Review of The Little Prince (2015) by Healingtoolbox1 — 07 Aug 2016

Pretty amazing. I reserve "10" for movies that are both competent on multiple levels AND contain acknowledgement of the spiritual, aspirational part of human beings. This film meets my criteria for a 10.

I do agree with the review saying the film is more a tribute to the book and to those who have loved the book, than a movie OF the book. I also agree if Pixar had made it, it could have been more and unnecessarily sachcarin.

What viewers and critics do well to remember is, how would you fill 90 minutes with a story as slight and familiar as Little Prince? Another property presenting a thankless writerly task.

The solution here is to gradually seque into a complete fantasy of the litle girl meeting the grown up Little Prince. This fills the time, allows for action in the third act and--very unusually for ANY script in the last ten years I'm ware of--creates space for moment of authentic poignancy, longing, loss and wonder. That the third act is going to sacrifice logical consistency for stronger feelings than most plot-driven third acts allow, is foreshadowed and I think a risk taken boldly and done as well as can be imagined.

I thought the character animation in the hospital visit scene went beyond Pixar. Kudos to all. Voices are indeed wonderful; Ricky Gervais and Jeff Bridges stand out to me.