Joseph: King of Dreams

Joseph: King of Dreams is a DreamWorks Animation movie and a prequel to The Prince of Egypt. It is based on the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. It stars Ben Affleck as Joseph and Mark Hamill as Judah (Biblical personage).

Plot

Jacob is an old man by the time his favorite wife Rachel, who, he was once told, could never have children, gives birth to a baby named Joseph. Jacob sees Joseph is a miracle and says that he must have a great destiny because he is a miracle child. Years later, Jacob gives him a colorful coat to prove Joseph is his favorite son. Joseph’s half-brothers get jealous of him especially after Joseph starts to have dreams in which he rises over them. After Joseph starts to tell their father Jacob bad reports about them, they get very angry. When Reuben tries to make peace with Joseph because they are brothers Joseph tells him that he’s not his brother but his half-brother. Joseph’s half-brothers under the leadership of Judah then kidnap him and sell him into slavery. Joseph is taken to Egypt and has to serve an Egyptian captain named Potiphar, who is obsessed with honor. Joseph becomes well-treated by Potiphar and meets a woman named Asenath with whom he falls in love. Potiphar’s wife decides she wants Joseph but he turns her down because she is already married. When she frames Joseph for rape, Potiphar realizes that she is lying but refused to admit it because of what believing a slave over his wife would say about his honor and Joseph is sent to jail. He explains the dreams of other prisoners. When Pharaoh cannot find anyone else to explain his dreams, he asks Joseph who predicts seven years of having grown plenty of grain and seven years of famine. Joseph is put in charge of collecting the extra food during the years of plenty so that Egypt can survive the famine. Joseph married Asenath. When Judah and his brothers go to Egypt looking for food, Joseph at first wants revenge, but Asenath suggests him to forgive them. Joseph comes up with a test to find out if they deserve his forgiveness. They summon Benjamin, Rachel’s only other son, who became Jacob’s favorite after he was told that Joseph died, to Egypt and framed him for theft, threatening to enslave him as punishment. When the brothers, under the leadership of Judah all offer themselves in Benjamin’s place, Joseph asks why they would give up everything for “a spoiled half-brother”, Judah, who does not recognize Joseph, tells him the truth about how he and his brothers sold Joseph into slavery out of jealousy and how they want more than anything else. Joseph reveals that he is actually himself. He forgives them because God brought him to Egypt to save lives.

Songs

• Miracle Child
• Bloom
• You Know Better Than I

Differences with the Bible

The movie never mentioned in the Bible that Jacob’s oldest son is Reuben. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin in the Bible, while the brothers sold Joseph to the slave traders.

Reception

The movie was compared unfavorably to The Prince of Egypt. Though there were some critics who said that Joseph was better in relation to spirituality when one compared the song You Know Better than I and When You Believe.