Toon Zone Talkback - "The Last Unicorn": A Sublime Classic

[Ed Liu]

This is the talkback thread for "The Last Unicorn": A Sublime Classic.

I really must find the time to sit down with this Blu-ray and rewatch the whole film. I'd gotten up to the part when Schmendrick is tied up by Cully the bandit and the tree falls in love with him (just as surreal as it sounds in print and on film) before getting distracted by other things.

One of my absolute favorite moments in the film is also when Molly Grue sees the unicorn for the first time (which I think is the scene in the splash image, above). Tammy Grimes drops an absolutely heartrending performance there when she's shrieking at the unicorn, "Where were you twenty years ago? Ten years ago? Where were you before I was THIS?!?" It's a potent line in print, but her performance is just so devastating. As I recall, the unicorn barely reacts, which is a nice visual way to declare how distant she is from human affairs. It's a point raised several times in the book (which I just re-read), but that specifically was a glorious prose-to-screen translation.

 

[BonnieB21:-)]

I'm Alive, I'M ALIVE!!!!!!!

The Last Unicorn came out the same time E.T. and Gandhi did, so it's not surprising it didn't get as big an audience as it should've. I loved it as a child and love it as an adult. It's beautifully animated, directed, scored, and sung. Since CN/WB seems to own Rankin-Bass' later works like Thundercats- why don't they show this masterpiece? I don't think CN ever has! Probably because it stars a female character!

Fun Fact: There was never a soundtrack for The Last Unicorn in the U.S. However, one night 2 years ago, I was half watching The Tonight Show and saw Kenny Loggins playing. I slowly began to recognize the piano melody he was playing and the lyrics and was shocked, SHOCKED to realize he was singing "The Last Unicorn" . Shocked but pleased. He covered America's title track on his "Return To Pooh Corner" album of lullabies.

http://www.amazon.com/Return-Pooh-Corner-Kenny-Loggins/dp/B0000029FW

[video=youtube;NhNdQOx29Vk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhNdQOx29Vk[/video]

Here's Kenny Loggins singing "The Last Unicorn" in an AMV. I'm thrilled to see somebody giving America's Last Unicorn music some RESPECT.

I didn't read the book until decades later. You get to find out more about Lir and Schmendrick, but I see why those parts were cut as well.

There's also a beautiful graphic novel of The Last Unicorn too. I eye-balled it in the Barnes & Noble, once.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Unicorn-...12/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313340055&sr=8-1#_

A few years ago there was talk of a live action remake, with Jeff Bridges, Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, and Angela Lansbury all reprising their roles. This was during the height of Harry Potter/Lord Of The Rings mania, CGI has come a long way. But I don't know if its quite ready for a live action lead horse/unicorn.

 

[TheGunheart]

Definitely an amazing film. The animation may not be quite as slick as Disney's output, but the art and writing more than makes up for it.

 

[Luna]

Awesome review!...This has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it as a child (I was around 7 at the time...I think it was on HBO)...I love the animation and the songs,and one of my favorite quotes come from this movie,Schmendrick's line "There are no happy endings,because nothing ends"...I also love Molly's rant when she first meets the unicorn (having waited her whole life to see one,and only finding one as a bitter,middle-aged woman),and Haggard's speech about unicorns in the middle of the movie...
Whenever I talk to other people about the movie,there's always one scene they remember,even if they don't remember anything else...

Spoiler

When all the unicorns come out of the sea near the end

I've read the original book(and the sequel story "Two Hearts"),as well as the recent graphic novel adaption (the art is totally different from the film,but equally amazing),and I love them both...I recommend reading both if you get around to it,especially if you want to know more about Shmendrick and Prince Lir....

 

[Justy]

Definitely an amazing film. The animation may not be quite as slick as Disney's output, but the art and writing more than makes up for it.

Disney's output at the time of The Last Unicorn's release was anything but slick. Appreciation of just how good this film looks can best be considered when you only compare it to films released before and up to when Last Unicorn came out.

 

[SF4Ever]

Disney had nothing to do with 1982's The Last Unicorn- it was produced by Rankin-Bass Productions. I've seen the movie when it was broadcast on Cartoon Network- the one thing I remember the most about that movie was the soundtrack, courtesy of America. The Last Unicorn was one of a handful of movies, produced by Rankin-Bass at the time, along with The Hobbit, The Return of the King and The Flight of Dragons.

