Taiyô no ôji: Horusu no daibôken

The influence of Horus: Prince of the Sun (1968) cannot be overstated. It is not only the feature debut of the legendary Isao Takahata or a precursor of Studio Ghibli; it changed the face of Japanese animation forever, pushing aside the notion that all animation must be for children, that all animation must fit in the Disney musical mold.

I don't feel I need to go into the film's notoriously troubled production; other reviewers have done so with skill. But let me stress to you that if you consider yourself a fan of animation at all, you owe it to yourself to view Horus. Its musical numbers and talking animals are belied by psychological realism, a gritty sensibility, and political commentary. This isn't just a dark family film in the mode of Disney's Pinocchio (1940) or Bluth's The Secret of NIMH (1982), nor is it an "edgy" adult animation which mistakes crudity for maturity.

The film was a disappointment when first released, but its fan base grew quickly with re-releases, many of these fans being high school and college aged students who connected with the struggles of the protagonists, Horus and Hilda. In the United States, we have no equivalent to Horus as of this writing. We are still trapped by the Snow White and Toy Story model. I earnestly pray an American Takahata will one day give us a film such as this and change our animation landscape too.

excerpt, more at my location - Developed and created in 1968, Isao Takahata's first feature-length outing fuses Japanese and Norse philosophies and mythologies into the charmingly grown-up children's tale that is The Little Norse Prince.

While the impact of The Little Norse Prince resonates even in today's modern anime, as an individual film, it is a triumphant hallmark of sublime animation and an adult story with genuine heart, warmth, danger and menace that the talking squirrels of Disney's preceding '60s sword film (The Sword In The Stone) could only dream of achieving.

The originality that The Little Norse Prince exudes is nothing short of impressive, as his anti-aging formula transports us back in time to makes us feel young and vulnerable. While it may not be the greatest anime of all time, it is nothing short of being the most important.

Although it was made in 1968, this fascinating animated film feels more like it came out a few years before Nausicaa in the early 1980s; fans of Studio Ghibli will recognize all of its distinctive calling cards. One of these calling cards is the feeling of being totally immersed in an alternate world, which, in this case, is achieved through cultural ambiguity. The odd title, Horus: Prince of the Sun, suggests a pseudo-Egyptian setting, but that couldn't be further from the truth: it is instead vaguely Scandinavian, with its focus on northern villages, but drawing on the culture and mythology of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. There are relatively few people, and they are barely surviving given the harsh environment and the evil demon Grunwald, who wants to eliminate humanity; in fact, the isolated village recalls in many ways the post-apocalyptic world of Nausicaa.

While this movie is usually heralded as an auspicious beginning for Japanese anime and Studio Ghibli, I noticed the strong influence of one of its forebears: Lev Atamanov's Snow Queen. In particular, the dark and cold Grunwald is very much like a male version of the Snow Queen, including his appearance. Horus and Hilda recall Kay and Gerda, except that here it is Hilda who is under the spell of the Snow (King). Hilda, like Gerda, is guided by a bird, this time an evil owl. I could go on, but the influence is real, and significant, as acknowledged by Miyazaki. The major difference is that, unlike the later Ghibli films (and Atamanov's Snow Queen, for example), it is the male rather than the female who is the lead.

With so much anime coming to the States in DVD, I don't know why this great film (possibly my first animated foreign film) hasn't recieved greater acclaim.

I love the music to this film, I love the storyline, and the multi-faceted characters. I wish some studio would get on the ball, and get this a bit more attention.

It's a great film. And a great intro to anime before there was "anime."

Sincerely,

JThree

carolyn@dia.net

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.