Voice cast of The Little Prince, including actor Huang Bo (third from left) and Huang Lei (fourth from left). [Photo provided to China Daily]

Preferring to define himself as an "experimental director", the American auteur refuses to classify himself as a Hollywood filmmaker.

Osborne says he doesn't deliver a stereotyped "happy ending" in The Little Prince, the formula Hollywood productions usually follow.

"I believe I was doing something universal," he says, "speaking to human beings".

The movie tries fresh explorations both in the terms of philosophy and technology. It combines stop-motion characters, for the original prince part, and computer-generated imagery, for the modern girl.

The movie had its global premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival, a tribute to its homeland.

Two and a half months after its general global release, China is the first country in the world to see the film in two versions－in Chinese and English.

With a glittering voiceover cast, the Chinese version features around 10 celebrities, such as veteran actor Huang Bo, box-office favorite Huang Lei and award-winning actress Yuan Quan.

Huang Lei, who voices the movie together with his 9-year-old daughter, says the movie is like a childhood dream which is lost by most adults in this stressed-out society.

"The most touching part is that every one of us was a good-natured kid like the little prince, and it's a pity that this good characteristic goes away as time flies," he says.

For Li Jihong, one of the most critically acclaimed Chinese interpreters of the book, The Little Prince is not only a fairy tale for children, but a remarkable existential work, which reminds of people to follow their hearts amid the mundane chaos.

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