The Little Prince Review

The Little Prince is a 2015 French animated drama fantasy film directed by Mark Osborne and with the voice cast consisting of Jeff Bridges and Rachel McAdams. It is a heartwarming, albeit flawed movie.

The movie is based on the 1943 classic book of the same name, but uses it as a subplot rather than the whole story. It follows an extremely smart young girl who befriends an elderly author of the book while her mother disapproves of her friendship. The plot itself is very good, but still disappointing in some areas. First, I will talk about the flaws. What bothered me in particular is the second half of the film. I found it to be incredibly disappointing when compared to the previous amazing half. The action was particularly flawed and I somehow never felt it to be as magical as it should have been when it entered the full fantasy mode. It is also somewhat ambiguous at first and I really found the whole second act to be very lacking when compared to the other two.

But the rest of the movie is gorgeous. I loved the beginning as it wonderfully makes you invested in the story and it gets you know the characters very well. And the plot progression was very slow and moved natural which I loved as it made the friendship between the old man and the girl more impactful and also grounded in reality. The ending is also naturally heartwarming and so beautiful and the whole journey is emotionally satisfying. My favorite scenes are the scene where the girl first goes to the old man’s backyard, the scene where they watch the stars, the ending at the hospital and many sequences with the story which is told wonderfully through stop-motion animation.

The characters are very well developed. The little girl is a great protagonist and, as I said, her behavioral change is achieved realistically and her character is really likable. The aviator is fantastic as this mysterious, childlike old man and you believe that he is the author of the tale. Although their relationship was at times rushed and he was a bit too mysterious, they are still great together and the two share the film’s best and most moving moments. The mother is also fantastic and the conflict between the two is well depicted. And all of the characters from the book itself are well imagined, even if I found the Prince’s character to be somewhat disappointing.

The animation in The Little Prince is mesmerizing and one of the film’s highlights. The CGI is really good and it has some absolutely wonderful imagery with the aviator’s backyard and house being the highlights. But the use of stop-motion in the tale sequences are amazing and undoubtedly achieve the poetic quality of the novella. It looks not only beautiful, but also inventive and so appropriate for this material. And the character design is phenomenal with the stop-motion characters being simply fantastic in their top-notch, detailed depiction.

The acting is terrific with Jeff Bridges and McAdams being the standout actors here. But Mackenzie Foy did a good job as well. Mark Osborne directed the movie wonderfully and the film is quite well paced. But my problem definitely lies in its running time as it is a bit overlong in my opinion and some sequences should have been shorter. The score in The Little Prince is admittedly amazing and it accompanies some incredibly moving scenes. And although it should have been even more emotional and dramatic, I still found it to be a great adaptation of the source material as it wonderfully incorporates the well-known tale into a coherent new story thus making it suitable for today’s audiences. It has excellent attention to detail and I loved the use of the drawings in telling its story. As for the dialogue, it is sometimes taken too directly from the book, but is overall pretty good. The tone is also deft and the message and its themes ring true and are so impactful. The movie did disappoint me as I had such humongous expectations from it, but it is still a very well crafted flick and finally an adaptation of this famous novella done right.

The Little Prince has its flaws including the prolonged running time and the fantasy sequences which are not as great as the rest of the film, but this is still a moving and wonderfully crafted picture done right with amazing mix of CGI and stop-motion animation, great acting, well developed characters and it is a unique adaptation approached with evident care and style.

My Rating – 4