The Last Unicorn (1982) (25th Anniversary Ed.)

A Great Story, but...

By Yahoo! Shopping User  Feb 24, 2004 | 1 out of 1 found this The Last Unicorn (1982) review helpful

Pros: Musical background, characters, and styling

Cons: Animation technique, plot, and deserving of PG rating

I first saw this movie when I was 10 when it aired on cable. I have always liked this movie and avidly support anyone interested in seeing it to give it a try. However, I feel a more thorough review is needed over the "all 5 star" reviews t...hat have been done.Firstly, the music is fantastically arranged, composed, and performed. Jimmy Webb composed some of the most memorable music seen in film for The Last Unicorn, ranking in my estimation with Alan Menken, Richard Rodgers, and Richard Sherman as far as musical talent. (note that Alan Menken is the only person alive today to have personally won 8 Academy Awards) America did a fabulous job with the title piece, "The Last Unicorn". It's well done enough that it can carry without the movie, a must in my book to establish good musical styling.The characters as portrayed in the film are believable and well written. They have flaws and quirks, even among the heroes. The voice casting was nothing short of a "who's who" list of voice character actors. More than the short list that has been described so far, there are many well-known actors in this film. Paul Frees (best known as Boris Badenov from the original "Rocky and His Friends" and Professor Ludwig Von Drake, he is also the "Ghost Host" from Disney’s Haunted Mansion) as the master magician Mabruk, Keenan Wynn (aka Alonzo Hawk from many Disney films) as the scoundrel Captain Cully, Rene Auberjonois (Odo from Deep Space 9) fills in the voice of the laughing skeleton, Don Messick (who did hundreds of voices for dozens of Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers cartoons like Boo-Boo Bear and Hamton Pig) as the pirate-ish cat that that "never gave anyone a straight answer", Theodore Gottlieb (aka. Brother Theodore best known for his "dark humor" and listed in "Who's Who in Comedy" circa 1992) as Ruhk the hunchback of Mommy Fortuna's carnival, and Jeff Bridges (who was also acting the lead character Kevin Flynn in the movie TRON at the same time) as the voice of Prince Lir. In addition to Angela Lansbury, Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, and Christopher Lee, these were the reason why the characters felt so real. All of these talents had spent years honing the art of voice acting.The basic styling of the film is what you'd expect on a much higher budget film. Jules Bass did a wonderful job given the lack-luster response of his two previous animated attempts into children's literature, The Hobbit and The Return of the King. Many felt his attempt to translate yet another fantasy style book into animation would translate as poorly as has the others, but Bass had learned a lot in those earlier films and it shines through in The Last Unicorn.Now the downsides...Unfortunately
, it seemed the spent all their budget on the cast and production and had little left over for actual cell animation. The poor repetitive animation style of The Hobbit and ROTK are continued here, translating into a poorly animated translation of great acting and overall style.IMHO, the plot was left vacant and predictable. (even at age 10) I knew what was going to happen before it did during most of the film and as such, many of the plot twists ended up as "plot bends." The original book was held to faithfully enough, (having read it in later years) but the problem with the thin plot meant for children was compounded by the awesome and often terrifying visualizations of the film, leaving it too intense for small children and too thin for teens. It needed a higher rating, PG was called for here, animated or otherwise.Overall, I rate the film highly. The plot and story line won’t surprise you, but as the saying goes, "Knowing the destination isn't the same as taking the trip." Read more Less