TGIF! Here we are again with another Fangirl Friday! This week I’m going to take a break from the usual Fangirl Moment topics and bring you yet another film! Today’s post is all about the 2015 animated film adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s acclaimed novella, The Little Prince.
The Little Prince tells the tale of a young boy who leaves his home on a small asteroid in space, for a journey that takes him to the far reaches of the galaxy. Through his travels the boy sees many strange sights and meets a host of characters before eventually winding up on Earth where he meets a stranded pilot in the Sahara Desert. Despite being styled as a children’s book, The Little Prince contains philosophical themes on love, loss, and human nature.
First let me say that I have heard of The Little Prince and I have a vague understanding of the overall story, but I’ve never actually read the book. It was just one of those things I was never really interested in, I was probably too busy reading Harry Potter or playing Pokemon… So when Netflix kept bombarding me with notices for their updated film version of the tale, I wasn’t especially interested. But, as the weeks wore on and the ads became more and more intrusive, I decided to see what all the fuss was about!
Instead of directly telling the story of The Little Prince, the film instead chooses to frame the original tale within story of a young girl who is essentially being pushed into growing up. The unnamed young girl is preparing to attend a prestigious prep school when she meets an eccentric old man. Over the course of the summer, the old man tells her the story of the Little Prince, which spurs an awakening of sorts within the young girl. As she delves deeper into the narrative of The Little Prince, the girl begins to worry about what will happen when she grows up.
The stories of the young girl and the Prince are separate, with the Prince’s tale interwoven between that of the young girl. In order to differentiate between the narratives the film utilizes an interesting stylistic devices: the Prince segments are depicted using stop motion, while the segments featuring the young girl are presented using computer animation. Despite some artistic liberties the film still manages to hold true to the spirit of the original work (at least from what I’ve read), but I’m not really qualified to make a comparison between the two. But, I can say that I absolutely loved this film, I loved the way that both the Prince’s and the Young Girl’s stories complemented each other to create a wonderful coming of age story.
I’m not sure that I did this film or the book justice… But, from what I have seen and read, I can tell that The Little Prince is one of the most heart-wrenching and beautiful stories I have ever experienced! I actually got choked up while watching this and because of this film I actually went out a got a copy of The Little Prince! I highly recommend watching this film… it’ll make you feel things…
Have any of you guys read The Little Prince? Have you seen the 2015 film adaptation? Does it do the book justice? Let me know what you think in the comments section, I really want to know what you think! Also, do you have any suggestions for Fangirl Moment post? Want me to review a specific book, film, anime, manga, show, or webcomic? Feel free to Comment on this post or Ask Me on my tumblr! As always Thank You for reading!