Der Kleine Prinz (The Little Prince)
France 2015

Opening 10 Dec 2015

Directed by: Mark Osborne
Writing credits: Irena Brignull, Bob Persichetti, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Principal actors: Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Marion Cotillard, James Franco

Bringing the beloved 1942 novel into the present day, The Little Prince weaves elements of the novel into an original narrative about The Little Girl, an over-scheduled child whose businesswoman mother is determined to get her daughter into a prestigious academy in order to secure her future. Every day of The Little Girl's summer is scheduled to the minute, but when a paper airplane lands on her desk, she meets her new neighbor, The Aviator, who introduces her to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of The Little Prince.

This first-ever animated feature film adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's iconic masterpiece is directed by Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda) and features the voice talents of top actors including Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd and Ricky Gervais. The film team uses two different forms of animation to differentiate between the modern-day story (21st century computer-generated animation) and the original story of The Little Prince (gorgeous 2D stop-motion animation, evoking the original watercolor illustrations in the book). Overall, the visuals in The Little Prince are stunning, but while the story does evoke a fairly strong emotional response, the mix of the two stories gets messy at times, especially in the final act. Still though, give the film team credit for a bold attempt at modernizing The Little Prince and introducing it to a new generation of children. (Kirsten Greco)