The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 31, 2021

The world as we know it today inspires the world of tomorrow in “The Prince’s Voyage.” It’s a French production from co-directors Jean-Francois Laguionie and Xavier Picard, who construct a fantasy tale of suspicion and exploration featuring a cast of cultured and contained primates. It’s not a new take on “Planet of the Apes,” but it shares the same sense of exploration and confusion, with “The Prince’s Voyage” offering a refined understanding of societal fears as the characters manage a situation of discovery that could lead to some form of evolution, but only manages to inspire doubt and denial instead.

“The Prince’s Journey” follows the arrival of The Prince (Enrico Di Giovanni), a nobleman of his tribe who elected to explore the world outside his walls, only to suffer a great loss in the process. He’s washed up on foreign shores, discovered by young Tom (Thomas Sagols) and brought to Professor Abervrach (Gabriel Le Doze), who wants to use the royal primate as proof that other societies exist, threatening the break the system of fear that holds their community together.

“The Prince’s Voyage” isn’t very adventurous in the traditional sense. It’s more of a character study involving The Prince and his observations about his new surroundings, finding a student and friend in Tom, who desires to learn more about the mystery primate’s past. It’s a talky endeavor about ideas, but it does offer tours of different realms, with the boy taking The Prince to the city for a visit, showing him a turn-of-the-century world where manufactured panic fuels commerce, keeping citizens in line. The Professor’s subplot of academic redemption carries a bit more drama, but “The Prince’s Voyage” largely deals with personalities and the past, aimed at an older audience capable of appreciating the allegory the production provides.

The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Prince's Voyage" enjoys a lively sense of color, exploring greenery, colder mansion interiors, the bright yellow lights of the city, and the warmth of the sun. Hues are vivid, also boosted with costuming selections. Detail is strong, identifying the production's effort to merge CGI and traditional animation, with compelling textures and shapes throughout the viewing experience. Delineation is satisfactory.

The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix presents distinct dialogue exchanges, with strong vocal performances from many generations of actors, preserving subtle emotional response. Scoring cues provide warm instrumentation with defined strings, and music offers a circular presentation, working into the surrounds. Atmospherics are also enveloping, with echoed room tone, city bustle, and jungle movement. Low-end isn't required for much of the character-based picture, but scenes of environmental disruption and chases offer some mild response.

The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• "A Prince's Journey" (22:25, HD) is an interview with directors Jean-Francois Laguionie and Xavier Picard. Topics include Laguionie's interest in building on his 1999 film, "A Monkey's Tale," influences in storytelling and visual design, aspect ratios, the use of "wild animatics," voice casting, and scoring efforts (clips of the recording process with composer Christophe Heral are included).

• "The Making of 'A Prince's Journey'" (26:41, HD) is an interview with co-director Xavier Picard, who walks viewers through the production process. Topics include character development and design (bringing co-director Jean-Francois Laguionie's extensive drawings to life through computer animation), backgrounds, color, props, storyboards, crew effort (with over 200 artists employed to complete the movie), and the various steps of production, highlighting the labor required to puts shots and scenes together, with the helmers creating an emotion chart to help manage character arcs throughout the picture.

• "Study of the Ice Floe Sequence" (7:47, HD) presents a split-screen comparison of final animation with original storyboards.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:58, HD) is included.

The Prince's Voyage Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"The Prince's Voyage" delivers expressive animation and detailed backgrounds, and voicework is just about perfect, with Di Giovanni commanding and warmly inquisitive as The Prince. The picture looks and sounds fantastic, and while it's not an especially urgent endeavor, it remains an intriguing story that also manages to find its way to a poetic ending.