Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!
Stars: Richard
Kiley, Bob Fosse, Steven Warner, Joss Ackland, and Gene Wilder
Writer: Allan Jay
Lerner
Based On The Story
By: Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Director: Stanley
Donen
Feature length: 88
minutes
Languages: English
Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles: English
Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging: Keep
Case
Chapter Stops: 14
Sound: Dolby
Surround Sound
Year of Theatrical
Release: 1974/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Home Video
Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA Rating: G
Reviewer: Mark A.
Rivera
I have a friend
who is well over ten years older than me. He and his wife were sort of hippies
in the late 1960s and early 1970s and they are into a lot of far out stuff. He
has a great library of books that ranges from theoretical physics to Kundalini
Yoga. Somewhere within this vast library is a copy of a children’s book
entitled “The Little Prince.” On one of my weekend night’s home during my
college days I remember hanging out with them and he pulled out the book and
began giving me an interpretation of the story from a Hindu like standpoint.
They were both born Irish Catholics, but had been following a spiritual guru for
decades. So I remember the book according to how he interpreted it, but never
knew it was adapted into a movie until just a few weeks ago.
So here I sat this
morning and screened Paramount Home Entertainment’s upcoming DVD release of
“The Little Prince” and I tried remembering the book and in particular my
friend’s take on it and there are a few themes in the story that definitely
ring true on a spiritual level regardless what you believe in. I also think the
story can be analyzed from a psychological point of view and quite honestly I
think whatever people project into the deceptively simple story is what
they’ll get out of it. So that is why I guess it has touched the hearts of
many.
In the film, a
pilot (Richard Kiley) finds himself stranded in the Sahara Desert where a
wandering child from another world (Steven Warner) appears and asks him to draw
a picture of a sheep. The pilot had been a bit of an artist as a boy, but he
pretty much was dissuaded by the adults around him and later decided to become a
pilot so he could soar the skies and feel free. After a few modifications in the
picture, he eventually gets it right enough to satisfy the little prince who in
turn shares his encounters with various characters on different worlds as well
as two fateful meetings he had on Earth with a snake (Bob Fosse) and a fox (Gene
Wilder). Over the course of his encounter the pilot learns lessons about
innocence, ownership, knowledge, and discipline that helps him to realize the
little prince is full of more wisdom and perception than meets the eye with the
ultimate lesson learned by the end of the tale being about the heart.
The movie features
songs with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe (My Fair Lady). The
scene with Bob Fosse as the snake is a standout. Gene Wilder is quite touching
as the fox too. Paramount Home Entertainment presents “The Little Prince” in
an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio and while the print shows a bit
of age, it is still quite striking to behold on DVD. The English Dolby Surround
Soundtrack fits the film just fine. It is clear and also quite engaging. English
Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing impaired are encoded onto the DVD
as options too.
The menus are all
standard interactive still frames that are easy to navigate. “The Little
Prince” will debut on DVD-Video on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at retailers on and
offline from Paramount Home Entertainment and it is a fine family film to
checkout too.
© Copyright 2004
By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
Buy This DVD Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!