Three stars only for the sequences that actually came from the book, as the stop motion work is quite beautiful and well executed.
But the framing story, which seems to think we need the message pounded on us with a twenty- pound sledge hammer, was totally unnecessary and — as I"m afraid it might be — put in a sop as part of the "empower little girls!" campaign currently running through almost all media. (Let me add, I have no problem with empowerment, but it doesn't need to be slathered over *everything*.)
The Little Prince isn't about empowerment. It really isn't about the power of imagination, although the marketing might like you to believe that. Rather, it's a meditation on life and death, on love and loss — and the filmmakers here completely missed the point in their rush to create this mangled view of a book whose message comes from a more delicate and thoughtful place. I applaud the art, to be sure — the CG work is nice... just not for this particular story. It needs its own story to tell, not tailgating on the back of something else.
But the framing story, which seems to think we need the message pounded on us with a twenty- pound sledge hammer, was totally unnecessary and — as I"m afraid it might be — put in a sop as part of the "empower little girls!" campaign currently running through almost all media. (Let me add, I have no problem with empowerment, but it doesn't need to be slathered over *everything*.)
The Little Prince isn't about empowerment. It really isn't about the power of imagination, although the marketing might like you to believe that. Rather, it's a meditation on life and death, on love and loss — and the filmmakers here completely missed the point in their rush to create this mangled view of a book whose message comes from a more delicate and thoughtful place. I applaud the art, to be sure — the CG work is nice... just not for this particular story. It needs its own story to tell, not tailgating on the back of something else.