The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s celebrated masterpiece The Little Prince is at long last brought to life in this dazzling animated adaptation directed by Mark Osborne.

Originally daunted by the prospect of adapting such an iconic work, fearing it might be hurt in the process, Osborne has built a bigger story around Saint-Exupéry’s book, which retains the original tale as the heart of the film, protected and complemented by a new narrative.

The Little Prince follows the story of The Little Girl (Mackenzie Foy), who moves to a new neighbourhood with her mother (Rachel McAdams) to find that the next-door neighbour is an eccentric old man, The Aviator (Jeff Bridges), with an ancient aeroplane in his back garden. They soon become close friends and he shares the story of The Little Prince with her; with his wisdom and youthful outlook, he opens The Little Girl’s eyes to the wonders of childhood.

Osborne takes full advantage of the freedom afforded by animation, and a prodigious combination of media makes his The Little Prince a marvel of a film. In order to differentiate between the two stories, computer-generated animation is used to depict the present, while The Little Prince’s story is told through exquisite stop-motion animation, created entirely out of paper; it’s Osborne’s tribute, linking the central story to the pages of Saint-Exupéry’s book.

While many of today’s children’s film are dumbed down or over-simplified, The Little Prince does not shy away from some of the more serious aspects of Saint-Exupéry’s novella, but makes them more accessible for a young audience by creating links between the two storylines in the film, and so imbuing the movie with a beautiful sincerity.

Osborne’s sublime homage promises to rekindle the love of those who have already read it, and initiate new generations to the remarkable story.

Nina Hudson

The Little Prince does not have a UK release date yet.

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For further information about Cannes Film Festival 2015 visit here.

Watch the trailer for The Little Prince here: