak in food to the imprisoned Joseph. Just as she's lowering it through the barred window, a guard sees her and she drops the package. It splatters on the floor... and then rats come to devour it.
* YouNeverDidThatForMe: A disguised Joseph's rage doesn't seem to be completely faked when he tells his brothers that Benjamin is only a half-sibling so they shouldn't offer their lives for him. He asks why they should care if he's beaten or locked up, the way Joseph was in Egypt when his brothers took handfuls of silver for him. The brothers admit they can't make their father suffer losing another child, and that they believe it's too late for them to mourn Joseph since they believe he's dead. Only then does Joseph forgive them, revealing he is very alive.
* YouOweMe: Zuleika says this to Joseph in anger after her attempts to seduce/force her way with him fail.
-->"Everything you are, you owe to ''me''!"