Le Petit Prince

Title: Le Petit Prince
English Title: The Little Prince
Country: France
Language: French
Year: 2015
Cast:

• André Dussollier
• Florence Foresti
• Vincent Cassel
• Marion Cotillard
• Guillaume Gallienne
• Laurent Lafitte
• Vincent Lindon

SYNOPSIS
When The Little Girl had a disastrous interview with the screening panel for the Werth Academy, The Little Girl and The Mother went into Plan B: they moved into the neighborhood where the prestigious school was located so that The Little Girl can get in.

The Little Girl's new home is right next door to an old man's dilapidated house full of strange contraptions and a plane right in his backyard. Her neighbor The Aviator gives The Little Girl a handwritten story full of illustrations about The Little Prince.

REVIEW
Le Petit Prince (or it's official English title The Little Prince) is an interesting film about a serious The Little Girl, her eccentric neighbor The Aviator, and his fascinating story about The Little Prince. It is based on the children classic Le Petit Prince by Antonie de Saint-Exupéry, which was published in 1943.

I love how the animation is stylistically different, where the scenes with The Little Girl and The Aviator are in state-of-the-art computer graphics while the scenes with The Little Prince are in paper stop-motion technique. I think it's very effective in differentiating the futuristic present and the creative world of The Little Prince.

Anyway, Le Petit Prince (or The Little Prince) is one of my favorite books of all time, and I love it so much that I'm even collecting it in different language editions. I think it's difficult to adapt the book into a movie because there's just too many material to satisfactorily cram it into a film with a two-hour duration. Perhaps it's because I think the whole narrative is important that I can't imagine cutting out any parts.

The movie is not a direct adaptation of the book into a different medium; there's an ongoing narrative with serious The Little Girl and her newfound friend The Aviator, and the book's learning is reflected in their developing friendship.

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Le Petit Prince
Le Petit Prince

かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari

Title: かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari
English Title: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2014
Cast (Voice):

• 朝倉あき Asakura Aki
• 高良健吾 Kora Kengo
• 地井武男 Chii Takeo
• 宮本信子 Miyamoto Nobuko
• 高畑淳子 Takahata Atsuko
• 西島秀俊 Nishijima Hidetoshi

SYNOPSIS
Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter and his wife, a tiny girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her -- but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.

REVIEW
Kaguya-hime no Monogatari is a fascinating animated film that makes you think about your own definition of beauty, happiness, and life. It is actually based on the Japanese folktale The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

I first heard about the movie when it was featured in 夢と狂気の王国 Yume to Kyôki no Ôkoku, a documentary about its production company Studio Ghibli and, to a certain extent, its elusive director Takahata Isao. I was looking forward to watching it and I was suitably impressed.

I think Kaguya-hime no Monogatari is made for an adult audience because the scenarios have deeper interpretations, and the moral lessons are quite complicated. For instance, it would be quite difficult to explain the ending to viewers who are not mature enough to understand that fairytales and happily-ever-afters don't always happen in the real world.

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かぐや姫の物語 Kaguya-hime no Monogatari

秒速５センチメートル 5 Centimeters per Second

Title: 秒速５センチメートル Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru
English Title:

• 5 Centimeters per Second
• A Chain of Short Stories About Their Distance

Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2007
Cast: (Voice)

• Mizuhashi Kenji
• Kondō Yoshimi
• 花村怜美 Hanamura Satomi

SYNOPSIS
This Japanese animation film is made up of three sections: 桜花抄 Ōkashō (Cherry Blossom Extract), コスモナウト (Cosmonaut), and 秒速５センチメートル Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru (5 Centimeters per Second).

桜花抄 Ōkashō (Cherry Blossom Extract)
Tōno Takaki and Shinohara Akari are classmates in elementary and they slowly build a close friendship. Later on, Takaki realizes that he is in love with his best friend. Just when he is gathering the courage to confess his feelings, Akari and her family have to move away.

コスモナウト (Cosmonaut)
Takaki has lost contact with Akari but he is still in love with her. His high school classmate Sumita Kanae is secretly in love with him but she refrains from confessing her love because she is aware that Takaki loves someone else.

秒速５センチメートル Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru (5 Centimeters per Second)
Takaki is now working in Tokyo as a computer programmer. He has lost touch with both Akari and Kanae, but he still loves Akari. While crossing a railroad track, he sees a familiar-looking face but when he looks back to see if the woman is someone he knows, a train passes by and blocks his view.

REVIEW
I don't really watch a lot of animated films but I really enjoyed Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru or 5 Centimeters per Second. The title refers to how fast cherry blossoms fall to the ground: five centimeters per second. Since this is a story about love and relationships, I think it also indicates how fleeting human relations are, and perhaps how moments spent with our loved ones pass by so fast.

The story is quite simple but very realistic. The characters are so raw and easy to relate to. I think these are the movie's major selling points especially to those who are not really anime fans.

Another reason why this movie is a cut above the rest is the exceptionally talented voice actors. They were able to convey so much emotion with just their voices -- hesitation, uncertainty, hope, happiness, sadness, and frustration.

Honestly, I would have been happier if the characters ended up together and lived happily ever after. I have to say that I tend to expect a happy ending after watching a lot of fairy tales. Even until the last few minutes of the movie, I kept hoping that Takaki will encounter the love of his life again and this would be a promising sign of what the future will hold.

The movie's animation is so beautifully done that I sometimes think that these animated pictures (particularly that of the scenery) have to be better than the real thing. It's so good that I'm actually planning to watch writer-director Shinkai Makoto's earlier works. However, since many people say that this movie is his best work so far, I'm actually afraid I'll be disappointed when I do watch the others.

This short production has made a lot of impact on me. However, I can't help but wonder if a live-action adaptation will be made and if it will be as good, if not better, than the animated version.

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秒速５センチメートル Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru