Right from a very small child, when I first saw an illustration of one in The How and Why Wonder Book of Wild Animals bought for me by my mother, unicorns have always fascinated me. Consequently, shortly after it was published in 1982 I purchased the Unwin Paperbacks edition of fantasy novelist Peter Beagle's most famous work, his classic 1968 novel The Last Unicorn, and instantly, irrevocably, fell under the spell of its exquisitely written, thoroughly bewitching story.
Moreover, I was delighted to read on its front cover the notification that this novel was soon to be a major film. And so it was, being released later that very same year – but it was not until 1986, when I purchased it on video, that I finally watched this movie, which turned out to be a feature-length animated film, and I was totally enchanted all over again, especially as with Peter Beagle himself providing the screenplay it stayed generally faithful to his novel. However, many years had passed since I'd last viewed it, until 4 May 2023, that is, when I finally got around to doing so once more, this time in DVD format, and all the memories, magic, and melodies from this wonderful movie came flooding back. So here is my timely review of it.
Directed by Arthur Jr and Jules Bass (whose animation company Rankin-Bass Productions co-produced it), released in 1982 by Jensen Farley Pictures, and featuring a glittering host of big names from the acting world voicing the principal characters, The Last Unicorn tells the very moving, sometimes sad, frequently poignant, but always completely captivating story of how, after hearing a huntsman say that she is the last of her kind, a unicorn (voiced very empathically by Mia Farrow) reluctantly leaves her forest sanctuary to search for other unicorns, in the fervent hope that the hunter is wrong and that at least some do still exist in the world.
After encountering and imploring for information a verbose but decidedly flutter-brained butterfly (Robert Klein), spouting forth numerous snippets of songs and poems, she finally succeeds in extracting some serious, pertinent details from him – all of the other unicorns were driven away long ago by a fiery red bull who covered their footprints so that their departure left no trace for anyone to follow. However, this makes her only more determined than ever to locate them.
Weary from her journeying, however, the unicorn subsequently falls asleep in a field and is encountered by a witch named Mommy Fortuna (Angela Lansbury), who owns a travelling sideshow, The Midnight Carnival, which charges gullible visitors to view its supposed monsters. Most humans are unable to recognize a unicorn, seeing only a white hornless steed instead, should they encounter one, but those who are pure of heart or, as in the witch's case, have magical powers, can see its horn and know it for what it truly is, as she now does. Keeping the unicorn asleep via an enchantment, she and her henchman capture and cage it, to display it alongside her other exhibits.
When the unicorn awakens, she discovers her fate, and also that a fake horn has been attached to her brow by the witch, because otherwise her human audience would only see a white mare, her real horn being invisible to them. She is visited by one of the witch's employers, a young and seemingly ineffectual wizard named Schmendrick (Alan Arkin), but whose own magical powers, albeit limited, are sufficient for him to recognize her true nature too, and he vows to help her escape her imprisonment.
The unicorn informs Schmendrick that most of the Midnight Carnival's other so-called monsters are merely ordinary beasts that by virtue of the witch's powers of illusion appear to be something more. For in reality, the manticore is merely an old lion, the satyr nothing more than a lame ape, and the dragon simply a snake. However, to her horror the unicorn realizes that apart from herself, there is one genuine fabulous creature caged and on display here – Celaeno, vilest of the three monstrous, flesh-eating harpies from Greek mythology, who, like herself, had been captured by the witch while asleep.
After his magic fails to remove the bars from the unicorn's cage, Schmendrick resorts to stealing its key, unlocking the cage and setting her free. But instead of fleeing with him, the unicorn unlocks all of the other cages by touching their locks with her horn, including the rapacious harpy's, so that they too are now all free. In response, however, the malevolent monster swoops down on the unicorn, trying to kill her, but she wards it off with her horn. Then the harpy spies the witch, whom it hates far more, promptly killing and devouring her in revenge for having been imprisoned by her.
Meanwhile, the unicorn and Schmendrick have left the Midnight Carnival far behind, only for Schemndrick to then be captured by a group of forest-inhabiting outlaws led by Captain Cully, but they do not see the unicorn, as she has concealed herself. By conjuring up some ghostly images of Robin Hood and his men as a distraction, however, Schmendrick escapes, but Cully's woman, Molly Grue (Tammy Grimes), who doesn't love him and is tired of outlaw life, begs to accompany him on his quest. Moreover, Molly is actually able to recognize the unicorn for what she is when she reappears, having wished for so long to see one.
During her imprisonment, the unicorn had been informed by Mommy Fortuna that the Red Bull is owned by King Haggard (Christopher Lee), the joyless ruler of a desolate kingdom named Hagsgate, who is said never to have been happy. So this is where the unicorn and her two human companions are now heading – but before they reach it they are confronted by the terrifying Red Bull – a huge, blazing, demonic entity of fiery. coruscating form with enormous horns and blazing eyes, who seeks to drive the unicorn before it just like it has done with all of the others, forcing her on toward some undetermined but no doubt dreadful fate.
Desperate to save her, Schmendrick calls upon his magic to do whatever it will to thwart the Red Bull, as a result of which the unicorn is abruptly transformed into a young fair maiden. Both the now-human unicorn and Maggie are horrified, however, with Maggie scolding Schmendrick, telling him that if the unicorm remains in human form for very long she will go mad. Nevertheless, now that she is human the Red Bull no longer recognizes her as a unicorn thus losing interest in her and departing, so Schmendrick has indeed saved her life, at least for now.
When the trio of travellers reach Haggard's castle, they are granted entry, whereupon they meet the king and also his adopted son Prince Lir (Jeff Bridges), and introduce themselves as the magician Schmendrick, his helper Maggie, and his niece the Lady Amalthea (deliberately concealing from them her true unicorn nature).
During their stay, Schmendrick becomes Haggard's court magician and spends his time covertly seeking the Red Bull's hidden lair and the fate of the unicorns. Amalthea, conversely, inexplicably becomes drawn ever closer to the sea, gazing at it from turrets high up in the castle, while Prince Lir becomes drawn ever closer to Amalthea, even though she spurns his every attempt to befriend her.
As for Haggard, he is convinced that there is more to Amalthea than meets the eye, and after observing her at every available opportunity he finally confronts her while they are alone, claiming that her every action betrays who – and what – she really is. He then triumphantly reveals that in fact there is one thing that has made him happy – the sight of unicorns. So he had eventually commanded the Red Bull to chase every single one of them into the sea around his castle, where they are now forced to live, too afraid to venture out of the waves and encounter the Red Bull waiting for them. But they appear amidst the waves and foam, where Haggard can watch them from his castle and feel happy.
Upon hearing his shocking, seemingly outlandish confession, Amalthea flees from Haggard, believing him mad, but it is all true – so this is to be her fate too if the Red Bull recognizes that she is a unicorn. But will it do so anyway? For the longer she is remaining in human form as the Lady Amalthea, the more human she is becoming, which includes falling in love with Lir, love being an emotion no unicorn has ever before experienced. So if the Red Bull is to be destroyed and the unicorns released from the sea, it all must be achieved very soon, before Amalthea completely forgets her unicorn nature and thereby loses interest in completing her quest. Her true identity is revealed to Lir, who agrees to assist them by becoming the hero they require to confront and conquer the Red Bull – but will he succeed in this perilous task?
I'll leave you to watch the movie to find out what happens next, but despite it often being described as a children's film, let me assure you right away that The Last Unicorn is no such thing (Beagle wrote the original novel for adults, and he is also the person who wrote this film's screenplay, remember). So don't expect the usual unequivocal happy ending that such movies generally contain. On the contrary, this distinctly dark-in-parts and occasionally even violent animated film is far closer to the likes of Watership Down, Animal Farm, and The Plague Dogs than it is to any of Disney's traditional family-friendly classic cartoon movies. In particular, the Red Bull is a truly frightening apparition – a blazing behemoth of ultimate evil – as is the harpy. There is also a decidedly creepy, malign talking skeleton (René Auberjonois) whose grinning skull has glowing orbs of fire for eyes and a spine-chilling shriek that it gives voice to when it realises that it has been tricked by Schmendrick and the others into revealing the secret path leading from inside Haggard's castle to the subterranean lair of the Red Bull.
