The Last Unicorn
In the world of children’s movies there is a spectrum of quality. On one end there are movies so bad that even kids won’t like them. On the other end, there are movies so good that both kids and their parents will like them. Somewhere in the middle, there is that kind of movie that will enchant a kid to the point where they want to watch it again and again, but for the parents once is about enough. The Last Unicorn is firmly one of those middle movies.
Perhaps the most distinctive thing about the movie is its animation style. It doesn’t look at all like any other animated movie I can think of. The film was directed by Rankin and Bass, a duo most famous for their numerous beloved Christmas TV specials, and in typical Rankin/Bass fashion the animation was offshored to a Japanese animation house, in this instance Topcraft, the studio where Hayao Miyazaki worked before founding Studio Ghibli. This gives the film a really unique blend of Japanese and Western animation styles and traditions that leads to some powerfully unique visuals.
The voice acting is also pretty great. It’s a fairly all star cast with the likes of Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, and Angela Lansbury who, at least for the 80s, were all pretty big names. And they do a fairly good job. The material borders on cheesy at times but the cast does a good job of grounding it in the emotional reality of the characters and their experiences and that helps keep the story more believable and the movie more enjoyable.
Where the movie fails, and where it loses its rewatchability for adults, is in the shallowness of its story. Plenty of things seem just on the cusp of being really cool, interesting, or deep but then fall short. On the unicorn’s journey, going to interesting places and meeting interesting people in her quest to find her kin, we are provided with many short ideas that are just begging to be given more depth. Mommy Fortuna and her menagerie are so fascinating yet are reduced to a way to introduce Schmendrick the wizard. Captain Cully and his knaves barely do anything. The character evolution of Schmendrick, Molly Grue, Prince Lir, and Lady Amalthea that brings about the film’s climax never feels fully realized and the relationships never fully developed. The result is something that is watchable but somewhat unsatisfying. I imagine the book on which the film is based does much more in this regard but the film, perhaps in an attempt to keep the run time low for a children’s film, fails to deliver the same experience.
The story also adheres to many aspects of the hero’s journey, most notably the “call to action” and the “return home changed.” These are classic story beats for a reason and their inclusion is not the problem. Rather, the film calls explicit attention to this use of formula through its sparse narration, something that took me out of the movie. Again, something that most kids won’t notice, as they will probably be less familiar with the building blocks of archetypal story structure, but for many adults it will be impossible to ignore how on the nose The Last Unicorn’s narrative narration can be.
Overall The Last Unicorn is… fine. Kids movies are so frequently a morass of low effort garbage intended to take advantage of the fact younger people don’t have as discerning tastes. The Last Unicorn isn’t that. It’s an interesting story, despite its slightly shallower and clumsier execution, and has a visual style that is striking and different from both traditional western and eastern animation traditions. It just doesn’t have that extra bit of quality that would put it on the level of most classic Disney films or any of the early Pixar hot streak.
Would Recommend: If you are looking for something other than the typical Disney offerings, but better than the Boss Babies of the world, to show your kid.
Would Not Recommend: If you are worried that you will have to watch a movie with a frustrating lack of depth and cohesion again and again when your kid falls in love with it.