Joseph: King of Dreams

Joseph: King of Dreams is a 2000 American animated biblical musical drama film and the only direct-to-video release from DreamWorks Animation. The film is an adaptation of the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis in the Bible and serves as a prequel to the 1998 film The Prince of Egypt. Composer Daniel Pelfrey said "the film was designed as a companion piece to Prince of Egypt...Of course, Joseph turned out to be very different than Prince of Egypt, [nevertheless] very challenging and rewarding". It is paired with The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus, and Casper's Haunted Christmas.

Co-director Robert Ramirez has said that whilst the reviews for the film had "generally been very good" there was a period "when the film was not working very well, when the storytelling was heavy-handed" and "klunky".

Plot
Joseph is the youngest and most favored of Jacob's eleven sons, regarded as a "miracle child" because his mother Rachel had been thought barren. Joseph grows conceited under his father's special treatment, and his half-brothers come to resent him. One night Joseph dreams of a pack of wolves attacking the family's flock, and the next day the dream comes true. Another dream follows, in which Joseph sees his brothers bow before him; on telling them this, they hatch a plan to get rid of him, led by Judah. They sell him to a slave trader and take his torn coat back to Jacob, telling him that Joseph was killed by wolves.

In Egypt, Joseph is bought by Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh's guards, and gradually becomes his most trusted attendant, as well as befriending his niece Asenath. However, when Potiphar's amorous wife, spurned by Joseph, lies that he had been the one making advances on her, Potiphar has him thrown in jail. Finding himself imprisoned alongside the royal butler and baker, Joseph interprets their dreams, which reveal that one will return to his position at the palace while the other will be put to death. Sure enough, the butler is released and the baker is executed. Meanwhile, Asenath supplies food to Joseph regularly.

While Joseph languishes in jail, Pharaoh comes to be troubled by nightmares which none of his advisors can interpret. Remembering Joseph, Pharaoh's butler advises him to send Potiphar to retrieve him, which he does. Joseph interprets the dreams as warnings of a long famine to come, and suggests that a fifth of each year's harvest be kept back for rationing. Impressed, Pharaoh makes Joseph his minister, under the name "Zaphnath-Paaneah". In the following years, Joseph's guidance not only saves the Egyptians from starvation but allows them to sell excess grain to their neighbors. Joseph marries Asenath and has two children with her.

Eventually the sons of Jacob arrive in Egypt to buy grain. They do not recognize Joseph, who refuses to sell to them and accuses them of spying, imprisoning Simeon until they can prove that they have another brother to support. They reappear with a young man named Benjamin, revealed to be Joseph's almost identical younger brother, born during his absence. Simeon is released and Joseph invites the brothers to a feast.

After the feast, Joseph has his golden chalice concealed in Benjamin's bag while no one is looking; and upon its discovery, orders that Benjamin be enslaved to see how the others will react. He is astonished when they offer themselves in Benjamin's place. Grief-stricken and ashamed, Judah confesses to having sold Benjamin's brother into slavery, a crime which has haunted him and his brothers ever since. Touched by their changed hearts, Joseph identifies himself to them. They reconcile, and Joseph invites them to live with their families in Egypt. Shortly after he is happily reunited with his father, and meets his brothers' wives and children.

Cast

 * Ben Affleck as Joseph speaking voice
 * David Campbell as Joseph singing voice
 * Mark Hamill as Judah
 * Richard Herd as Jacob speaking voice
 * Russell Buchanan as Jacob singing voice
 * Maureen McGovern as Rachel
 * Jodi Benson as Asenath
 * Judith Light as Zuleika
 * James Eckhouse as Potiphar
 * Richard McGonagle as Rameses I
 * Dan Castellaneta as Auctioneer, Horse Trader
 * René Auberjonois as Butler
 * Ken Hudson Campbell as Baker
 * Steven Weber as Simeon, Slave Trader
 * Jess Harnell as Issachar/Lead Trader
 * Piera Coppola as Zuleika's servant, Additional Voices
 * Emily Eby as Servant
 * Matt Levin as Benjamin

Additional Voices

 * Royce Applegate
 * Roger Brown
 * Debi Derryberry
 * Murphy Dunne
 * Jessica Gee
 * Nicholas Guest
 * Wendy Hoffman
 * Luisa Leschin
 * Randall Montgomery
 * Jonathan Nichols
 * Bibi Osterwald
 * Kevin M. Richardson
 * Michelle Ruff
 * Doug Stone

Conception and The Prince of Egypt
Crosswalk.com explained:


 * "Development for Joseph started while Prince of Egypt was being made, so the same crew worked on both films, and the wide group of ministers who were asked to be consultants on Prince of Egypt also looked at Joseph. Work on the animated movie was based in Los Angeles and Canada, and nearly 500 artists contributed to the project."

