Patrick Stewart Had A Role In One Of The Best Animated Movies Of The ’90s

It feels impossible to do justice to the late Sir Patrick Stewart with mere words, but we can attempt it. One part of his incredible legacy is voice acting; how could he not try his hand there when he had such a magnificent voice? Stewart’s defining voice role is probably the eccentric CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock on “American Dad.” Casting him against type there is the whole joke. Patrick Stewart, famous for playing dignified, fatherly authority figures like Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Professor Charles Xavier, is the one saying all of Bullock’s ridiculous, profane, and unhinged lines, which become even funnier read in his baritone voice.

The folks behind the biblical epic “The Prince of Egypt” also knew the weight Stewart’s voice carried. At Steven Spielberg’s suggestion, DreamWorks Animation adapted the first stretch of the Book of Exodus, or how the prophet Moses (Val Kilmer) — raised as an Egyptian prince — discovered his true heritage and led his people out of bondage. Patrick Stewart plays Pharaoh Seti, adoptive father of Moses and the man who ordered the massacre of Hebrew babies that made Moses’ mother send him away. Stewart/Seti has only a few scant scenes in the movie’s first act, but he casts a shadow as wide as any pyramid over the rest of the film.

As with later DreamWorks pictures, “The Prince of Egypt” employs celebrity voice casting: Kilmer as Moses, Ralph Fiennes as Moses’ brother/Seti’s son Pharaoh Rameses, etc. But here, it mostly works — mostly. Jeff Goldblum as Moses’ brother Aaron is a distracting bit of casting where you hear the actor first, not the character. “Prince of Egypt” doesn’t disguise Stewart’s voice either (you probably couldn’t with a voice of such power), but it complements his character to a chilling effect.

In “The Prince of Egypt,” Seti first appears admonishing his two sons for being reckless in a chariot race. He’s especially harsh on his heir, Rameses, explaining that “one weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty.” When Moses asks his father to go easier on Rameses, Seti offers understanding (and pure dramatic irony): “Moses, you will never have to carry a burden like the crown I will pass to Rameses.”

Pretty typical Patrick Stewart, right? Seti is stern but reasonable, some of the same qualities that made Captain Picard such a respected leader. His respect-commanding voice is even more effective as a disappointed father, too; would you want to hear “I’m disappointed in you” from that voice?

But then Moses learns the truth about where he came from, and how. Seeing his son in despair, Seti is gentle but also doesn’t deny he had a generation of Hebrew babies murdered as population control. The animation and Stewart’s performance work in perfect sync. In Seti’s whispered tone, he sounds genuinely pained. Even if his claim “sometimes, for the greater good, sacrifices must be made,” rings hollow here, Seti’s thousand yard stare tells us that maybe he does feel the weight of what he did and realizes he’s damned for it. 

But then the kicker comes: He tries to “comfort” Moses that the babies cast into the Nile “were only slaves.” The dissonance of Seti loving his own family and also being a genocidal enslaver is potent, but sadly believable. Fittingly, this is also the last time we see him in the film, because the bond he shared with Moses has been severed.

“The Prince of Egypt” is one of the most gorgeously animated films ever made, and it’s not only the animation that’s beautifully crafted. The storytelling is sharp and mature. It sits at the very fine line of being simple enough for kids and complex enough for adults; Moses and Rameses being turned from beloved brothers to enemies by forces much bigger than themselves is painful to watch. 

Right off, “The Prince of Egypt” is an unconventional title for the Exodus story; after all, the whole story is about Moses rejecting that life for his people by birth. (Compare it to the 1956 biblical epic titled “The Ten Commandments.”) But the movie paints Moses’ deliverance of his people as bittersweet, since it cost him the brother he loved.

Though not nearly as controversial as Nikos Kazantzakis’s book (and later Martin Scorsese’s film) “The Last Temptation of Christ,” “The Prince of Egypt” similarly invents human drama from scripture. “Last Temptation” works from the tenet that Jesus was both fully divine but also fully human. So, then, wouldn’t he be afflicted by man’s foibles and doubts? The Book of Exodus holds that Moses was raised as an Egyptian in the Pharaoh’s own family. Wouldn’t Moses, then, feel pained about having to turn his back on the home where he was raised, even if he recognized the necessity of God’s plan for him? 

Part of the tragedy is that this only flows one way. After Moses learns the truth, he can’t look at the enslaved Hebrew workers without thinking their birthright is also his. Conversely, neither Seti nor Rameses clock that the son/brother they love would’ve been just another of those slaves. It’s an excellent use of Patrick Stewart, twisting our relationship to his fatherly presence and providing an undercurrent of darkness to it.