The Last Unicorn

1982 "There's Magic in Believing!"
7.3| 1h32m| G| en| More Info
Released: 19 November 1982 Released
Producted By: Rankin/Bass Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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From a riddle-speaking butterfly, a unicorn learns that she is supposedly the last of her kind, all the others having been herded away by the Red Bull. The unicorn sets out to discover the truth behind the butterfly's words. She is eventually joined on her quest by Schmendrick, a second-rate magician, and Molly Grue, a now middle-aged woman who dreamed all her life of seeing a unicorn. Their journey leads them far from home, all the way to the castle of King Haggard.

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Director

Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr.

Production Companies

Rankin/Bass Productions

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The Last Unicorn Audience Reviews

GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Anssi Vartiainen The Last Unicorn, based on Peter S. Beagle's book of the same name, is the story of the last unicorn, exactly as the title suggests. One day hunters happen upon her woods and inform her that they have not seen anyone like her in the whole wide world. This causes her to leave her forest in order to find what has happened to her kin. But unicorns are not really meant to wander the earth and on her way she encounters many characters both noble and savage, all of them hard for her to understand and overcome.I have not read the original novel, but this film really makes me want to do so. Because what we have here is not a fairy tale, like it would so easily seem to anyone giving it just a passing glance. Rather it's something more complicated than that. This film talks about the death of myth, and through that the death of purity. The unicorn in this film can be seen as a metaphor for multitude of things. Childhood, innocence, even naivety if you want to be pessimistic. She's literally incapable of regret, meaning that she has no way to learn from her mistakes or to regard something as a bad choice because of circumstances. And the more you think about that, the more horrific the idea becomes.Yet the film also shows certain purity in that idea. To introduce regret into a unicorn is to also taint it in some manner. It's a bittersweet moment, like the first time a child comprehends mortality.On the technical side of things, the film shines just as well. The animation was done by the Japanese studio Topcraft, the core of which would eventually go on to form Studio Ghibli. Their handcraft is perhaps a bit jerky at times, but it has tremendous style and beauty. The backgrounds especially are wondrous to witness. The score on the other hand is a bit hit and miss. Some songs are beautiful, but some are simply too short and random to leave much of an impact.The Last Unicorn stumbles here and there, but it's at its core a much deeper experience than most any animated film you've likely seen in a long time.
ThiefOfStars A lone unicorn learns from two huntsmen passing through her forest that she may be the last of her kind in existence. Unsure of what to think she asks a passing butterfly what he knows of the fate of her species.When the butterfly backs up what the huntsmen said by telling her that long ago all of the unicorns were hunted down by a red bull and now held captive in a faraway location, this prompts the unicorn to leave her forest in search of answers. In the outside world, only those that believe in unicorns can see her for what she truly is. Those who don't, see only a white horse.Pretty soon she is captured by a witch called Mommy Fortuna and held captive in her travelling carnival. Even though Mommy Fortuna can see the unicorn in her true form, she gives her a false horn. In fact, all but one other creature in the carnival, a harpy, is an ordinary animal with a spell cast upon them so that non-believers can buy into the illusion.Whilst captive, the unicorn meets Schmendrick, a magician who wants to be a real wizard. He too, can see the unicorn in her true form and agrees to help set her free. Once free, the unicorn sets the harpy loose, which then kills Mommy Fortuna and her other assistant leaving Schmendrick free to accompany the unicorn along her journey. In a conversation with the unicorn before her death, Mommy Fortuna alluded to the red bull being a minion of an old king named King Haggard so spurred on by her words, they head in the direction of King Haggard's castle.Along the way they meet a band of travellers, one of whom is a jaded, weary, middle aged woman called Molly Grue, who decides to leave her life behind and join Schmendrick in his bid to help the unicorn.As they approach the castle, the red bull appears and tries to force the unicorn into the sea. In an attempt to save her life Schmendrick casts a spell on her, inadvertently changing her into a human. They re-name her 'Amalthea' and continue onward to Haggard's castle.At first Haggard is unimpressed with his unexpected visitors and only lets them stay because he isn't fooled by Amalthea's outward appearance, though they are on borrowed time because the longer Amalthea stays a human on the outside, the more human she becomes on the inside.And to complicate things further, Haggard's son Prince Lir takes a romantic interest in Amalthea who rebuffs him at first, but slowly starts to return his feelings the more human she becomes.This animated adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's novel of the same name captures the wistful, melancholy tone of the book, perfectly.The music, sang and composed by America, while not to everyone's taste, also adds to this tone wonderfully.