Executive Producer Penny Finkelman Cox and DreamWorks worker Kelly Sooter noted the challenge in telling a Bible story faithfully yet still making it interesting and marketable: "we had to take powerful themes and tell them in a way thats compelling and accessible for all ages". They also noted that though it was destined to be a direct-to-video project from the beginning, "the quality of the animation does not suffer...Our approach to the movie was to develop it with the same quality and storytelling that we did with Prince of Egypt", and added that "one of the most challenging parts of the movie was creating Josephs dream sequences, which look like a Van Gogh painting in motion". Sooter also explained "Its a very interactive story...It really is beneficial to be able to sit with a family and talk through some of the things that are happening." Nassos Vakalis, who helped storyboard and animate the film, said "I had to travel a lot to Canada to see work done in a few studios that were subcontracting part of the movie". Composer Daniel Pelfrey explained "I must say the writers and directors did a great job staying true to the story and bringing it into a presentation for a contemporary audience."

Early work
Ramirez explained the early stages of the film's production:


 * December of 1997 was a great time on the production. While the script was being fleshed out, Paul Duncan (the head background painter) and Brian Andrews (story artist) were creating some phenomenal conceptual artwork. Francisco Avalos and Nasos Vakalis were doing storyboards based on a rough story outline. Weeks later we started assembling a very talented story crew that included artists that had both television and feature experience. We had a script that was well-structured and followed the Bible story fairly accurately. Once the First Act was storyboarded, we filmed the panels, recorded a temp vocal track with music, and edited it all together to create the storyreel. We were excited and ready for our First Act screening for Jeffrey Katzenberg, which was set for an early weekend morning in the New Year of 1998.

Screening and production troubles
Ramirez explained how things turned awry at the film screening:


 * When the lights came on in the screening room, the silence was deafening. All the execs put down their yellow legal notepads and headed down the hall to the conference room (which for me felt miles away). When we all sat down, Jeffrey looked up and said three words: "Nothing made sense." He was right. Nothing made sense. We followed the Bible story tightly. The script had structure. We storyboarded it word for word, yet it fell flat on its face. It all suddenly felt like a horrible, horrible disaster, and the worst part of it all was that I didn't know how to fix it. I was deeply confused, and our aggressive production schedule didn't allow for the story re-working that usually takes place on a theatrical feature. Share Stallings, one of our creative executives on the project, was very supportive and offered encouragement to the crew. She assured me that at least two sequences could be saved by clarifying some visuals and re-writing some dialogue. I couldn't see it at the time, although she turned out to be right. The only thing I could think about was that "nothing made sense."

A new vision
Ramirez explained the shift from disjointed set pieces to a character-driven story:


 * The following Monday morning I was going over the notes compiled after the First Act screening, when I heard a group gathering outside my door. It was the story crew. They were dying to know how the screening went [...] I had to tell them the truth. "What do you mean, it bombed?" asked a board artist who two weeks prior to the screening had pitched a successful sequence. "The sequences are based on good ideas...good concepts, but when we cut them together they don't connect," I responded. "Something's missing." After having some intensive story meetings with Steven Hickner and Penny Finkleman-Cox (Executive Producers), I knew we had to throw away 90% of what we had. They both brought great knowledge and experience, and proved to be the driving forces behind the project. They directed our attention toward focusing more on the characters and their relationships to each other, instead of always thinking in terms of plot and structure [...] The lead editors on Joseph -- Mike Andrews and Greg Snyder -- often had only a few days to cut music and edit many sequences that were constantly being rewritten even as they dropped in the last few sound effects for the next day's screening.

Cracking the story
Ramirez explained they cracked the story by returning to the basics of storytelling.


