Le Petit Prince / The Little Prince

Dir. Mark Osborne 2016, France 106 min. In French with English subtitles

Version française presented in partnership with Association franco-yukonnaise.

Poussée par sa mère à être une élève parfaite et, plus tard, à devenir une adulte formidable, une petite fille croise le chemin d'un vieil aviateur qui lui raconte l'histoire d'un petit prince qu'il a rencontré lors de l'une de ses expéditions dans le désert. Délaissant progressivement ses études et le projet de vie imaginée par sa mère, elle se réfugie chez son nouveau voisin et ami atypique afin de s'évader dans un monde imaginaire. Quand son ami l'aviateur tombe malade, elle croit que le seul moyen de le sauver est de retrouver le Petit Prince. Elle emprunte donc son avion et s'envole à sa rencontre.

English synopsis Pushed by her mother to be a perfect student and, later, to become a great adult, a little girl crosses the path of an old aviator who tells him the story of a little prince whom he met during the one of his expeditions to the desert. Gradually abandoning her studies and the project of life imagined by her mother, she takes refuge with her new neighbor and atypical friend in order to escape into an imaginary world. When his friend the airman falls ill, she believes the only way to save him is to find the Little Prince. She borrows his plane and flies to meet him.

CommonSense Media says ages 10+ Parents need to know that The Little Prince is based on the beloved book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, but it's not a strictly faithful retelling of the story. Instead, it focuses on a young girl who befriends the old man next door, who's actually the Aviator from the story. He tells her about how he met the Little Prince many years ago. The animated film takes plenty of liberties, but the basic message is the same as the book's, and it's an important one: Take time to enjoy life. That's an important theme for people of all ages, though The Little Prince has always been a fable that has more resonance for adults than little kids. Plus, the latter part of the movie has some surprisingly dark moments that may be a bit much for younger viewers -- for instance, when the Girl is trapped in a factory and threatened by the machinery (part of another character's plan to shut down her yearning for independence). There are references to/implications of both death and suicide. And the Girl has a complicated relationship with her mother.