The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun

82 min | Animation, Action, Adventure | movie (1968 )
  • IMDb Ratings: 6.7/10
  • Director: Isao Takahata
  • Writer: Kazuo Fukazawa

The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun (太陽の王子 ホルスの大冒険, Taiyō no Ōji Horusu no Daibōken) is an anime film released in July 1968. The directorial feature film debut of Isao Takahata, it is also the first major film by Hayao Miyazaki. Horus marked the beginning of a partnership that would last for the next 50 years across numerous animation studios. The core production team for Horus, Prince of the Sun included Takahata (Director), Yasuo Otsuka (Animation Director), Miyazaki (Scene Design, Key Animation), Yasuji Mori (Key Animation), Reiko Okuyama (Key Animation), and Yoichi Kotabe (Key Animation). This group contributed to designs, story ideas and storyboards; all but Takahata (who is not an animator) contributed to character designs. Akemi Ota, Masatake Kita, and Sadao Kikuchi were the remaining Key Animators, but did not contribute many ideas to the film. Vivid, visceral and violent, yet charged with kinetic energy, Horus introduced a number of technical and stylistic innovations, and established a new paradigm of Japanese animation: adult storytelling, psychological realism, visual complexity, overt political and social themes, and stylistic violence. This is the first Japanese animated feature to successfully disrupt the Walt Disney paradigm, and greatly expanded the possibilities of the medium beyond "children's cartoons." Unsuccessful in its original 1968 theatrical run, Horus, Prince of the Sun is today recognized as a milestone in the history of anime. The movie was released straight to television in the United States by AIP-TV under the title The Little Norse Prince.

The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun - OPENING SONG VIDEO