The Little Norse Prince is a 1968 anime film directed by Isao Takahata and partly animated by Hayao Miyazaki. This pair would go on to form Studio Ghibli. The Little Norse Prince follows a boy (Horus) who lives alone with his father. Attacked by Silver wolves Horus disturbs a stone giant. Horus aids the giant by removing a thorn from his side which turns out to be a decayed magical sword. The giant gives the sword to Horus and tells him to get it re-forged. On his death bed Horus’ father tells him that their village was destroyed by a demon named Grunwald and tells Horus to find his people and on a quest of revenge.
Horus follows his fathers’ orders and finds a village populated by his people. Horus helps defend the village from Grunwald and on one such adventure finds Hilda a young girl with an enchanting voice. Horus brings her back to the village where the people fall under her spell. However, it turns out that Hilda is Grunwald’s sister and works with the chief’s deputy to betray the village. Horus realises that he must now re-forge the sword and defeat Grunwald once and for all.
Being the first film directed by Takahata, this could be considered to be part of the history of Studio Ghibli. You are certainly immediately drawn to the main characters in the story like all good Studio Ghibli films. They are so richly created that you can’t help but get taken for whatever ride has been written.
Unfortunately I felt that The Little Norse Prince ride was a little disjointed. Although each element to the story was wonderfully put together I felt that the story didn’t really flow together. The ending also seemed a bit hashed together and didn’t really draw the threads of the story together well.
Although the film obviously shows it age, you can still tell that it was masterfully drawn. The only disappointing element was that the battle scenes were not live action, but rather a set of large pictures that the camera the focuses in on certain elements. I’m not sure if this was due to a lack of technical advancement at the time or to save on time/cost of the film, but it lets the film down somewhat.
The Little Norse Prince is certainly worth watching in its own right, but if you were looking to dip into what is increasingly becoming an expanded Studio Ghibli collection I would probably recommend you start elsewhere.
Black Temple Reviews 