MovieChat Forums > Le Petit Prince (2016) Discussion > The makers didn't get The Little Prince ...

The makers didn't get The Little Prince at all!

posted 8 years ago by OliviaF
7 replies | jump to latest

It's obvious from the narrative of this film that the writers had no concept of what The Little Prince is all about. Yes they used some quotes here and there but took everything out of context, thereby completely missing the point of the Fox and the Rose. The Fox is reduced to a stuffed toy and the Rose dies. We never see The Little Prince forming his own moral education about how he feels for the things he thinks about and cares about deeply and in the process, it loses all its romanticism which made the book a unique literary classic. Shame that animated movies like this feel the need to "dumb things down" for parents and their kids.

[–] nakrugt 8 years ago

I totally agree, but the book itself is too overrated, as well.

In fact, the metaphor in the book is clearly about Jesus Christ, which, by the way, it cannot exactly achieve.

in vino veritas, in aqua sanitas...

[–] OliviaF 8 years ago

I read it in English so I presume some ideas have been lost in translation. It's very simple almost to a fault but the lines about the Rose and why she is special are simply beautiful. I understand more of it as I get older.

[–] brightwhitehorses 8 years ago

How does the book contain a metaphor for Jesus Christ? It's my favorite book, I never got that impression.

[–] Lethara 7 years ago

I have never, in the many times I have read the book, gotten any Christ metaphors. Where are you getting this?

I always felt it was the Prince's journey to learning what love is and what is important in life.

[–] magisystem-71530 8 years ago

Maybe you just didn't get the makers intention. The movie is not a remake, it's a tribute. It never tried to replace the book, but to complement it.
The aviator is Antoine de Saint-Exupery and the movie shows (modernized) how the "little prince" book was created. I wrote that in more detail here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1754656/board/thread/250810761?d=252145417#252145417

I found everything I love about the little prince in this movie (and the rating tells me that I am not the only one), and so much more. But a lot of that is invisible to the eye and needs additional background information (at least if you just see a hat here, and not a snake; adults always need numbers, facts and figures... ;-))

[–] dazzaler44 8 years ago

Well Paramount dropped it before release. .

[–] Therru_Babayaga 8 years ago

We never see The Little Prince forming his own moral education about how he feels for the things he thinks about and cares about deeply

But this movie is NOT about the Little Prince, it's about the little girl.

The writers understood the point of the original story much better than any so-called fan of the book.
They drew many parallels about how the story of the Little Prince was still relevant to our modern life in different aspects, and they show that through the struggle of the little girl, in a modern setting.

Her worries were different of the one told by St-Exupéry, but they were more relevant to what we are going through today. The book was published in 1943, times have changed meanwhile, and the writers understood that.

The Fox is reduced to a stuffed toy and the Rose dies.

The fox as itself has no actual relevance to the real world, it represents friendship in all its joy and uniqueness but also the sorrow that occurs in such relationship when it's time to say goodbye.

The fox doesn't exist, it's a metaphor, and it is represented in the old man for the little girl, because he brought her much joy in what he taught her and the new outlook she had on life because of him, but there will come a time where they will have to say goodbye, which she accepted at the end, and that was the whole point of her dream sequence.