Robert Reynolds This is an animated feature film adapted by Peter S. Beagle from his own novel. There will be spoilers ahead:This animated film is a fairly good adaptation of Peter S. Beagle's novel, which in no small part is due to Beagle's doing the screenplay himself. He did an excellent job. The animation and character design are surprisingly good, given that it's Rankin and Bass (I'm not a huge fan of Rankin and Bass). The song score doesn't really work for me as part of the film, even though it's good enough.The voice cast is uniformly good to excellent. Standouts include Mia Farrow as the unicorn/Lady Amalthea, Alan Arkin as Schmendrick, Christopher Lee as Haggard, Robert Klein as the Butterfly and Don Messick in a nice turn as a cat. Rene Auberjonois is good as a skeleton, as are Jeff Bridges as Prince Lir and Tammy Grimes as Molly.The plot is that there is a unicorn who is told by a strange Butterfly that she is the last unicorn and the others were captured by the "Red Bull". She decides to leave her forest to find out if she is the last unicorn, but is caught by Momma Fortuna (voiced by Angela Lansbury) and caged in her circus of fantastic creatures. She's befriended by Schmendrick, who frees her and she frees the other animals There's a beautiful sequence with a harpy trying to kill the unicorn in here.Schmendrick joins the unicorn and they are later joined by Molly. Schmendrick uses a magic spell to save the unicorn from the "Red Bull" (the animated sequences involving the bull are great). The unicorn turns into a human woman and she becomes the Lady Amalthea. The three of them come to Haggard's keep and become part of his household.Prince Lir falls in love with Lady Amalthea, who begins to feel the same way towards him. Schmendrick solves a riddle and finds out how to get past the "Red Bull". Lady Amalthea, Schmendrick, Lir and Molly travel into the "Red Bull's" area, where the quest is fulfilled, various plot lines are concluded and I won't spoil any of that here in case you haven't seen the film.Shout Factory just released a Blu-Ray/DVD combo, "The Enchanted Edition" and it's excellent. It and the film are well worth checking out. Recommended.
FilmFreak94 The Last Unicorn tells the story of a Unicorn who is unaware until recently that she is the last of her kind on earth. She learns that a Red Bull drove most of the unicorns from their respective forests and ventures from her own to find out more about what happened to them. Along the way she encounters a magician named Schmendrick who accompanies her on her quest and a careworn woman named Molly. The three travel to the castle of King Haggard who owns the Red Bull. When the Bull attacks the trio and tries to lure the unicorn into the sea Schmendrick turns her into a human in desperation. The three approach the castle and the unicorn, under the name Amalthea, and meet King Haggard himself along with his son Prince Lír. Amalthea is horrified at becoming human at first but soon becomes more used to it as she begins to fall in love with Lír. Haggard suspects that she is a unicorn and reveals that he keeps them all captive because they are the only things that make him happy. The trio must free the unicorns and find a way to turn Amalthea back into one before she remains human forever.This film has a lot going for it. The animation is pretty good, especially on the unicorn and Red Bull. And the all star voice cast seem to fit perfectly with their respective roles. This cast includes Mia Farrow as the titular unicorn, Alan Arkin as Schmendrick, and Tammy Grimes as Molly. In supporting roles are Jeff Bridges as Prince Lír, Angela Lansbury as Mommy Fortuna, Christopher Lee as King Haggard and many famous voice actors like Paul Frees, Don Messick, Brother Theodore and more. These talents really give the characters a sense of weight and relateability. One thing more that I liked is that there is no real villain in the story. There are plenty of people who act on selfish notions but none of them are deemed as outright evil. Even the Red Bull is only doing its job herding the unicorns and isn't classified as just an evil being on its own. However there are certain parts of the film that seem to drag on a bit long. Like when they arrive at Haggard's castle it seems like it takes awhile before the plot becomes interesting again. It more or less sidetracks into a love subplot between Amalthea and Lír which is fine but it seems more like a forced romance because it happens so fast.The parts that are most interesting to me is just seeing the Unicorn wandering down the road. Those parts really fill you with the right atmosphere that the world is ancient and vast and the Unicorn is really alone. So while I did like this movie I will admit it's a movie that you may or may not end up liking. It has a great cast, animation and atmosphere but it lags a lot in timing and even with all the fantastical elements like magic, and mythical creatures some of those elements aren't really built upon or explored further. The Last Unicorn is a different kind of fantasy film. It relies more on characterization then action scenes involving evil creatures and a driven good vs. evil plot. If that sounds like your sort of film, I recommend this one to you. If not, give it a miss.