Version française
Version française
Little Cedric Erol lives in a popular district of New-York. He doesn't know that he is in fact the grandson of the Earl of Dorincourt, and as a consequence the heir of a prestigious British family. He is also unaware that a few years before, his father left England after a violent quarrel with the Earl, who didn't want to recognise the marriage of his son with "an American commoner". But after the death of his father, Cedric becomes Lord Faunteleroy, and has to go in England with his grandfather. As soon as he arrives, he is taken away from his mother and very coldly welcomed by the Earl who is prejudiced against the Americans. But Cedric is a very lovable child, and he'll win the hearts of everyone; even of his sour grandfather.
If you have read my presentation of the WMT, you know that IMO Little Prince Cedie marks the end of the meisaku's golden age. Let's examine the facts: in 1988, none of them had ever contained less than 46 episodes (Little Princess Sara in 1985), whereas Little Prince Cedie only contains 43 episodes. You'll probably say it is a little difference, but the series was to be long: the New-York part, which is just the introduction of the anime last 12 episodes. 12 episodes in order to get to the heart of the matter, but a very abrupt end to conclude the series: the last part of the book (which accounts for a quarter of the novel) is botched in 5 episodes, and the last chapter of the book last here less than 2 minutes (less than 120 seconds!)... as if Nippon Animation had had to shorten the series on the way. I also have to speak about the episodes length: the first ones last a bit more than 21 minutes (as usual in the WMT), but their length suddenly decrease of 2 minutes (10% animation less per ep) after the first quarter of the series. Really... everything makes me believe something "abnormal" happened between Nippon Animation and Fuji Tv that very year...
On the other hand, Little Prince Cedie is still remarkably well produced. It is one of the WMT that has the best backgrounds, with beautiful pictures of the British landscape, and the animation is what you can expect from Nippon Animation. Unfortunately, the same thing can't be said about the story.
Many things don't sound very "natural" in little Prince Cedie: many scenes are very exaggerated and melodramatic; and it makes the anime very soppy. I have never seen the characters beginning to laugh or to cry with no reason like in this series. Many of them are fairly inconsistent and have caricatured behaviour. They behave like anime characters, and not like real persons. If you had been irritated by Pollyanna's moralistic talks, you won't be disappointed by Cedric mother!^_^ All that soon becomes annoying: I had liked most of the WMT because of the characters, who had strong, but not excessive personalities. In Little ¨Prince Cedie, they too often look like puppets.
But I have to moderate my judgement again: not all the characters are spoilt. Some even are very picturesque, like little Collin, an adooorable 5 years old little girl, a friend of Cedric. She is one of the anime characters who made me laugh most in my life. ^_^ On the credit site, Little Prince Cedie also contains moving scenes, accompanied by a very nice background music (a bit repetitive, though), many funny sequences (a bit like in My Annette), and a plot that remains interesting until the end.
In a word, this series has qualities, but remains on the whole rather disappointing. The WMT golden age definitly stops here for me.
The series has a beginning song which is interpreted by Christina D'Avena.
Cedie is the first WMT ever shown in the Philippines, in the early 90's. Like all the later meisaku, it was broadcasted on Channel 2; this channel then showed it once again (Spring 2000).
Back to World Masterpiece Theater's listing.
Frédéric Goëtzinger
(goetz@starnet.fr)
Opening date: March 23, 1998 - last update: September 23, 2001