December 21, 2016 -- I did some research on the story of “The Little Prince,” written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in 1942, since I had not read the story prior to seeing the movie. It looks like the story was modified for this movie, but it's essence is preserved.

This film, directed by Mark Osborne (“Kung Fu Panda”) is multi-layered, with a story about the writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a story about the Aviator (also Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) the story of the Little Prince, and a story about a young, modern day girl, who becomes friends with the aviator who wrote the story of the Little Prince. The aviator lives next door to the girl.

The girl has a mother who wants to organize her activities down to the minute in an elaborate “Life Plan.” With the encouragement of the Aviator, she rebels against this strict plan and uses play time to develop her imagination, and to have fun. The Aviator, who is elderly, still has a childlike imagination and sense of fun and adventure. He tells her the story of the Little Prince.

The Little Prince, who visits the Aviator in the Sahara Desert, came to earth from a very small planet, Asteroid 325. On this tiny world, the Little Prince cares for a rose. In order to get back to his beloved rose from the planet earth, however, he must die. This story is told with stop-motion animation, producing images similar to those originally drawn by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for the book. The rest of the story is displayed using more modern computer animation.

Eventually, the girl's mother finds out what her daughter has been up to, and forbids her to see the Aviator. The girl grows angry with her mother, but is also angry with the Aviator when he tells her that he is going to leave. She doesn't realize at first that the Aviator is talking about his own death.

When the Aviator falls ill and is taken to the hospital, the girl understands what is going on and does her best to visit him and make him feel better. This leads to another fanciful adventure where she tries to locate the Little Prince himself. This involves the girl flying an airplane, along with her pet fox, who visit another planet.

The point of this anti-materialistic story is that “One sees clearly only with the heart.” The idea is that adults forget their own childhood, along with the ability to fully enjoy beauty, friendship and love. In this story, the girl and her mother are able to rediscover these things with the aid of the Aviator and his story of the Little Prince.

This is an affecting, heartfelt story, cleverly drawn and organized. This film rates a B.

Update, May 6, 2022 — I finally got a 3D bluray copy of this movie, released under the Italian title Il Piccolo Principe. This copy is a 2016 release. It is region B. and my region-free Sony player would not play it for some reason, so it took some doing before I was able to watch it.

It looks good in 3D, with plenty of depth, and a good sense of space. This particular copy of the movie has an English soundtrack, but it does not have English subtitles, so I had some trouble understanding some of the dialogue. Instead, it has Italian subtitles. It is a welcome addition to my 3D movie collection.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2016 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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