 

[BonnieB21:-)]

Das Letzte Einhorn: The Stage Experience

I love doing random searches. You never know what will pop up. I found this on tumblr. Apparently there was a stage version of The Last Unicorn in Germany. It borrows heavily from the movie including using the animation as scenery and America's music in English. If you've read the book and seen the movie you don't need to know German to follow along.

I haven't watched the whole thing yet. In order for it to make Broadway, Julie Taymor would have to do the costumes. How else could a unicorn and a manticore or a harpy be brought to life on stage?

You know what else has a stage version? The Prince of Egypt!

TfN - Theater für Niedersachsen: SPIELPLAN


[video=youtube;rWTVZM8Ar8U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWTVZM8Ar8U[/video]

 

[Fone Bone]

The Last Unicorn

Tread lightly, Matt. You are dealing with a beloved classic. One I happened to dislike. I'm not saying I'm gonna pull punches in this review. But any complaints I make about a film this well-loved and remembered damn well better hold up to scrutiny.

Rewatching this was a long time coming. I saw this exactly once. In the theater when I seven. I, of course, disliked it. For a children's movie, it's not really child-friendly. Whatever I remembered about it I remembered wrong. I had thought the Unicorn died at the end. I guess I was not a very sophisticated 7 year old viewer in 1982. Although show me an 7 year old in 1982 that was.

What I will give the film credit for is its ambition. Mark Hamill did a famous Tonight Show appearance promoting Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm where he claimed that film was the first serious animated Western drama since Watership Down. He missed this film, as well as Bakshi's Fire And Ice, although for that one, he might have simply blocked it out of his memory.

The Rankin Bass animation is surprisingly decent, for that production. But let me be real. With THIS specific story, the animation needed to be beautiful, not passable. It is true it looks unlike other animated films of the era. But the character designs of the characters besides the Unicorn do not animate well and they are also shockingly and unnecessarily ugly and unappealing. The pacing is totally off due to poor direction and animation timing. The characters are unlikable. And the musical numbers feel both clumsy and intrusive. I am never gonna talk crap about the fact that the movie swung for the fences. It just did so with a whiffle bat hitting a bowling ball. That's the problem. If it was able to live up to its ambitions, I would have liked it.

I seem to recall the Watership Down from this era had similarly choppy animation, but rabbits were easier to animate than people, and it also did not have the timing problems this film does.

Finally, keep in mind, I am not judging this by all other animated films in 1982. The way I review stuff, new and old, is judging it by everything I've EVER seen. Is it a wonder it doesn't live up to that? It would be weird if it did. But no, the movie does not get a cookie from me for being all right in an era of terrible animation. Because I am reviewing it in 2023, and it does not hold up. You want to say that's unfair? Well, Roger Rabbit was made a mere 6 years later, and The Little Mermaid 7, and those still hold up fine. I don't think that's the unfair expectations fans of this movie will tell me it is.

The movie was rated G in 1982. If it were released today it would get an EASY PG-13. A HARD one in fact. To even get a PG rating they'd have to tone down almost everything. The G rating is bizarre to me in hindsight. Keep in mind 2001: A Space Odyssey got that rating too, and that was crazy way inappropriate for kids too. My whole bit is the MPAA is unfathomably corrupt and unhelpful to parents. And really, they have been since the beginning.

Sorry fans of the movie, I do not count myself among your number. **.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I love this movie. I love how it’s mature without it being too much for kids. Why do you think it would be a hard PG-13? It never felt like anything a PG can’t handle.

 

[Fone Bone]

The tone. PG-13 ratings are rated as such these days for tone, rather than content. It's a pretty intense story at points.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Sorry when I hear the phrase “hard PG-13” I’m imagining gore, nudity, and at least one or two F bombs.

 

[Fone Bone]

That would be the case if the MPAA weren't unfathomably corrupt. But for the MPAA we have. dark tones and intense action give otherwise relatively appropriate movies hard PG-13 ratings. That's how it works.

The movie you are describing would get rated R in 2023.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Just curious, but can you give me a few examples of PG-13 movies that earned their ratings just for their tone, but are otherwise inoffensive. I can only think of Cruella.

 

[Fone Bone]

I would argue the first Lord Of The Rings qualifies. Although the third one should probably have been rated R because of the beheadings, but again, corruption. Superman Returns also in no way deserved a PG-13.

I recall on the commentary to "Brave" that during the spooky scene in the swamp, the filmmakers had to go back and tone the mood down, otherwise the MPAA was going to give them a PG-13. If that sounds nuts to you, it is. The MPAA is just that bad.