The movie critique portion of this review was written by my colleague Michele Arbir.
The Little Prince is based on the children’s book of the same name by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This beloved tale was published in 1943 and is a best-seller, notable for being one of the most translated books ever published. This animated adaptation is directed by Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), who proves to be essential to bringing this classic children’s book to life. Thankfully for fans of the source material, the feature film is a fun and beautifully animated fantasy adventure family drama.
As a kid, I sometimes couldn’t wait to grow up. Strict parents, then divorced parents, and I just wanted out. Now I’m all grown up and even have grandkids. Time has taught me that it is a precious thing. As a grandparent, I stop to notice the little things. Life isn’t full of studying and schedules when growing up. It’s about stopping to smell the roses before time runs out. This is what The Little Prince is all about. The children’s book is not quite substantial enough for a full feature film, but by using stop motion animation woven into a computer-animated framing narrative, they relate the story of the book with a young girl who has just met the narrative’s now-elderly aviator narrator. He tells her the story of his meeting with the Little Prince in the Sahara desert.
The film’s animation was provided by Mikros Image Studios and they did an awesome job. I collect children’s books mostly for the artwork. Antoine’s book is one I hold dear for that reason. The images of that book truly come alive in the film. The cinematography is beautiful in both styles of animation. The scenes between Little Girl and The Aviator were so true to life – they felt like they were real people. Every moment was genuinely remarkable, I can’t say enough about the imagery.
One interesting thing about the film is we never get the real names of the characters. They are just referred to as The Little Girl, The Aviator, etc. The film stars some of Hollywood’s beautiful voices. Jeff Bridges voices The Aviator and was a perfect casting on that one. Rachel McAdams is The Mother and she just made me want to hate her and her type. The Conceited Man is voiced by Ricky Gervais. Excellent part for him and I hope to hear him in more animation down the road. Paul Rudd, Bud Cort, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, and Paul Giamatti, just to name a few, also voice characters in the film and pull it off just as well.
The Little Prince never loses sight of Saint-Exupéry’s message: “Growing up isn’t the problem, forgetting is.” This film is excellent for the young and old. The film captures what it means to grow up. Also, the importance of staying curious, having fun, and gusto. All that The Little Girl had and it took The Aviator to show her that. Osborne succeeds in making the audience feel like children again or at least remember what it meant to be one. It’s a film for the whole family.
Video Quality
The Little Prince comes to Blu-Ray with a dazzling and vibrant 1080p transfer in 2:39:1. The colors present in this transfer are practically leaping off the screen with the wide range of hues permeating the frame once you get to the magical backyard. This vividness is where the film truly shines. The shades of grey that come with the early portions of the film are likewise incredibly stable and nuanced in its display. Black levels are very strong with no hint of compression artifacts or digital anomalies of the sort. The animation style lends itself to nice textures and details, along with very fluid character movements. There is some very minor banding against some harsher gradients, but overall this is a transfer free of major encode issues. This is a stunning Blu-Ray presentation that should more than please fans of the film.
Audio Quality
This release boasts a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless track that really packs a punch. There is a significant amount of activity in the low-end due to the various kinetic moments inherent to the story. Dialogue comes through clearly without getting overwhelmed by any competing sound effects or score. The music in the film is very effective in stirring up powerful emotions that make the film feel alive. The track engages all of the channels with panning effects and various environmental sounds that really makes you feel like you are in the thick of the narrative. Paramount Home Entertainment has delivered a crackerjack audio presentation that brings this story to life quite nicely.
Special Features
- The Making of The Little Prince: A pleasing 26-minute featurette which explores the impact the story continues to have on people, how the creative team went about adapting the source material, crafting the characters, the music, the stop-motion animation and many more fascinating aspects. This is a pretty meaty piece that should delight fans.
- “Turn Around” – Music Video by Camille: A jaunty little three-minute music video that features some inventive means of artistic expression along with clips from the movie.
Final Thoughts
The Little Prince is a lovely film that resonates deeply due to its roots in humanity and observations on life. This story is brought to stunning life through a mixture of animation styles and an amazing assortment of vocal performers that are beyond reproach. This adaptation is one that remains true to the spirit of the source material while delivering a feature that is fresh and vibrant. Paramount Home Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray with an A+ audio and visual presentation and a couple of engaging special features. This is a film that should prove to be a big hit for audiences of all ages. Recommended
The Little Prince is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Paramount Home Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.