elicopperman Based on a book of the same name by Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn has remained one of the most beloved animated fantasy cult classics of the 1980s. Created by Rankin-Bass, most well known for their stop-motion Christmas specials from the 1960s, the film went on to gross a modest comeback financially and received positive reviews. It wouldn't be until it was released on home video, however, when it really grew in terms of popularity, at least in terms of people watching it as children back in the day. As for what I think of it, I'll admit that there are many admirable qualities to it, but it's not something I ever care to watch again.The story of a unicorn searching for the rest of her species with the help of an amateur magician sounds promising enough, and to the film's credit, it does take some interesting plot directions from time to time. Without giving away anything, let's just say that the spells that come from this amateur magician, Schmendrick, should happen more often in fantasy films. However, what bogs the story down is how lackluster the characters are, as most of them only stay interesting for so long and don't grow much outside of their basic archs. The unicorn herself does go through the most development in the second half of the feature, but until then we have to sit through padded out action scenes, boring character interactions, and even additional archs that aren't even memorable in the first place. Considering that the film was animated in Japan, the animation and production design present the film with an anime aesthetic, with luscious colors, gorgeous backgrounds, and well detailed designs. Unfortunately, due to the low budget, the character animation is rather stilted and the bland facial expressions don't really help elevate the wonderful vocal performances from the likes of Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, etc. When you can't even visually display one of the biggest fundamentals of animation on screen, there's a big problem. That being said, the special effects are very well done, and along with some imaginative usages for potions and spells, the film really embraces how magic works on a visual level as much as an ideology. To sum it all up, The Last Unicorn is a serviceable effort for an animated fantasy film from the days of The Dark Crystal and The Secret of Nimh. While the plot can get sidetracked sometimes, the characters are two dimensional at best, and the animation is hit or miss in terms of quality, it does feature some interesting philosophies on how magic works, the voice-cast is fantastic, and it at least knows how to tell its story. If you grew up with this film and you'd like to re watch it or you're into the cult classic family-friendly fantasy films during the Reagan era, by all means give it a watch. As for me, I had some fun with it, but it didn't keep me invested enough to want to view it again anytime soon, although I adore the opening musical number by Jimmy Webb.

ThiefOfStars A lone unicorn learns from two huntsmen passing through her forest that she may be the last of her kind in existence. Unsure of what to think she asks a passing butterfly what he knows of the fate of her species.When the butterfly backs up what the huntsmen said by telling her that long ago all of the unicorns were hunted down by a red bull and now held captive in a faraway location, this prompts the unicorn to leave her forest in search of answers. In the outside world, only those that believe in unicorns can see her for what she truly is. Those who don't, see only a white horse.Pretty soon she is captured by a witch called Mommy Fortuna and held captive in her travelling carnival. Even though Mommy Fortuna can see the unicorn in her true form, she gives her a false horn. In fact, all but one other creature in the carnival, a harpy, is an ordinary animal with a spell cast upon them so that non-believers can buy into the illusion.Whilst captive, the unicorn meets Schmendrick, a magician who wants to be a real wizard. He too, can see the unicorn in her true form and agrees to help set her free. Once free, the unicorn sets the harpy loose, which then kills Mommy Fortuna and her other assistant leaving Schmendrick free to accompany the unicorn along her journey. In a conversation with the unicorn before her death, Mommy Fortuna alluded to the red bull being a minion of an old king named King Haggard so spurred on by her words, they head in the direction of King Haggard's castle.Along the way they meet a band of travellers, one of whom is a jaded, weary, middle aged woman called Molly Grue, who decides to leave her life behind and join Schmendrick in his bid to help the unicorn.As they approach the castle, the red bull appears and tries to force the unicorn into the sea. In an attempt to save her life Schmendrick casts a spell on her, inadvertently changing her into a human. They re-name her 'Amalthea' and continue onward to Haggard's castle.At first Haggard is unimpressed with his unexpected visitors and only lets them stay because he isn't fooled by Amalthea's outward appearance, though they are on borrowed time because the longer Amalthea stays a human on the outside, the more human she becomes on the inside.And to complicate things further, Haggard's son Prince Lir takes a romantic interest in Amalthea who rebuffs him at first, but slowly starts to return his feelings the more human she becomes.This animated adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's novel of the same name captures the wistful, melancholy tone of the book, perfectly.The music, sang and composed by America, while not to everyone's taste, also adds to this tone wonderfully.

achsaphillippi8 I've heard of this movie every now and again, and I've only ever heard good things about it. I read the graphic novel, and it was fantastic, so it only made sense to check out the movie. I was disappointed, to put it simply.Over the course of the opening credits, I got a bit excited to see so many big names: Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee, and Jeff Bridges! But the ear-bleedingly bad 80's music started playing and my expectations lowered significantly. As soon as the first moving character came on the screen, they lowered even more.The animation is just awful. I know it's an older film, but Disney's oldest movies still look better than this! The characters move strangely, and their lips don't sync with their voices very well. The best animated character was the Red Bull, and even that wasn't very impressive. The story is interesting in of itself, but I don't think it was executed in the best way. The dialogue was hammy and awkward, once again making old Disney animations look superior in comparison. The big name actors didn't seem all that enthusiastic about delivering their lines, not that it mattered because the characters were pretty boring to begin with. Even Christopher Lee, with his wonderful villainous and menacing voice, seemed to be half-assing it. I suppose there was some kind of message or point to this whole story, but I'm not entirely sure what it was.I've read the graphic novel (which was written years after this film), and it made a lot more sense. The art was also better. I was very surprised to find that this movie had so much praise on this site, until I realized that 90 percent of those reviews were written by people riding on a nostalgia high. I guess I don't feel anything from The Last Unicorn because I didn't first watch it when I was 4.Should I recommend it or not? I don't know. I'll have to watch this film again, because I need to find something good about it. I wasn't ready to give it a 1 out of 10, because I didn't feel angry or betrayed after watching it. Just confused.Go watch it if you like childish fairy tales and unicorns, and if you don't mind awful cheesy 80's pop.

DangerAwesome "The Last Unicorn" is an animated film with great drawings, decent animation, a mediocre plot, and horrible pacing. The pacing is dictated by the music. The music is both a strength and a weakness.The plot could easily have been condensed into way less than that of a feature film. Frequent breaks for musical numbers is the only reason it reaches 90 minutes. And even then, the non-music parts of it are rather slow. I'm not saying the music in the movie is a bad thing, but it both lives and dies by it. On one hand the music isn't that great by itself, but on the other hand the movie seems designed to fit itself around the tone of the music. And in that way it fits very well.The one thing I loved about this movie was the drawings. Especially when they showed the darker and evil characters. The drawings for the red bull and harpy Celaeno were amazing. The contrast to the unicorn and her overly contoured childlike drawing helped set them apart and make them amazing as they were.The movie is full of holes if you are thinking about it too hard. It's too slow, the music isn't that good, Molly Grue cries out "Schmendrick!" at least 10,000 times. It's one of those movies with a good concept and good morals, but if you try to dissect it you will succeed. I'd bet young girls will love it. To an adult it's not as unbearable as the title may suggest, but it's nothing spectacular.