Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Red Balloon [Book Review]

[This blog does spoil some major plot points from the book.]

"The Red Balloon" is a book written by Albert Lamorisse. It was published in 1956. It is the literary adaptation of the movie of the same name which was released the same year. The author is also the creator of the movie. Albert wrote, produced, and directed that movie which is one of my all time favorite films. I've seen it a lot of times since I was very young, and I still enjoy it to this day.

The story is about a boy named Pascal who finds a large red balloon tied to a street pole in Paris. At first it seems to be a regular balloon, but the boy soon figures out that it is actually sentient. It will not fly away if let go and will follow Pascal around like a loyal puppy.

The story goes into how the boy struggles to keep the balloon with him. There seems to be rules everywhere that will not allow him to take along his red balloon such as on the trolley, or to his school, and also to church. And although some of the adults can kind of see that the balloon is not acting normal, it irritates them more than amazes them, which I always found interesting.

The book is more of a booklet, and the story is more of a short story intended for children, which is fine. It is full of pictures which are production stills from the movie. This is also fine, and, might I say, well implemented. I was very impressed with how the pictures from the movie went with the text. This is a book really anyone can read and enjoy.

All except for one small detail, the book follows the movie to the letter. That one point has to do with how the balloon is ultimately destroyed. I felt that this scene was far better exhibited and had more impact in the film. It was very long and drawn out in the movie, which I felt gave it more power, but in the book, it is very fast and a bit jarring. That said, I still really liked the book.

Weirdly, I am going to recommend this one, if you can find it. It looks to me like everything involving this project was hand-crafted by Mister Albert Lamorisse. He did everything. This is one of those projects that has the very soul of the creator baked into it.

I should also say that you should find and watch the film. It's really good and has almost no dialog in it whatsoever. It uses imagery and music to convey thoughts and feelings. It's really a wonderful piece of art that I truly hope will stick around in our media for many decades to come. A child's imagination is a wonderful thing. They see things we silly adults often miss. This story is all about that, and I really love it.

This blog was written on November 30, 2023.

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