Equally, however, there is much beauty and brightness to behold here too, especially the gorgeous, multicoloured backgrounds in the unicorn's forest, and other rural settings through which she and her companions pass on their journey to Hagsgate. But undoubtedly the most visually appealing aspect of the entire movie is the unicorn herself, depicted in sparkling creamy-white that dramatically delineates her from her pastel surroundings at all times, and further enhanced by her perpetually rippling, flowing mane, all twirls and whirls and curlicues, imbuing her with a fey otherworldliness that persists even in her human form.
Of particular note are the unicorn's eyes, whose noticeably large, orb-like nature reminded me straight away of those sported by characters in the famous Studio Ghibli movies, and Manga characters too – and for good reason, as it turned out. For I've since discovered that whereas Rankin-Bass were responsible for this movie's background scenes as well as its dialogue and story (working from Beagle's screenplay), the characters' design and the animation itself were the work of the Japanese studio Topcraft, under this movie's third co-producer, Masaki Iizuka. And some of its key animators went on to establish…Japan's world-famous Studio Ghibi! What a small world it is, especially the movie world!
Another strong feature for me is this movie's music content, including its songs – all of which were the work of none other than legendary American songwriter Jimmy Webb. The title song, which immediately follows the brief introduction when the hunter reveals that this unicorn is the last one, is performed by the band America, and in my opinion it is quite simply one of the most beautiful film songs ever – click here to watch and listen to the spectacular segment featuring it.
Equally memorable are the vocal performances in this movie, but none more so than Mia Farrow's evocative portrayal of the unicorn as a complex combination of innocence, purity, passion, and youth, yet also wistful, lonely, sad, and perplexed – a gentle, enchanted creature of fable flung unexpectedly into the savage, deceitful world of humanity. For her, this is a dark, mysterious world regarding which she has neither the experience nor the knowledge to deal with, until bumbling but well-meaning Schmendrick comes to her assistance, subsequently supplemented by the more practical Molly and later still by the heroic albeit love-struck Lir.
Worth noting here, by the way, is that not only is the voice cast exceedingly impressive, but so too is the roster of additional actors and actresses who at one time or another had been considered for voicing various of the characters. For instance, Janet Leigh and Shasi Wells had been put forward as possibilities to voice the unicorn/the Lady Amalthea; Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Dustin Hoffman for Schmendrick; John Carradine and James Earl Jones for King Haggard; and Michael Crawford, Richard Harris, and Kurt Russell for Prince Lir. Also, the English band Renaissance had been considered in relation to composing the movie's songs and soundtrack before Jeff Bridges suggested Jimmy Webb.
Other than the beautiful opening scene and song, my favourite portion of The Last Unicorn is the relatively light-hearted butterfly scene (click here to watch it on YouTube). So many songs and poems are sampled and segued by this loquacious lepidopteran in the space of just a few moments that the poor unicorn is left thoroughly bewildered, not to mention more than a little disgruntled too by this impudent insect's disrespectful, impertinent attitude, awash with casual irreverence. Incidentally, the first time that I ever watched this movie, I mistakenly assumed that the butterfly was voiced by American actor/songwriter Paul Williams, because in my opinion its face resembles his, complete with large circular spectacles.
I can guarantee that The Last Unicorn will be unlike any animated movie that you have ever seen before. It was far ahead of its time back in 1982, and there have been plans ever since to remake it, utilizing all of the massive technological advances, including computer animation and CGI, that have been developed during the intervening 40 years, but this still hasn't happened (Christopher Lee and Angela Lansbury were even willing to reprise their original roles, but tragically they are no longer here to do so now). Personally, however, I hope that it is not remade – after all, why try to improve upon perfection?
If you'd like to view on YouTube an official trailer revealing some of the spellbinding magic that awaits you in The Last Unicorn, be sure to click here. Moreover, at the time of posting this review here at Shuker in MovieLand, you can actually watch the entire movie free of charge on YouTube if you click here.
Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.
