In the ancient land of Canaan, an “infertile” mother gives birth to a son named Joseph. Growing up, Joseph is considered a miracle child. While his half-brothers must work in the fields, Joseph gets a private formal education.

Regardless of his status, though, Joseph wants to be normal and fit in with his half-brothers. However, the other guys mistreat him—likely because they are jealous of him.

One night, Joseph has a dream where there are wolves attacking Canaan. He tells his family what that means. But his half-brothers deem him crazy.

Sometime later, the brothers pull a prank where Joseph falls into a hole. He gets rescued, but not by his siblings. They are two Egyptian men who kidnap him. Even the brothers won’t help him.

Poor Joseph travels days and nights in scolding weather and conditions. At some point, he reaches Egypt against his will. He is then sold for slavery and given a “makeover” for it.

While cleaning the floor, Joseph’s new master, Potiphar, who is in charge of the pharaoh’s servants, comes up to him. He seems a little easy on him.

The scene switches to some women trying to get a cat under control. Joseph meets one named Asenath, who is Potiphar’s niece. They spend some quality time together.

However, not long after, Zuleika, Potiphar’s wife, claims that Joseph harmed her. Joseph tries to convince Potiphar that he did nothing wrong. But Potiphar wants him executed—until Zuleika talks him out of it. So, instead, Joseph gets locked up in the dungeon.

While there, he meets two other prisoners, who share their dreams from last night. Joseph says what they mean, which surprises them.

Shortly after, one of the inmates gets freed, while the other gets executed. Meanwhile, Asenath secretly gives Joseph food.

After failing to climb up a wall, Joseph gets knocked out. Then he wakes up to a dying tree, which he saves, even if it takes several months.

Joseph is released from the dungeon. He goes to the Pharaoh, who shares his dream with him. Joseph reveals what it means.

Impressed, the Pharaoh allows him to become minister and second-in-command. He also has him go by the name, “Zaphnath-Paaneah.”

Over the years, Joseph guides the Egyptians to help them survive. Then he marries Asenath and has two kids with her.

One surprising event that happens is that his half-brothers come to Egypt. People can easily tell that they are not locals.

Still mad about what they did to him, Joseph refuses to help them. Even when they try to tell him that they have no food, he won’t believe them.

What will happen next?

This movie had a pretty interesting premise. I admired how Joseph could interpret dreams and how each one of them came true.

His parents, Jacob and Rachel, were likable. They cared a lot about Joseph and even his half-brothers.

The half-brothers were quite mean for the most part. Do they change and become better? See the film to find out.

I do wish that Joseph had some sisters. Although this is based off a tale from the bible, when females didn’t have rights like they do now, I think some more female representation would have made this film better.

That being said, Joseph did have a nice relationship with Asenath. I appreciate how she would continue to help him while he was in the dungeon. And once Joseph arrived in Egypt, there were more female characters.

I also want to mention the character designs. Joseph looked interesting with his big lips. A lot of male cartoon characters lack visible lips.

Another strength this movie had was that it did not really copy Disney in any way. There were musical numbers, but fewer. The art style also differed a bit. And they used a source that Disney rarely does, which is a biblical story.

Despite the fast pacing, however, I will admit that this film was slow in some areas. Also, Joseph’s half-brothers did not age. From the time Joseph was born to 20 years after being abducted to Egypt, they looked the same.

Yes, it’s a cartoon. And it’s normal for cartoon characters to not age for various reasons. But in this case, it doesn’t really make sense.

I’m assuming Joseph is a teenager during much of the story. Even he looked pretty much the same 20 years later. Oh, well. I guess it’s cartoon logic.

Otherwise, Joseph: King of Dreams was a good movie. It is also kind of short: around an hour and a quarter long.

I give this film 4 out of 5 stars.