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Trypticon
Jun 13, 2005

'Begone Metroplex!' rejoined he. 'Quit the room, or I will trample you into atoms.'
Directed by: Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin
Starring: Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury

I saw this when I was little and found it haunting. Because of this, I just recently bought the DVD.


This movie is done by the same people that did the old Lord of the Rings cartoon, and the style is present here as well. This movie exudes a feeling that its world is just barely holding back tears. The somewhat wavering music combined with the animation style and the voicing lend it the perfect mood. The world is slowly slipping into chaos and losing its past. Cheap tricks are a dime a dozen, but there is hardly anything real left in the world.

The main character in the movie is, of course, the Unicorn (Farrow). She is animated in a slightly more anime style than the human characters, but it fits perfectly. Overhearing some hunters discussing her kind, she discovers that she may be the last in the world. Struck with paranoia, she cannot help but leave her forest to find out what happened to the rest.

She meets a butterfly, who speaks in catchphrases and strange quotes, who slips her a hint. In his rantings, he tells her of the Red Bull (this was before the drink), who has driven all of the Unicorns to ends of the earth. I think it is this monologue that haunted me so much as a child.

Soon after, she is abducted by a freak show of sorts, Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival. Fortuna the witch, has put spells on several old, withering animals so that they seem like things of legend to those who want to see them that way. An employee of the Carnival, Shmendrick the Magician (Arkin) helps her escape. In my opinion, Arkin does the best acting in the movie. He slips into his character perfectly. Later, they also pick up an aging woman, Mollie Grue. She is depressed with her life, serving an aspiring, but failing bandit, so she acompanies them. Eventually, they make their way to King Haggards's (Lee) castle. The Red Bull slumbers in the depths, and the three must find him to free the other Unicorns.

The Red Bull is animated very nicely with fire and bright white eyes. A very demonic atmosphere. He chases the Unicorn down, forcing Shmendrick to make her human at the last second.

There are a few things that don't work, but they don't detract a lot from the rest of the movie.

1) Tammy Grimes as Mollie Grue is somewhat annoying, especially when she gets angry or emotional.

2)Mia Farrow gets slightly less enjoyable to listen to upon turning into a human.

3) The obligatory Animated movie songs are all shoved in one spot in the middle. The 70's band "America", who does the wonderfully haunting theme song, sings "In the Sea" at this point. It is a very nasal song, and I can't listen to it. Right after that, Farrow sings "Now that I'm a woman", which was originally cut from the movie due to it's awfulness. I personally can't stand to listen to it either. Right after that, she and the Prince of the castle have a duet, that isn't inherently bad, it's just overly mushy.

Otherwise, it's a wonderful movie with great imagery! It is written by Peter Beagle, author of the novel, and thus is extremely loyal to the book. They only cut out about 1 chapter to meet the time requirements. Overall, I love the movie and can't get enough of the book it's based on.

RATING: 4

PROS: Excellent, loyal adaption of the classic novel
CONS: The 15 minute musical in the middle

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084237/

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Bantha Poodoo
Dec 13, 2004
That's...that's what it is.
I didn't see this as a child. I rented it a couple years ago because a friend recommended it to me, knowing I love fantasy and whimsical things and unicorns. And I did really like it, except for a few things:

1. Red Bull gives you wings!! (not the movie's fault, but..)
2. Everything had BOOBS. The TREE had frickin boobs. That kind of disturbed me.
3. Some of the voice acting was not so hot.

But on the pro side!

1. The skull was awesome.
2. The song by America is so haunting and pretty (the title theme)
3. Some of the art was really pretty.

So this is one of those classics that, in the same way as most Don Bluth cartoons, are unique in their darkness. I loved that about cartoons in the 70's/80's and I wish they still had them today. Yes, Disney accomplishes this on occasion, but not nearly on the same level as Don Bluth or "The Last Unicorn".

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