Word: donene
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Directed by STANLEY DONEN...
This is a lithe, joyful, poignant musical and not just for kids. The presence of Stanley Donen guarantees that adults will enjoy The Little Prince as well. In fact, they will probably enjoy it more...
...Donen is a director of sophistication and invention whose entertainments like Charade and Two for the Road are object lessons in how to craft the kind of movies they are not supposed to be making any more-movies that are smart, funny and piquant. Because Donen's films are usually so polished, there is a tendency to think of him as a specialist in after-dinner-mint amusements, but that designation does him an injustice. It ignores the abounding vitality and brassiness of On the Town, Singin' in the Rain and It's Always Fair Weather...
...Donen has animated the songs with great skill, and knows exactly how and when to play a number big, and at just what point simplicity will best carry it. There is at least one show-stopper-a song and dance by a snake which, quite appropriately, is inclined toward sibilance-and a sequence of unadorned magic, when the pilot folds a piece of paper into a megaphone and croons a wistful ballad, '20s style...
Difficult Challenge. The story's rather inconsistent mysticism stumbles into sentimentality once or twice, but Donen makes even that seductive. He has made no attempt to mimic Saint-Exupéry's eloquent line drawings. Instead, he has some of them reproduced when the pilot does sketches on a note pad for the Little Prince. It is an act of friendly homage that devotees of the book will like as much as Donen's fidelity to the fragile spirit of the original. He has in fact pulled off a rather difficult challenge. The visual style...