The Little Prince (Mark Osborne, 2015): USA

Reviewed by Ashley Wierl. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2016.

“The Little Prince” is a film made for people of all ages, young and old alike, to enjoy. It is a touching, and thrilling adaption of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s book “The Little Prince”. With a combination of computer animation and stop motion animation, the film is a visual masterpiece. The film was directed by Mark Osborne, who is known for “Kung Fu Panda” and “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie”. The film has a star studded cast that includes the voices of Jeff Bridges,Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Marion Cotillard, and James Franco just to name a few. “The Little Prince” had its US premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2016.

“The Little Prince” opens with a little girl in a bleak room with her mother rehearsing interview questions for an elite school. we then follow her to her manicured neighborhood, every house, lawn, and car looking the same. Inside the house is just as boring and structured, even with a extensive diagram of day to day tasks scheduled down to the minute, called the life plan. An unlikely friendship forms between the young girl and her neighbor, the aviator (Jeff Bridges), who to societies standards, is a rebellious outcast. His life and home are full of color, excitement, and cherished memories, which he shares with the young girl.

A prominent element of the film is the use of colors to covey the mood, atmosphere, and structure of the characters lives and world. For the young girl, everything in her home is shades of dull white, grey, and beige. All the homes on the block are perfect squares, same design and color all throughout. The outfits of all the working adults are dark and dull. There is almost no color in the scenes, or their lives, at all. The aviator on the other hand, has a yard full of color and wild flowers. The interior of his home is just as vibrant, like his enthusiasm for life.

The film emphasizes the importance of not forgetting what it is to be a kid. To have dreams, passions, to create, imagine and play. It’s easy for some of the mundane routines and expectations of adulthood to make one forget all that they used to be. A quote from the film about this theme is “growing up isn’t the problem, forgetting is.” This film is for children, and anyone who ever once was a child. (so, yeah, a film for everybody to love)