The Last Unicorn Review

MPAA Rating: G
Released: 1982

The Last Unicorn is a paradox of sorts, because while it is generally not one of the more popular animated movies to arrive during the 1980's, it has a significant legion of fans that praise its very essence. The movie tells the tale of a unicorn that believes she is the last of her race, but when a butterfly indicates she might be able to discover others of her kind the unicorn undertakes a journey where she will experience love, pain, happiness and regret.

Amalthea (Mia Farrow) is a unicorn that has lived a peaceful life in her forest, but while eavesdropping on a pair of hunters one day she hears them mention that she is the last of the unicorns. Although Amalthea has never seen another of her kind, she is disturbed by this possibility; she always assumed there were others of her kind out there. After a cryptic butterfly drops a hint as to how she can discover if there are any others of her kind, she leaves the sanctuary of her forest to undertake a perilous adventure to find other unicorns.

Her journey is fraught with dangers, such as when she is captured by Mommy Fortuna (Angela Lansbury), a devious witch that captures the unicorn and cages her in order to use her as a circus sideshow. Luckily the kindhearted Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), a bumbling sorcerer, takes pity on the unicorn and helps Amalthea escape her prison.

Together they travel to the castle of King Haggard (Christopher Lee), where they meet up with a wild-spirited woman by the name of Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes), who also elects to join them on their journey. The notion of strength in numbers generally holds true, but when the threesome faces the sheer power of Haggard's vicious Red Bull Amalthea's life will be shattered forever…

The Last Unicorn is actually based on a novel that is intended for adults as much as it is children, so although the story has been neutered somewhat to make it more suitable for an animated movie, this film contains some deeper themes and intense moments than would normally be expected of a G-rated movie. For this reason, many adults are also strong fans of this film.

A quick scan of Internet reviews for this film, whether on websites or user-submitted reviews on the IMDb and/or Amazon, will show an overwhelming flood of praise for this movie. Obviously a film that is so well loved must have something to it, but I have to go against the grain with The Last Unicorn because the movie left me unimpressed.

My first criticism is the animation. Now no one expects 80's animation to be as technologically advantaged as today's animation, but films like the Secret of NIMH show that absolutely stunning animated works were capable back then. The Last Unicorn's animation is average… borderline bad. I found it to be a lazy attempt for a cinematic film; it was more suited to an afternoon television cartoon.

There are some musical interludes in the movie and again here's where some loved them and others disliked them. I fall into the latter camp. The musicianship wasn't terrible, but the singing often left a lot to be desired. Mia Farrow was an actor, not a singer.

Finally we come to the story itself. As I mentioned before, the plot is deeper and more emotional than you might expect from most animated films, but I just couldn't get absorbed in this film. The pace of the movie was inconsistent towards the second half and I found the overall effort rather pedestrian.

Before I am accused of being slanted against animated movies due to my age, I will point out that even though I'm an adult I can still appreciate a well-done animated cartoon or movie. I believe animation can be timeless if done properly, as the Secret of NIMH proves. So I wanted to really like The Last Unicorn, but I just couldn't.

That having been said, I cannot say The Last Unicorn is a bad movie, because the sheer quantity of praise it garners proves otherwise. Instead I will say that it didn't appeal to me, but I believe this film would be a strong contender for younger children, women or adults that grew up with the film and possess fond memories of it.

Movie rating: 6 stars

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