First off, if this film looks familiar to you, it's probably because some of its stop-motion team did the video for "The Rifle's Spiral". That was the first thing I noticed when I saw the cover and the credits revealed that there was indeed an overlap.
That being said, this movie is odd. I think any viewer ought to know beforehand that this is an adaptation about the book, not wholly of it. The real story is about a girl whose life is changed by meeting the book's Aviator narrator and hearing his story, and The Little Prince itself is told mostly in bites of fascinating narrated stop-motion that I really wanted more of. The rest of the film is about how the girl learns from the story, and it's both good and clever and maybe a bit destructive. The fact that the film ends up teaching the book in a way eliminates the experience of thinking about the story, and there is further exploration into the story's world that may feel harmful to the ending tone of the book. All the same, it's often clever how the girl's world is inserted into the Prince's setting, and her own story is a compelling modern satire on the book's themes of petty adulthood. She lives with a mother who keeps an extremely regimented life and has planned out her daughter's with an insane schedule, which the Aviator challenges with whimsy and emotion and his book, all while she has to learn about death through the book's story. And while not subtle in its connection, the blending of her world and the Prince's was the most exciting and funny part of the movie.
The storybook animation, again, was fun and mixed the drawn style of the book with a 3D equivalent in stop-motion and paper effects. The potential of this animation didn't feel met due to its limited use, but the real-world CGI was competent and the direction and shots are overall nice. I definitely would have preferred a full adaptation of the book, but this one was still nice and not a waste of time.
An unusual semi-adaptation.
First off, if this film looks familiar to you, it's probably because some of its stop-motion team did the video for "The Rifle's Spiral". That was the first thing I noticed when I saw the cover and the credits revealed that there was indeed an overlap.
That being said, this movie is odd. I think any viewer ought to know beforehand that this is an adaptation about the book, not wholly of it. The real story is about a girl whose life is changed by meeting the book's Aviator narrator and hearing his story, and The Little Prince itself is told mostly in bites of fascinating narrated stop-motion that I really wanted more of. The rest of the film is about how the girl learns from the story, and it's both good and clever and maybe a bit destructive. The fact that the film ends up teaching the book in a way eliminates the experience of thinking about the story, and there is further exploration into the story's world that may feel harmful to the ending tone of the book. All the same, it's often clever how the girl's world is inserted into the Prince's setting, and her own story is a compelling modern satire on the book's themes of petty adulthood. She lives with a mother who keeps an extremely regimented life and has planned out her daughter's with an insane schedule, which the Aviator challenges with whimsy and emotion and his book, all while she has to learn about death through the book's story. And while not subtle in its connection, the blending of her world and the Prince's was the most exciting and funny part of the movie.
The storybook animation, again, was fun and mixed the drawn style of the book with a 3D equivalent in stop-motion and paper effects. The potential of this animation didn't feel met due to its limited use, but the real-world CGI was competent and the direction and shots are overall nice. I definitely would have preferred a full adaptation of the book, but this one was still nice and not a waste of time.