 * When we started analyzing the characters in Joseph, we began to work from the inside out as opposed to just putting together a story. Once we delved into the minds of these characters and dissected their personalities, we started making some important breakthroughs. What does Joseph want? To be a part of his brothers' lives and reunite with his family. What does Judah, Joseph's older brother, want? He wants the love and positive attention that his father Jacob reserves only for Joseph. What does Jacob want? Jacob wants to show the world how much he loves his favorite son, Joseph. Why does Jacob love Joseph so much more than his other sons? Because Joseph is the spitting image of his favorite wife. He's the first-born son of the woman he waited for all his life to marry. Once we discovered the "wants" of the main characters, it was simple to figure out what actions they would take to satisfy them. Another important discovery was finding the voice of each individual. Once we had a deeper understanding of our characters and what made them tick, the scenes had a new spark of life that had been missing all along. The characters were now driving the scenes, instead of vice versa. In time, ideas that were born out of character helped blend sequences so that they flowed into each other instead of feeling disconnected.

Casting and approach to characters
Mark Hamill, who was cast as Judah, Joseph's eldest brother, explained that the choices he made regarding his character:


 * Judah starts out at a high station in his family structure, and that's all disrupted by this little child who claims to have visions of the future, he says. Eventually, it causes Judah to lead all the brothers against Joseph. I don't think of him as a villain. In many ways, he's like all people, wondering, "How will this affect my own life?" He's self-centered and has to re-evaluate all his preconceived notions.

Ramirez explained one of the main themes in the film by analyzing how Joseph reacts upon seeing his brothers for the first time after they sold him into slavery:


 * "These 'strangers' turned out to be his brothers. Now it was Joseph's turn. Would he follow his initial gut instinct and enslave them? Abuse them? Kill them? Or would he rise above hatred and forgive them? In a nutshell, that's what the crux of the story is about: forgiveness

Jodie Benson (Asenath, Joseph's wife) was thrilled to work on the film, after seeing how well the team led by Jeffrey Katzenberg handled the story of Moses in The Prince of Egypt. Thus she also had a lot of faith in the production. Benson didn't audition for the part, and was instead offered it. Unlike some of the other characters, she provides both the speaking and singing voices of Asenath. It took twelve days to record her lines, and the only other voice actor she worked with was the singing voice for Joseph, David Campbell. Benson explained her character is the "voice of reason and the voice of trying to do the right thing to reconcile [Joseph] with his brothers". Her character was given a much larger role than what is presented in the Bible; Benson thought developing Asenath further was a good move.

Score
All songs were produced and arranged by Danny Pelfrey, and he also composed the score. Hans Zimmer, the composer for The Prince of Egypt, had approved of Pelfrey taking over his role after the latter, a relative unknown at the time, did a couple of interviews at DreamWorks. Pelfrey explained "Through the process [Zimmer] gave me input as to what they like to hear, mostly through the arranging and production of the songs. After that he got too busy but he gave me the foundation and communication skills I needed to successfully complete the project". After receiving the job, Pelfrey read as many different translations of the original Bible text as he could, to find story nuances that he could incorporate. In regard to his collaboration with DreamWorks, he said "Before starting the input was pretty sketchy, but it was an ongoing process with lots of dialog with writers, producers and directors along the way. Jeffery Katzenberg always ultimately approved everything. He was directly involved with the entire process." He also explained "I had never done a musical before...[and Zimmer] helped me incorporate the sounds from Prince of Egypt as well as guided me in the song production".

Pelfrey used choral choirs sparingly in his score, with notable examples being "a small female group in the beginning for what I was calling God’s theme, and in the big scene at the end, which was the reunion of Joseph, his brothers and Jacob, his father". This was because the effect reminded him of angels, adding "I also I think it was more appropriate to the sonic tapestry and created a more uplifting feeling". He described his musical style in the film as "World/Orchestral", noting that the instruments used were more regional than specifically Egyptian, incprporating: "Duduk, Ney, Rebaba, Ban-Di, Bansuri, Moroccan Flute, Zampona, and a great variety of percussion including Djmbe, Darabuk, Dholak, Udu, etc etc". In regard to using instrumentation from an inaccurate historical context, he said "I always thought...that the exact historical and geographical use of the instruments is not as important as the evocative or dramatic effect...So, I didn’t really concern myself too much with 'right place, right time'. A temp-track was made for the score, though Dreamworks "were not too attached to it"; some parts were tracked with "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" by Vaughan Williams.

