As a general rule, I try to stay away from retellings of Biblical stories aimed at children. It's always quite difficult to teach a child something as highly interpretational and complicated as the bible without planting your own opinions and biases into their head. Presenting an accurate Biblical story in all its dense, confusing, and scary details while still keeping it kid-friendly and G-rated is a very difficult balance to maintain. But sometimes we get it right, as is the case with Dreamworks' "The Prince of Egypt." This movie has always held a special significance for me. As a Jewish kid growing up in a predominantly Christian country, where every December served as a 25-day, Santa-infused reminder that I wasn't a part of the biggest cultural and religious phenomenon in my country, I always appreciated recognition of Jewish culture in mainstream society. A few weeks ago, I decided to rewatch this old favorite of mine, and I must say I appreciate it even more now as an adult. So here are the four reasons why you should rewatch "The Prince of Egypt" as an adult.

1. The Music

Not only are all the songs in this movie severely catchy and fun songs for a kids' movie, but they are also complex and brilliant stand-alone songs outside the backdrop of the movie. For weeks after seeing this movie again, I had All I Ever Wanted, Playing With The Big Boys, and Through Heaven's Eyes chasing each other around and around inside my head through all times of the day. In addition to the immense "catchy-ness" factor of the music, this soundtrack also deserves special recognition for retaining elements of traditional Jewish songs and prayers in the songs. Yes, I said prayers. I actually recognize some of the Hebrew in some of the songs from prayers I myself have sung in Temple.

2. YAY for Strong Female Characters!

You can't have a proper movie about the Jewish people without including strong female characters. Trust me. And this movie is full of them. First we have Moses' mother, Yocheved, who had to make the incredibly difficult and painful decision to give moses away for his own safety. Then we have Miriam, who risks her life by approaching a prince of Egypt and telling him that he is her brother. That's just not the kind of thing you do as a slave and especially as a female slave in ancient Egypt. Moses could have had her executed and no one would have batted an eye. Then Tzipporah comes into the picture as the defiant nomad woman who refuses to be given away as an object and throws all kind of Jewish shade at Moses in front of a huge crowd. I also would like to include the Pharaoh's wife, who picked Moses out of the river and raised him as her own son. Throughout the movie, she is always present as a source of compassion and forgiveness for Moses, and she even exerts her influence on the pharaoh in some decisions concerning Moses and her biological son, Ramses II.

3. These Guys

As a kid, I always loved Hotep and Huy, the pharaoh's two advisors, who perform magic, offer comedic relief, and sing the most badass song in this movie. When I saw this movie again as an adult and discovered that they were played by none other than Steve Martin and Martin Short, my love for them tripled. I know that technically they are bad guys, but I can't help but love them and sing along to all their songs.

4. The Honesty

When I rewatched this movie, the thing I appreciated most was how the writers went to great lengths not to sugarcoat the extremely appalling parts of this story. Yes, Disney made this movie kid-friendly, but they did so without censoring themselves. Some of the most important parts of this story are found in these disturbing parts. I really appreciated how Dreamworks made sure not to dismiss the slavery of the Jewish people or the fact that Pharaoh ordered the death of so many Jewish babies for the sake of being politically correct. And even though Moses is viewed as one of the greatest protagonists of any story ever written, we see in this movie that he is actually far from perfect. Many people forget that Moses actually killed a man. This movie does an incredible job of illustrating the point that is so often lost in kids' movies: things are hardly ever black and white. We see our protagonist do some horrible things, and we are made to sympathize with the pharaoh we all grew up hating when he loses his first-born son to the last plague. This movie reminds us that there are two sides to every story and encourages us to think critically about what we see and hear so that we can interpret it for ourselves.