Being someone who likes anime very much, being especially a fan of Hayou Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, 'The Little Norse Prince' was interesting from historical interest and holds up pretty well now.'The Little Norse Prince' isn't perfect. It fares weakest in the dialogue, which is rather stilted and rambling. Some of the animation, though not all (some of it is actually impressive for very early anime), lacks finesse and has a rough around the edges look in particularly the character designs. However, while not loving 'The Little Norse Prince' there was enough here to make me admire it a lot. While the flaws are obvious, there is also a lot to like.As aforementioned, many other parts of the animation do impress, like in the ethereal colours and meticulously detailed and sometimes imaginative backgrounds. The music is haunting and richly beautiful, complementing the tone perfectly.What was particularly admirable too was the storytelling. It is a simple story, without being over-simplified or dumbed down, yet has mature and complex themes that give it an emotional maturity and complexity without being confusing. The characters are interesting and engaging and the voice acting is pretty solidly emotive.All in all, very good and breaks new ground but not one of my favourites. Plenty to admire though and recommended. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Well, this is a really really old video and let's say that for its time, it might have been very high class but now, it feels like it lacks a lot. The animation is low quality and the voices feel forced and scripted.Horus seems to not think about what he is about to do, his heart being in the right place but his head just doesn't seem to be happening there. He was made to be the purest of the pure but they made him come out as a rather young child, younger then he should be. Other characters randomly sing and makes it feel like we are in a old Disney movie.The animation is really old and they cut corners constantly. They reuse clips a lot and also jump around without any explanation on why they are except that they are traveling. Both people and animals look rather blotchy and not a lot of detail. In order to not animate some of the faces, they are covered in thick bushes of hair from eyebrows and beards.The script sounds cheesy in the English version, where the voice actors feel as though they are just reading lines. It's rather narrative and descriptive in the beginning and then loses a lot of that as the story goes on, not explaining enough when it needs to later on. It feels like it should have been much shorter. They did do a good job matching the voices though so it does get some props for that.

This was perhaps the most sophisticated animated feature ever made up to that time, in 1968. It is much more serious and dramatic than any Disney film ever made and shows that animation is equally valid as live action for serious cinema (in fact, maybe even superior, given its exaggerated expressiveness and impressionistic potential). Note: this is not a film for very young children as it deals with very serious matters despite being an animated film made in the 1960's with talking animals.Highly recommended and I think this is a must see film for those that wish to be film buffs.

I can only imagine how hard it was to do an animation such as this in 1968. At the time Disney was doing Mickey Mouse animation (the squeaky voice ones) and Yellow Submarine was released.However, as in most Isao Takahata animes the focus is not on the animation, but on the script. People battle against the forces of evil using their most powerful weapon: will power. Evil comes in the form of bad luck, misfortune, direct attacks and sneaky social manipulation. Good's champion is a boy that has come to fulfill his dying father's last wish. You can find love, betrayal, anger, violence, marital ceremonies, friendship, all the hallmarks of good Japanese anime.OK, the animation is not great. There are whole scenes of static images that are filmed , for example. Also, there is a plague that Disney is just now getting rid of, the plague of group songs in the middle of the film. But there are a lot of good things that overcome by far the bad parts. It's like a battle of good versus evil in its own :)Doesn't hurt to mention Hayao Miyazaki, which is humbly placed somewhere in the middle of the crew list, as an animator and scene designer. As far as I know this is his first work, but you already find a lot of elements that will appear in all his work from then on.Any anime fanatic must watch this. Children or very young people might get slightly bored.