Pelfrey said "Since I had never done a musical before, it was interesting to note the difference between producing these songs as opposed to doing a record. In a musical, the songs advance the story and I had to help that process, as well as make the songs belong to the fabric of the film and the palette of the score. Although this was animation, it certainly did not call for a cartoon approach, due to the depth of the story. The film needed more of a live-action treatment to the score. "Joseph: King of Dreams also allowed me to work with the best producers in the business and helped make this a very successful experience both personally and professionally." He explained "[Lucas Richman] is the reason the Symphonic Suite from Joseph was created. He contacted me about wanting to present it in a concert he was doing in Knoxville where he is the conductor and music director, so I created the suite especially for them. He has created a vibrant and thriving orchestra there and they were all very welcoming to me." It was performed in LA by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in August 2010.

Songs
Music and lyrics to all seven of the songs were written by John Bucchino. A soundtrack was not released with the film.
 * 1) "Miracle Child" (Maureen McGovern, Russell Buchanan, David Campbell)
 * 2) "Bloom" (Maureen McGovern)
 * 3) "Marketplace" (Ensemble Cast)
 * 4) "Whatever Road's at Your Feet" (David Campbell)
 * 5) "Better Than I" (David Campbell)
 * 6) "More than You Take" (David Campbell & Jodi Benson)
 * 7) "Bloom" (Reprise) (Jodi Benson)

Release
As the only DreamWorks Animation direct-to-video film, Joseph: King of Dreams was released by DreamWorks Home Entertainment on DVD and VHS on November 7, 2000. Special features included "Sing-a-long songs, storybook read-a-long programming, an interactive trivia game, and printable activity and coloring sheets". The film was released by DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment on Blu-ray on May 13, 2014, as part of a triple film set, along with DreamWorks Animation's The Road to El Dorado and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. The film was re-released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on DVD on February 1, 2018 without the DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment label and on June 5, 2018 under the DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment label.

The direct-to-video film was "made available to Christian retailers, but mainly will be sold in traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target and video stores". The sale success of Joseph was to some degree influence whether more animated Bible stories would be released by DreamWorks. As of 2018, Prince and Joseph have been the only two.

Book tie-ins
Nashville publisher Tommy Nelson, the kids division of the Christian publishing company Thomas Nelson Inc., partnered DreamWorks to publish four companion book titles based on the film, and has exclusive publishing rights to Joseph ("a read-along tape, a sticker storybook, a 48-page hardcover storybook with illustrations from the film, and a smaller hardcover storybook which retells the story of Joseph"). One of them, My Sticker Storybook: Joseph and his Brothers (published 1 Nov 2000) was a sticker storybook that followed the plot Joseph, and was written by Dandi Daley Mackall. The 48-page storybook (published 1 Nov 2000, and sometimes subtitled "Classic Edition") featured images from the film, a retelling by Mackall, and was a "stand-alone book, as well as a splendid companion to the video", also written by Mackall. Joseph, King of Dreams: read-along (8 Mar 2001) was a full-color storybook and accompanying cassette which "capture[d] all the emotional and dramatic high points". Written by Catherine McCafferty, it included the song "Better Than I" and dialogue from the film. A fourth book was published as well.

Critical reception
The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. While praising the film's merits including animation, storytelling, and music, much of the criticism came with comparing it negatively to its theatrically released predecessor The Prince of Egypt. The song You Know Better Than I was singled out for praise by numerous critics, as were the van Gogh-inspired dream sequences. Many noted that the animated hieroglyph effects were similar to those from Prince, and suggested that the film stuck closer to the Bible source material than Prince too.

Awards and nominations
Coming soon!

Differences from the Bible
The film designates that Judah is the eldest brother of Jacob's sons. In the story of Joseph in the Bible, Judah is actually the 4th son of Jacob and Leah, after Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. This is mentioned in the Book of Genesis at 49:1-27 which mentions each of Jacob's twelve sons, by order of birth. The film also shows Rachel being alive when Joseph is a young man and Benjamin appearing the second time the brothers come to Egypt. In the Bible (Genesis 35:18-29), Rachel died after giving birth to Benjamin, who was a baby when Joseph's brothers sold him to the merchants.