Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Little Prince Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 5, 2021

This is a cinematic take on the cherished 1943 novella The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The film retains the same core story but builds another one around it to reinforce its themes. In Director Mark Osborne's (Kung Fu Panda) 2015 take, it's a little girl, not the little prince, who is at the center of the story. Osborne and Screenwriters Irena Brignull and Bob Persichetti set the film in the modern world and use Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's story as a fully developed parallel, with its own art style, as an illustration meant to better the little girl's life and give her the courage to free herself from her mother's well meaning, but suffocating, rigid control over her life.

A young girl (voiced by Mackenzie Foy) is hoping to gain admittance to the prestigious Werth Academy. Or, perhaps better said, her mother (voiced by Rachel McAdams) is hoping she’ll be admitted. Everything is rehearsed and ready to go; she’s a sure bet to get in, it seems, but when the girl freezes in the interrogation-like interview and gives a rehearsed answer to the wrong question, it’s on to plan B: buying a new house in Werth Academy’s district, forcing them to take her on, no questions asked, whether they want her or not. And it’s not just getting into the school that dominates the mother's life. She has her daughter’s whole life mapped out for her: when to eat, when to sleep, what to study and when and for how long. She has every birthday presented lined up, too – all of them for the betterment of her academic career, of course – and time with friends is a luxury best enjoyed in small blocks that mother probably, really, believes her daughter cannot afford, anyway.

It turns out their new house, which looks just like all the other ones in their new cookie-cutter neighborhood, is next door to an old, decrepit home inside of which lives an elderly, eccentric ex-Aviator (voiced by Jeff Bridges) who on the girl’s first day in her home attempts to start his airplane (everyone keeps an old, rickety plane in their backyard) which falls apart and shoots one of its propellers straight into the girl’s new house. The next day, the old men sends her a page of a story about a little prince who questions adulthood and adult motivations and wishes to find someone with whom he can speak, laugh, share, and grow on his own level. The girl quickly becomes intrigued by the story, develops a tightly knit friendship with the old man, and begins to understand the benefits of challenging her mother’s overbearing ways and enjoying just being herself.

The novella was written in 1943 but for this film adaptation the new parallel story has been set it in the modern world. There is a bridge between the little girl's story and the Little Prince's story, and while it's not a surprise nor really a spoiler, it's probably best to leave it to the movie to reveal that truth. But the big takeaway here is how the original, beloved story is told. While the segments featuring it are rather faithful to the original, they're made parallel with the little girl's story in such a way that the original story works as intended, as a help for her own life journey to better understand what it means to be a child, an adult, and find a balance between what she must do and what she wants to do, to find her own path rather than be forcibly led in a different direction.

Impressive animation and voice work carry the film’s superficial qualities to great success. The “present day” material is a little less visually arresting – though it’s very thematically astute -- but the story of the Little Prince looks quite wonderful in its vivid stop-motion depictions of the characters and the worlds around them. Voice work is top-class too. Each actor melts into part with not just vocal enthusiasm but a broad range of emotions and a deep understanding of why they're speaking and the value of what they’re saying to the basic story and to the characters’ very essences.

The Little Prince Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Little Prince features a well defined and appropriately colored 1080p Blu-ray presentation. To begin, the movie's color output is primarily comprised of, or at least dominated by, shades of gray. It's a thematically significant note, expressing the lack of "life" in the girl's existence: it's all prefab structure and predetermined actions. In the old man's back yard, color springs alive: brilliant green grass, the red plane, a colorful parachute. Inside his home, warmth abounds. All of these colors leap off the screen with highly impressive depth and brilliance. While they lack the full tonal command HDR can provide, they more than satisfy brilliance requirements for a colorfully animated Blu-ray. Textural adeptness is excellent, too. The animation thrives in 1080p, allowing the audience to see the full range of textural delights, both broad and small, near screen and far away in the background. Whether the more familiar digitally animated main story of the prince's tale in its gloriously complex stop motion style, there's no missing the innate textural qualities seen on characters, objects, and places. The picture is largely in fine form. Mild aliasing and banding are concerns but rarely prove disruptive to an otherwise highly satisfying Blu-ray presentation.

The Little Prince Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Little Prince's Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack is a delightful little exercise in Blu-ray sound. It's fluid, smooth, and detailed, full of life and balance as it delivers both the broader sounds and the more subtle cues alike with equal definition and spatial awareness. Whether more dominant front-and-center sound effects or minor ambient support, Paramount's presentation always finds excellent stage presence, nicely immersing the lsitener into the film. Surrounds are used with frequency but also balance and the low end is engaged just enough to add necessary depth to any element. Dialogue is clear and center-positioned for the duration.

The Little Prince Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Little Prince contains a featurette and a music video. No DVD copy is included but Parmaount has added in a digital copy voucher. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

• The Making of The Little Prince (1080p, 25:52): The filmmakers discuss the process of adapting the story to the screen, the importance the story holds in the public conscience, developing and digitally designing characters and the world, practical visuals, scoring the film, and more. In English and French with English subtitles where applicable.
• "Turn Around" - Music Video by Camille (1080p, 3:25).

The Little Prince Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Little Prince takes the original story and uses it as a propellent for getting the girl's life moving in the right direction, following her own heart rather than adhering to the rigidity her mother has planned for her. It's almost like a two-for-one, featuring two parallel stories that are seamlessly intertwined with the prince's story serving the little girl's spirit and imagination to help her escape from a path not of her own choosing. It's well voiced and excellently animated, the prince's segments in particular. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers high class video and audio presentations in addition to a couple of extras. Recommended.