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[watershed]

The Little Prince animated film was recently added to Netflix and being a fan of the novella I was quite interested to watch this adaptation. I'm really curious to read the opinions of others who have watched it as I find myself a bit ambiguous on it. Some parts were well done, the stop motion portions in particular are beautiful and it was damn near heartwarming to see some of the images from the book animated lovingly in the film. The portions taken directly from the book are the best parts of the movie.

But the new story added on the outside to tell The Little Prince story (that's the best way I could put it) is really unoriginal and poorly executed. For most of the film I kept on getting the sense that the director was not quite up to the task of adapting this story. The drama of a little girl having her life controlled by a parent and finding escape in the kooky neighbor felt so cliche and all the story beats in this main narrative were so predictable.

I think the movie took way too long before it fully embraced it's own fantasy and the whole Little Prince is now grown up stuff didn't really work for me. Visually the businessman's sequence was cool but that whole segment felt odd to me. Tonally, I felt like there were 3 movies in one and the blend doesn't quite work. Overall this movie felt like a less than AAA animated film trying to retell the story of The Little Prince in a package more approachable for general audiences.

But I mainly wanted to make this thread to hear other people's opinions of the movie. Is there something about this movie I'm not seeing or appreciating? Did it work for you? If you enjoyed the original book, do you like this adaptation?

 

[AniHawk]

i'm not familiar with the source material but i agree with your conclusion. i think it's made worse that there's this not-very-subtle-at-all message about the importance of holding on to your childhood and not becoming a robotic, dull adult. it skews so far into that territory that it feels like it fully endorses peter pan syndrome. this more comes from the framing of the little prince story than the little prince story itself.

to that end, i thought that the whole airplane sequence was out of place. the story of the little prince told from the old man can be seen as straight fiction. despite the weird style of the world the girl inhabits, i never got the idea that she also lives in a real fantasy world. i had expected her trip to the city to be in her head or a dream, but the movie devotes so much time to it that it seems like it's supposed to be real.

 

[anderyoung]

I came to watch the Little Prince. Instead I got a movie about a millenial french girl. Left dissapointed. Really wish they had more Little prince scenes instead of majority filler.

 

[watershed]

I came to watch the Little Prince. Instead I got a movie about a millenial french girl. Left dissapointed. Really wish they had more Little prince scenes instead of majority filler.

I don't really understand why the filmmakers felt the movie needed this new story to wrap around The Little Prince story. I do appreciate that The Little Prince is an odd fairy tale like story and a straight adaptation might confuse audiences but I'd rather they reworked The Little Prince vignettes to make a more satisfying narrative than plaster on a poorly told story of a little rejecting an overbearing parent.

 

[Futureman]

I was going to watch tonight with my GF but maybe not if it's not so great. I never read the book so I don't have any attachment to the source material.

 

[Xe4]

Hmm.... haven't seen it yet, but that's what I was worried about. Mish mashing styles like that I've never been a fan of, and I've found it can make some pretty stilted movies.

 

[El Odio]

I'll make a more insightful post when I'm not at work but I actually liked both parts of the film. I don't see how you can really knock the framing story for not being subtle about the message when the book itself isn't exactly subtle itself either. Going off the directors comments in the art book they felt that a straight adaption of the book wouldn't make for a good, or long, movie and added the little girl's story around it to better adapt it to the present without directly changing the story itself.

 

[Septimus Prime]

So the stuff about the girl and the old guy is not part of the original story? I never read the book, so I was thinking that might have been the case, but I couldn't be sure.

Overall, I felt the movie was enjoyable but poorly paced, and I agree the "real world" wrapper was also poorly executed. I didn't really see the point for why the little girl had to find the Little Prince for the old man before he died, and I felt the mom was a bit too much of a caricature of the busy business woman. And of course the plot progression was very slow for a long time.

My wife and I thought maybe the Little Prince was an analogue for the old guy's dead son, but that also turned out not to be the case.

 

[watershed]

Well give it a shot and see what you think. I'm not sure it's a bad movie necessarily, just not as good as it could have been with some bad parts.

 

[1upsuper]

The Little Prince is one of my favorite books. I was looking forward to checking this movie out soon, but it looks like now I won't.

 

[Shadow2222]

I loved it. I'm not familiar with the original story but I could obviously tell what was what. Personally, although the last act was slightly jarring, I think the movie overall got its point across well and it was quite emotional at times.

 

[watershed]

So the stuff about the girl and the old guy is not part of the original story? I never read the book, so I was thinking that might have been the case, but I couldn't be sure.

