When I heard that an animated version of "The Little Prince" was in the works, I was excited. The world was later graced with a trailer, and then suddenly, there was no news of the movie. Universal dropped the release of the film, and I wondered if it was ever going to hit theaters. Luckily, Netflix picked up the project and released it for the world to see. Good thing they did too, because this is a movie that people should see.

A little girl (who is simply referred to as "The Little Girl" throughout the movie) is living in a grown up world. Her mother (voiced by Rachel McAdams) wants her to go to the best school possible. After failing an interview to get into the school, the mother and the daughter move so that they are in the schools district, so that they have no choice but to accept her. All of the houses on the street are the same. Blockish and dull colored, save one colorful house right next to the little girl's. That's where The Aviator (Jeff Bridges) lives. He teaches her about the joys of imagination, friendship, and how to properly grow up, without becoming dull like the world around him. He recounts the story of The Little Prince, and the little girl discovers herself and regains her childhood that was taken from her long ago.

So let's talk about how this movie works as an adaptation. An obvious route for someone to take if one were to make a movie of the famous story would simply be to remake it scene for scene. However, Director Mark Osborne took a different approach. He added another layer to the story. He threw the tale of "The Little Prince" into our world. The movie acts as a tribute to a timeless classic, and shows the effect of the story on our world. It's a heightened reality, the world that the little girl lives in. The world is divided into squares that are all the same, and people are expected to work their whole lives, with their noses in their computers. The little girl is on track to this lifestyle too, until she meets the Aviator, which changes everything. Every reader of "The Little Prince" is represented in the girl. Those who have read the story are touched by the beautiful life lessons that it teaches through the use of fantasy and wonder.

And then there's the animation. Most of the film is standard 3D animation that Mark Osborne has worked with before ("Kung Fu Panda") but it isn't the only medium in the movie. When The Aviator tells the story of "The Little Prince" to the girl, the animation changes profoundly. Instead of a 3D world of rounded edges and soft color, we're thrown into a mixture of paper mâché and clay stop motion that is absolutely breathtaking. The sharp, rough edges resemble woodcut pieces, and it makes the viewer feel as if they're looking at museum pieces. As if the story is old, and must be treated with reverence.

This film pulled in a lot of great voices, and they all fit their characters like specially made gloves. Jeff Bridges soft gravel brings a sweet and wise tone to the Aviator, and his ability to convey emotion through his unique voice makes him the perfect choice for the character. James Franco lends his voice to the Fox, a dangerous and yet friendly character, who represents a love that can be tamed, but always bears a risk. His smooth and old timey gangster voice feels like it was made to play a fox. Ricky Gervais plays The Conceited Man with a devilish hilarity that only he could pull off, and Albert Brooks' businessman shows the other side of a gravely voice, opposite of Bridges, and conveys that he bears a threat to the little girl.

This is a great film. It touches on grief in a beautiful way, and reminds us that life is an incredibly precious thing. Friendship, and the loss of a friend, is something that we all experience, and must learn to understand. We spend so much time worrying and working that we forget what's important. The Aviator reminds the girl that the innocence and wonder of childhood is something to be remembered. "Growing up isn't the problem, forgetting is," he says to her, and it's true.

"The Little Prince" is available to brighten your life on Netflix now. Keep imagining everyone, and always remember the prince.