Taiyo no oji: Horusu no daiboken (1968)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Isao Takahata

Writer:

Kazuo Fukazawa (writer)

Release Date:

21 July 1968 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy | Family | Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Horus, a kid living in a unnamed Scandinavian/Eastern Europe culture of the Iron Age, recovers the Sword...

Plot Keywords:

Girl | Giant | Demon | Sword | Japan

Cast

Yukari Asai	...	Coro the Bear
Mikijiro Hira	...	Grunwald the Demon of Ice (voice)
Etsuko Ichihara	...	Hilda (voice)
Gilbert Mack	...	Voices
Masao Mishima	...	Village Leader
Hisako Ôkata	...	Hols (voice)
Corinne Orr	...	English dubbed version
Ray Owens	...	Voices
Eijirô Tôno	...	Ganko
Billie Lou Watt	...	Prince
Hisashi Yokomori	...	Horu's Father / Toto
Tadashi Yokouchi	...	Paul / Moog the Rock Giant

Also Known As:

Little Norse Prince (USA) (TV title)
Prince of the Sun: The Great Adventure of Horus

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | Portugal:M/6

Company:

Toei Doga

Trivia:

This was the first movie where now legendary Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (later founder of Ghibli Studios) worked together. At the time, Miyazaki was simply a in-between animator at Toei Doga, but his talent bought him to the attention of Setsuyo Matoba, who was the production supervisor. In order to find a role for Miyazaki, a "chief animator and concept artist" role was specially invented.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Grunwald is holding Hols' rope on the icy cliff, you can see his gloves change color from black to blue to black again.

Quotes:

Hilda: [sings] In the twilight red sky / a lonely star shines / Someone calls me, / "Come away, voiceless lark / Come away, wingless lark / From where did you come? And where will you go, now?"

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hana to Arisu (2004)

An Inspirational Film In More Ways Than One

Was this the start of anime as we know it? I'm not versed enough in the history of Japanese animation to make such a bold statement, however what I can tell you is that with the creation of this film we have derived many classic, awe inspiring and moving stories from Studio Ghibli. As some may say with no Akira there would have been no Matrix, without The Little Norse Prince, there would have been no Nausicaa, Laputa, Princess Mononoke, Grave Of The Fireflies, Spirited Away and many more. While The Little Norse Prince may not be as grand as the fore-mentioned it is an emotionally captivating fairytale whose importance transcends the 81 minutes it runs for.

Set within the medieval ages of Nordic Europe, The Little Norse Prince tells the tale of a young boy named Hols embarking on a journey to find his kinsmen and restore peace to a land taken by a devious sorcerer named Grunwald. Isao Takahata's film is an innocent telling, yet harbours some severely darker moments (for the younger viewer), as our hero ventures through a blend of myth, legend, swords and magic, showing the courage and bravery that have become the hallmark for the protagonists at Studio Ghibli.

While Disney were creating gimmicky films like The Sword In The Stone, Takahada filled his film with the truest essence of humanity, as Hols must not only fight The Frost King, but must also deal with peoples misconceptions, stubborn attitudes and discriminatory views. The Little Norse Prince is deeper than fighting shape changing witches and squirrel romances, and in its purity is so awe inspiring. It has the ability to turn you into a child again, and view it with the eyes of an innocent as he manages to remind us what is noble about humanity and what we sometimes lack in ourselves. The Little Norse Prince is by no means a classic in the grand sense of cinema, but has an undeniable ability to transport us to a time and space when the world seemed a better place and life was worth fighting for.

Takahada laid the foundations with The Little Norse Prince for some remarkable and simply brilliant films, and it is quite easy to see how he and Miyazaki (who was an animator on this production) found the inspiration to be able to take the essence of Norse Prince, elaborate and expand on the settings and morals. One of the notable aspects is how exceptionally refined the imagination of Takahada is, as this film just exudes originality and feels completely different and fresh next to its contemporaries, and indeed the same can be said of the more recent Ghibli films compared to talking fish and super hero families. The Little Norse Prince may not be the greatest anime ever created, but it certainly is true to itself and the messages it wishes to deliver us as an audience and can only be praised as an effective means of emotive story telling which can and does not only appeal to all ages, but speak to all ages.