Over the last crumbling mountain...
This review is for Amberlicious.
If you haven't guessed by now, this review will be about The Last Unicorn.
The Last Unicorn came out in 1982, based on the book of the same name. It's a Rankin/Bass joint. Right there should be enough to tell you it's high quality. We're talking about the same production company that brought you The Hobbit and Thundercats. (Ho!)
They stuck pretty close to the story. A unicorn (Mia Farrow) over hears some hunters talking in the woods about the lack of unicorns in the world. She decides to go on a quest to find them all. Along the way she is captured by Mommy Fortuna, a witch with a traveling side show of mythical beasts. But almost all the beasts are not really mythical. They are ordinary animals with magic spells on them to make them look different. Only the unicorn and the harpy are real.
The unicorn is freed by a Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), a small time magician. The unicorn learns that King Haggard has had his red bull capture all of the unicorns and that she is the last of her kind. Some more stuff happens along the way before she is finally confronted by the red bull. Schmendrick turns her into a woman so the red bull will leave her alone. Once a woman (her human name is Lady Amalthea), the King's son, Prince Lir, falls in love with her.
Anyway, she ends up defeating the red bull, saving her unicorn brethren, and turning back into a unicorn. So it's a really cool story. But they did it in a way that both kids and adults can enjoy. I find that characteristic with all great fantasy movies. I also find that all great fantasy movies were made before 1990, barring 3 exceptions. (I bet you can guess those). They really knew how to make classic movies back then.
The voice acting is great. I can't say a bad thing about it. I really loved Alan Arkin. He was my favorite actor in the movie. Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee, Jeff Bridges, and Tammy Grimes were all great as well.
I love this style of animation. It's like a cross between the animation from The Hobbit and Thundercats. And the sound track...well you really can't beat it. When you have America record your movie's music, there's no way it won't be kick ass.
There is something hard to describe about this movie and how it makes me feel, and many other's in the genre that came out around the same time. Being a child of the 80's, it brings back feelings from my childhood both good and bad. Mostly good. There are 3 other fantasy movies that do the same thing for me: Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, and Legend. And like those 3 movies, this is one of the all time greatest fantasy movies. Top 10 for sure.
9 out of 10...I'm Alive!!!
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