By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

NEW YORK CITY (Dec. 18, 1998) -- There's a lot at stake with today's launch of The Prince of Egypt.

• Will Hollywood's first biblical epic in decades draw filmgoers?

• Will adults buy into an animated film or do they still think cartoons are strictly for the kids?

• Can a new studio -- DreamWorks -- challenge Disney's supremacy in animation?

Katzenberg ran Disney's film division for a decade, overseeing the production of every hit cartoon feature from The Little Mermaid to The Lion King. He was largely responsible for the revival of Disney animation glory.

Katzenberg was like a brother to Disney chief Michael Eisner. Not to put too fine a point on it, he was a Moses to Eisner's Rameses -- but like the step-brothers in The Prince of Egypt, they had a famous falling out in 1994 and Katzenberg was cast into the Hollywood desert.

He soon found his own land of milk and honey, though, when Steven Spielberg and David Geffen asked him to join them in the formation of a new studio called DreamWorks.

Katzenberg enthusiastically embraced the idea of a DreamWorks animation division. He was convinced Disney animation could be challenged -- and he thought he knew how.

"For 70 years, animation has been used almost exclusively for fairy tales," Katzenberg said during a recent round of interviews for the film at a Manhattan hotel.

So why not, he thought, make films that could reach adults as well as children?

"We looked for ideas that Disney was unlikely to pursue. I told Steven I wanted to be able to use animation to tell stories as varied as the two films he'd done back-to-back, Jurassic Park and Schindler's List.

"I said, 'How about an adventure story, a big epic like Lawrence of Arabia?

"And that's when Steven said, 'Good idea. How about The Ten Commandments?"

With new animation talent on board -- some of it raided from Disney -- Katzenberg set off to make DreamWorks' first major cartoon feature.

"I asked our artists not to look at The Ten Commandments, so they wouldn't be either influenced or inhibited by it," he said.

Katzenberg, his directors and writers did a lot of research, bringing in consultants from nearly all the world's major religions.

"Sometimes, the research would affect something as simple as a word or two," remembered Val Kilmer, the voice of Moses.

"At one point, I was supposed to say, 'You can work miracles, if you believe,' but somebody pointed out that only God can work a miracle. So we changed it to 'There can be miracles, if you believe.' "

"A film like this is an amazing group effort," Kilmer said, "And Jeffrey was there for every line."

Throughout the production, the filmmakers never forgot one thing: that while The Prince of Egypt was an animated film, it was not a cartoon.

"Animation is simply a form of filmmaking," said co-director Brenda Chapman. "Animation can do all the things of other films -- action, drama, comedy. It's not just kids, kids, kids."

Chapman said the filmmakers also were determined to be as accurate as possible. "There are only about 150 people in the world who can read hieroglyphics. Nonetheless, we made sure the ones you see in our film are correct."

At one point, those hieroglyphics come to life in an amazing animated dream sequence. "That also was Jeffrey's idea," said co-director Steve Hickner.

"I have the most to prove with this picture," Katzenberg readily admits.

As part of the DreamWorks team, "Steven Spielberg is a capital 'S' and David Geffen is a capital 'G,' but I'm Katzenberg with a small 'k'," he said.

(Indeed, when the company was formed, Katzenberg reportedly was the only principal partner who had to borrow money to make his one-third commitment. The other guys had the cash.)

"To me, more than anything else, I want to make them proud of me with this film."

Val Kilmer said, "Jeffrey won't tell you this, but I will. His partners are pretty hard to impress, but they'll tell you what they told me: The Prince of Egypt is a unique achievement. And Jeffrey did it."

Now we find out if people will buy tickets.