Overall, I felt the movie was enjoyable but poorly paced, and I agree the "real world" wrapper was also poorly executed. I didn't really see the point for why the little girl had to find the Little Prince for the old man before he died, and I felt the mom was a bit too much of a caricature of the busy business woman. And of course the plot progression was very slow for a long time.

My wife and I thought maybe the Little Prince was an analogue for the old guy's dead son, but that also turned out not to be the case.

Yeah I share these same criticisms. The mom in particular was really poorly done to the point where some of her behaviors were so cliche and unbelievable, even for a children's cartoon.

And there was just stuff that felt like it was trying to straddle the line between cartoon logic and real world logic.

But yes, the little girl and old guy is all new for this movie. Not a part of the original story.

 

[Quonny]

Just started watching it and man the mom's voice is just awful. I dunno if she's just bored or what, but her character combined with her voice...woof.

 

[iammeiam]

The wrapper story needed more work; I get what they were going for, but it wasn't terribly well executed. They spent too much time on it when they could have gotten away with fewer beats, and the ending was too nearly wrapped up. CGI was nice.

The actual portrayal of the stuff from the book was pretty solid, though, and I wonder if there's a possibility to build a shorter companion video just based on the book parts. I think that would end up being pretty well regarded.

I did think the studying music montage was pretty well done; it conveyed tone effectively and the song wasn't bad.

 

[Septimus Prime]

So was the aviator and plane in the original book? If so, that was pretty clever how they made him the old man in the real world. I do still think they should have taken it a step further and had the Little Prince actually be someone of significance to him instead of just some story he made up.

 

[Humanic]

They ruined the essence of the book. They turned the metaphor into a literal interpretation.

 

[Ampersands]

Hot mess. When I saw the

Spoiler

old

Little Prince, I rolled my eyes for the rest of the film. He's supposed to have

Spoiler

killed himself knowing he left his rose to die and can never return

, a huge factor in the existential theme of the book. The movie picked up on the wrong theme from the book and ran with it for some reason. And the Little Prince traveling to the planets deserved much longer than a minute's time, not to mention they skipped over the Lantern man and the Drunkard.

I can see why they didn't release it in theaters either. It was incredibly dull with little eyecandy. The animation in the girl's story looked like early Pixar.

 

[watershed]

I think my biggest issue with the main story is that it's such a by the numbers child rejects adulthood story not done particularly well.

And I agree there was more they could have drawn from the book that they didn't.

 

[Remembrance]

So was the aviator and plane in the original book? If so, that was pretty clever how they made him the old man in the real world. I do still think they should have taken it a step further and had the Little Prince actually be someone of significance to him instead of just some story he made up.

The author of the book was a famous aviator. That's the significance.

 

[watershed]

I'm familiar with the themes of the book and movie. Not so mucb rejecting adulthood but more not forgetting the importance of childhood as one enters adulthood. It was poorly done. Heavy handed and predictable and I agree with the other poster that the adult little prince was a mistake. Tonally, that sequence is just off.

 

[Vanillalite]

3½ out of 5

It's good, but disjointed. If the different parts of the movie fit together and the pacing was fixed Id give it a 4+.

There is a really good movie there, but the package doesn't come together perfectly.

 

[Eye for an Eye]

I really enjoyed the beginning and the ending scene, however, I didn't quite understand the flight to find the Little Prince. It had a feeling of a dream like state, but wasn't sure if it was supposed to be part of her reality. The animation was really good. I felt it did it justice in that regards.

I'd really like to read the original story. I love children's literature.

 

[Violet_0]

to that end, i thought that the whole airplane sequence was out of place. the story of the little prince told from the old man can be seen as straight fiction. despite the weird style of the world the girl inhabits, i never got the idea that she also lives in a real fantasy world. i had expected her trip to the city to be in her head or a dream, but the movie devotes so much time to it that it seems like it's supposed to be real.

the plane ends up at the exact same place and condition as when it took off, and iirc she bumps her head or something else happened that suggested it might just be a dream. The scene is meant to be interpreted either way and there is no definite answer

but yeah, the third act was a bit disappointing. I did like the first 2/3 of the movie, though

 

[Gigglepoo]

I basically cried through half of this movie. So even though some parts were less successful (her flight to meet the Prince), I was ultimately emotionally invested and powerfully affected by the story.

I can't believe I had never heard of it before seeing it advertised on Netflix. Just an incredible movie.