Surprisingly,
it took over 70 years for someone to transform Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s
written masterpiece, Le Petit Prince,
into a film. Since its publication in 1943, the novella has been translated
into 230 languages; a worldwide classic, it still sells over two million copies
annually. It’s been adapted into soundtracks, plays and even an opera. But in
2015, Saint-Exupéry’s classic finally graces the silver screen.
Mark
Osborne’s The Little Prince will most
likely not prove to be as timeless as its published predecessor. But the
derivative animated feature pays its due respect to the novella, while also
taking its own modern-day liberties.
I went into the theater wondering how
anyone could do justice to such a perfectly simple story by stretching it over
100-minutes time. I left, perfectly satisfied with Osborne’s rendition.
We
begin in the mundane world of The Little Girl (Mackenzie Foy), whose mother
(Rachel McAdams) pushes her to the brink to succeed. She’ll be turning nine
soon, but she seems more like she’ll be celebrating her 39th birthday. Everything
in her already grown-up life is planned, precise and punctual.
When
they move next door to The Aviator (Jeff Bridges), an old, eccentric,
hodgepodge of a human being, The Little Girl learns to appreciate the gift of
childhood through the stories he shares with her of his time spent with The
Little Prince.
The Aviator’s tales parallel Saint-Exupéry’s
narrative word-for-word, which is fitting since the novella’s narrator is an
aviator, too.
As someone who had already fallen in love
with The Little Prince in print, I was relieved to find Osborne and the
co-writer, Irena Brignull, do not make any changes to the story. Instead, they
add a refreshing twist by making the protagonist, not The Little Prince, but
The Little Girl—a character not found in the original story.
Most of the movie is in 3D animation, but
when we travel to the world of the novella, it makes a magical transition into
stop motion animation. It’s an easy way to differentiate between the
simultaneous storylines, but it’s also a breathtaking portrayal of Saint-Exupéry’s
illustrations.
The characters of the original story look
exactly like those drawn in the book. They come to life in front of your eyes
as you sink into the narrative. Sometimes in the 3D world of The Little Girl, (which
I’ll call the “main story” from hereon), we even get glimpses of the pages from
the story. They’re identical to the 1943 classic.
Osborne did other things to evoke the
feeling that Saint-Exupéry took part in the making of The Little Prince. Just as it is in Le Petit Prince, no one has a given name; the little girl is just
that, The Little Girl.
The themes and symbolism in The Little Prince also mirror those of Le Petit Prince. Saint-Exupéry wrote, “All
grown-ups were once children... but only few of them remember it.” This theme
carries the plot of the main story, as The Little Girl thoroughly enjoys
learning from The Aviator why she shouldn’t be in such a hurry to grow up.
We’re also struck again and again with Saint-Exupéry’s
beautiful line, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is
essential is invisible to the eye.” In stop motion animation, The Little Prince
tells us this, himself. Then, The Aviator tells The Little Girl the same thing
in the main story.
All around her are those telling her she
must do only that which is essential: brushing her teeth, practicing her
arithmetic, going to bed on time. Repeat. But The Aviator enlightens The Little
Girl, as The Little Prince enlightened him all those years ago:
“What is essential is invisible to the
eye.”
While The
Little Prince is certainly aesthetically pleasing with its happy colors, bright-eyed
characters and flawless animation, it’s what you can’t see that makes this
movie so enchanting.
It makes you rethink the world of
adulthood that towers around us. It makes you wish you were a kid again. It
touches your heart. It is in this way that Osborne’s cinematic version of Le Petit Prince truly pays homage to Saint-Exupéry’s
inspirational story.
Director Mark
Osborne
WriteRS Irena Brignull,
Mark Osborne
ProducerS Onyx
Films
Orange Studio
On Entertainment
MAIN
CAST Rachel McAdams
Jeff
Bridges
Marion Cotillard
Paul
Rudd
James
Franco
Running Time 108
minutes
