Horus: Prince of The Sun

The English Box Art Of Horus: Prince of The Sun

Although not technically a part of the studio ghibli franchise, the film " Horus: Prince of The Sun " (The name being changed to "The Little Norse Prince" for it to be distributed by Optimum Releasing to the English speaking audience) was directed by Isao Takahata, one of the creators of Studio Ghibli who would later go on to make Grave of The Fireflies. Hayao Miyazaki was also one of the many animators who worked on the film while he also provided many different designs and story ideas for it. all these factors combined practically make this movie the beginning roots of the Studio Ghibli Company.

Set in iron age Scandinavia, The story begins with a young boy named Horus trying to escape a pack of attacking Silver wolves attacking them with his fathers axe but he is eventually cornered against a rock pile. As the wolves advance and it looks like all is lost the rock pile moves and turns out to be the hand of an ancient stone giant named Mogue. Horus speaks with Mogue and finds out he has been troubled with a small thorn in his shoulder, Horus decides to help Mogue out and climbs up to try and remove the thorn, which turns out to be a giant 2 handed sword called the "Sword of The Sun" Horus Manages to remove it and his adventure begins.

The film follows the adventure of Horus and his you bear cub companion "Coro" who like all the other animals in the film can talk to humans and though it is never explained i just went with it because hey, its animation :D.


I was also surprised to hear that the film was released in 1968 as the animation and voice acting is quite smooth and well done and sure it does look dated and it does feel like an older film, but made in the 60's!? that's crazy! this film cam out the same time as "2001: a space odyssey" and the Vietnam war! and i just sat and happily watched the whole thing without picking any major problems with it. i particularly liked the animation of the villain in the movie Grunwald the demon and his henchmen of animals and ice wolves.

Grunwald, The Smug Git! :D

Overall i thought the film was very good as i went into it knowing nothing about it other than it was made by some of the people who founded ghibli so i was shocked when i found out how old it was when researching information about it after watching it as it didn't look that dated, sure the story line is a bit thin in places but as a whole its a good story all about humanity and working together to help our fellow man being told really well.


I thought the Hilda character was a little creepy though with some of the dialogue she comes out with, such as standing in a room where a bride is getting ready for her wedding as she shouts out asking "what is the point of all this when you will soon be burnt and turned to ashes anyway?" but we find out this is because she is Grunwald the demons sister and had lost her humanity by being manipulated by him.

Is it just me, or does she just look creepy?

I really liked this film and am very impressed that they made a film of such good quality and such sound story line so long ago. the ending is great as Hilda, Horus And the villagers all work together to rebuild their village after their great battle for survival against Grunwald and his minions. i would recommend this film both to fans of studio ghibli films and to people who want to see a feel good animation film. so this wraps up my review of Horus: Prince of The Sun!. Tune in next time when i'll be reviewing Miyazaki's 2002 film "The Cat Returns"

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