I've never read the story, but as a film, The Little Prince is woefully bad. Besides the poorly written songs by Alan Jay Lerner, the film is desperately miscast, with Richard Kiley as a pilot whose plane ends up in the Sahara, where he encounters a painfully twee Steven Warner in the title role. Young Warner's fluffy blonde hairdo looks like it was stolen from some late '60s beat group and his emoting is poor, even for a seven year old. Bob Fosse's performance as the Snake is uncomfortably close to paedophilia, as his song concerns giving The Little Prince a 'little sting' that will make him feel really good. The only watchable segment features the always wonderful Gene Wilder as the Fox, and Wilder brings a gentle and whimsical subtlety to a role that is too small for his prodigious talents. And why cast the marvelous Victor Spinetti and then shoot his entire scene through a fisheye lens? Considering director Stanley Donen's track record--the man made the original Bedazzled!--this is a bizarre failure.
Review of The Little Prince
