French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “The Little Prince” is a children’s classic. But if you’re thinking of buying tickets to the Broadway show, read on…

This simple fable relates the story of a child who travels the universe gaining wisdom.  His tale begins as a pilot (Aurelien Bednarek) crash-lands in the desert, where he encounters a young boy (spiky-haired Lionel Zalachaz) who asks him to draw a sheep. Obliging, the narrator conjures up gymnastic dancers.

The androgynous narrator (Chris Mauron), who calls the lad ‘The Little Prince,’ learns that the boy comes from a very small asteroid with three tiny volcanos- and where he lovingly tended a single flower, a red rose (Laurisse Sulty). 

Then The Little Prince began travelling to other planets. That’s where he encounters a king (Joan Bertrand), a vain man (Antony Cesar), drunkard (Marie Menuge), businessman (Adrien Picaut), lamplighter (Marcin Janiak) , and snake (Srilata Ray).

But it’s an astute fox (Dylan Barone), who passes on the most profound wisdom: “What is essential is invisible to the eye; it is only visible to the heart.”

These interludes are punctuated by aerial acrobatics, bathed in color and sound, in front of Marie Jumelin’s video designs, which lamely attempt to duplicate Saint-Exupery’s fanciful illustrations, projected on an upstage cyclorama.

Problem is: these vignettes are excruciatingly confusing and, ultimately, boring. Children were squirming in their seats as their equally perplexed parents tried to explain what was happening on-stage. Many, understandably, left at intermission.

After premiering in Paris in 2019, this musical has, apparently, toured extensively, including ‘sold out’ runs in Sydney and Dubai – leading one to wonder if, perhaps, some essential ingredient was lost en route.

Directed and choreographed by Anne Tournie, it’s adapted and co-directed by Chris Mouron with recorded music by Terry Truck. Peggy Housset designed the costumes, while the lighting is by Stephane Fritsch and sound by Tristan Viscogliosi.

Whatever this version of “The Little Prince” intended to be – it isn’t.  If you want to delight your children, find another family-friendly show or watch Stanley Donen’s 1974 musical with Richard Kiley, Bob Fosse and Gene Wilder or Mark Osborne’s 2015 animated version with Jeff Bridges and Rachel McAdams.

It’s hard to imagine a Johnny Depp film being ignored but that’s what happened after “Minamata” premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival back in 2020, when Covid shuttered most theaters.

Depp plays renowned W.W.II photojournalist W. Eugene ‘Gene’ Smith, who, by 1971, had become a jaded recluse: broke, wasted, estranged from his children, and suffering from PTSD. 

Then, suddenly, his interest was piqued when Japanese translator Aileen Mioko (Minami) told him about a plague of mercury poisoning that was devastating the coastal community of Minamata.

Commissioned by LIFE magazine editor Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy), Gene took off for rural Minamata, where he learned that the Chisso Corporation was routinely dumping highly toxic chemicals into the surrounding sea.

With mercury contaminating their water supply, villagers – especially children – have been suffering severe neurological damage for many years. First discovered in 1956, Minamata disease impacted thousands of people by also poisoning the fish and shellfish which comprise the mainstay of their diet.

Guided by Aileen, surly Gene comes to respect the locals’ manners and mores, eventually earning the trust of villagers who were initially reluctant to be photographed. That resulted in his Pieta-like image of a mother cradling her emaciated, deformed daughter in a traditional Japanese tub, titled ‘Tomoka Uemura in Her Bath.’

Based on true events from Smith’s autobiography, it’s adapted by co-screenwriters David K. Kessler, Stephen Deuters and Jason Forman, along with director Andrew Levitas. But they never really explore Gene’s motivations. That’s particularly obvious when Gene impulsively gives his camera to a crippled boy, who then shoots his own set of photographs.

As if to compensate for the storytellers’ lack of cohesiveness, cinematographer Benoit Delhomme delivers riveting visuals, accompanied by Ryuichi Sakamato’s poignant score – while Johnny Depp projects a searing image of pain under pressure.

The end titles detail what happened, including how industrial poisoning continues around the world, along with its deadly consequences.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Minamata” is an empathetic 7, available for rent or purchase on Prime Video and/or Apple TV.

Just how bad is “Morbius,” the Marvel origin story of Dr. Michael Morbius, the conflicted scientist with a rare blood disorder who mixes his plasma with that of vampire bats? Pretty bad…

Michael (Jared Leto) and his best friend Milo (Matt Smith) share this mysterious illness which has left them debilitated, forced to walk with canes. Determined to find a cure, Mobius takes off for Cerro de la Muerte in the misty mountains of Costa Rica, where thousands of vampire bats dwell.

There’s a flashback to Greece – 25 years earlier – recalling frail, young Michael (Charlie Shotwell) in a children’s clinic under the care of sympathetic Dr. Nicholas (Jared Harris). That’s where Michael meets a wealthy British lad, Lucien (Joseph Esson), who suffers from the same malady. Nicknaming his new friend Milo, Michael compares them to the Spartans: “We are the few against the many.”

Cut back to Morbius’ New York-based Horizon laboratory, where he stuns his colleague, Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), by turning down the Nobel Prize for his development of artificial blood because he feels that’s just the beginning of his life’s work.

Instead, Michael uses a centrifuge to combine his DNA with that of Costa Rican vampire bats. Since this kind of experimentation is unethical and illegal, he takes Martine with him on a cargo ship that sails off the Eastern Seaboard.

Once they’re in international waters, Martine injects his concocted serum into Michael’s spine. Suddenly, he grows fangs and razor nails as his body contorts, becoming bat-like, and he’s ravenous for the taste of human blood.  

Milo then wants in on the violent vampire carnage. In their final battle, Milo insists their new condition is not a curse but a gift – just what the Green Goblin said in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (2021).

Flimsily scripted by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the formulaic saga is directed by Daniel Espinosa, who stages overly shadowy action sequences. Plus, there are two post-credits ‘teaser’ scenes.

On the Granger Movie Gauge, “Morbius” is a miserable 5. Ghoulish gothic gloom.