The Little Prince (2015)

I never read the novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, tho a friend of mine loves it. All I had gleaned was the prince's appearance, his habitation of a tiny planetoid, and his sad parting from a talking fox. Further study confirms that it's quite solemn in spite of a whimsical, seemingly kid-friendly setup. But this animation isn't a direct adaptation; rather, it's a story about the story.

As in the novella, nobody has a stated name. The protagonist is an eight-year-old girl (Mackenzie Foy, who already starred in an animation connected to France) whose mother (Rachel McAdams), while affectionate, has way too strict a plan for her life. They move next door to an eccentric old pariah (Jeff Bridges) who turns out to be the novella's narrator and illustrator, eager to share his story with whoever will listen. The girl rebels against Mom's schedule to learn about the spacefaring boy (who doesn't seem to be a literal prince) whom the man claims to have met in a desert. What we get must be a highly capsulized version of the story -- leaving room for much more....