The Adventures Of The Little Prince –
The Complete Animated Series
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
As children’s television went into decline on the networks
and in syndication in the early 1980s, some shows still tried to be appealing
and child-friendly in positive ways.
There was an annoying cycle of fantasy-genre shows with magic and
rainbows of color that got sickening quickly.
Fortunately, The Adventures Of The Little Prince (1983) is not
one of them. Sure, it is very simple,
but is aimed at the younger part of much the same audience that Stanley Donen’s
1974 film (reviewed elsewhere on this site) was. Now Koch has The Complete Animated Series.
Of course, there will be no musical numbers or big star
appearances, but the series is more loosely derived from the material. The Prince live son a distant planet so
small, there is only room for him to sit there, but he has this amazing net
with a handle that catches onto shooting starts and does not burn up! More amazing, these stars just happen to go
to great places for him to visit and learn about other worlds. If only travel agents could harness
them. The result, is a simple,
charming, child-friendly show that is has a simpler version of Speed Racer-type
art without the action emphasis, leaning more towards the Classical Disney
aesthetic a few generations down.
All in all, there are 26 shows over 4 DVDs in those
terrific slender cases. Surprisingly,
though it is not an educational show, the National Education Association endorsed
the series, hoping to get kids to read the way they are now reading that other
literary fantasy hero, Harry Potter.
That to is likely why they are finally finding their way onto DVD, but
then a pleasant show like this could n to come out fast enough.
The 1.33 X 1 image is a bit softer than expected, but this
is not as much of a problem, because the animation is simple and this is color
consistent enough. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono is just fine in both English and Spanish. I get a kick out of the kinds of voicing the characters are
getting. There are no extras, but all
run for about 10 hours and make for quality young children’s programming you
might miss otherwise.
- Nicholas Sheffo
