While it’s definitely family-friendly, and often visually stunning, the ambitious film adaptation of “The Little Prince” may leave adult viewers royally flummoxed. Portions are faithful to Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s 1943 much-loved, oft-quoted classic translated into over 250 languages. But the overall effect here is a muddled one that feels like, at most, half of a good movie. An internationally starry voice cast does little to redeem it.
Premiering on Netflix and in limited theatrical release on Aug. 5, “The Little Prince” is reportedly one of the priciest French animated features, and the stop-motion animated sequences are exhilaratingly gorgeous. When the film hews to its source material, the results are enchanting, but director Mark Osborne (“Kung Fu Panda”) and writers Bob Persichetti (“Puss in Boots”) and Irena Brignull (“The Boxtrolls”) create a predictable and sentimental framing device around the slim tale that undercuts the potency of the book’s meditations on love and mortality.