The Last Unicorn: Retro Review
I don’t really remember watching The Last Unicorn as a child, but it’s pretty intense. The first thing that caught my attention was the visual style, which is very similar to a few older features I’ve seen. If Thundercats and The Hobbit (the 1977 animated one) had a baby together and that baby then had a baby with Kiki’s Delivery Service and Speed Racer was the godfather, then that would put us somewhere in the neighborhood of this movie’s visual style. It’s a little stiff at times and even has too many frames at others, but it’s beautiful. The characters fit the world they’re in as if it’s a real place. Even the three breasted harpy that creeped me out with her dangling nipples.
It all works. Most of the voice actors, including Jeff Bridges and Christopher Lee (rest in peace) are still stars today! The work is superb. There is so much talent surrounding this project. If it wasn’t for the incredibly dated music, one might think this movie was ten years younger. The music tends to decelerate the already slow pace. There’s so much in this movie that it feels like it’s crawling, but something is always happening. Every scene is vital to the story, so the snail’s pace is actually quite deceptive.
Philosophically speaking, the Last Unicorn is a goldmine. When a creature is beautiful and eternal, it can’t be anything like a human. For the small time she was human, she developed human emotions, which ruin what she was before. She becomes selfish and even wants to quit her mission to save her entire species. She falls in love and decides she wants only what she wants. If it wasn’t for Prince Lir, unicorns would’ve been completely screwed. Luckily the Red Bull (yes, that’s the monster’s name) and Schmendrick returned her to her true form. Also, Mollie makes a great conscience character and there are no forced romances. Everything fit.
The ending was sad, but also kind of profound. A world was returned to balance and a creature devoid of human feelings learned both love and regret in the end. There’s a lot to be said about what it is to be human and what perfection is/needs to exist. It also shows the lengths that one said and terrible person would go to for self satisfaction. King Haggard isn’t the worst villain I’ve ever seen, but he’s pretty despicable. He was also murdered by a castle, an ocean and a unicorn stampede. Justice served.
Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.
