The Last Unicorn (1982)

Directors:

Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writers:

Peter S. Beagle (novel)
Peter S. Beagle (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Fantasy

Tagline:

A Treasured Fantasy Classic of Incomparable Charm!

Plot:

A brave unicorn and a magician fight an evil king who is obsessed with attempting to capture the world's unicorns. |

Plot Keywords:

Unicorn | Magician | Evil King | King | Wine

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Alan Arkin	...	Schmendrick (voice)
Jeff Bridges	...	Prince Lir (voice)
Mia Farrow	...	Unicorn / Amalthea (voice)
Tammy Grimes	...	Molly Grue (voice)
Robert Klein	...	The Butterfly (voice)
Angela Lansbury	...	Mommy Fortuna (voice)
Christopher Lee	...	King Haggard (also in german language version) (voice)
Keenan Wynn	...	Captain Cully / Harpy (voice)
Paul Frees	...	Mabruk (voice)
Rene Auberjonois	...	The Skull (voice)
Brother Theodore	...	Ruhk (voice)
Don Messick	...	The Cat (voice)
Jack Lester	...	Hunter #1 / Old Farmer / Cully's Men (voice)
Nellie Bellflower	...	The Tree (voice)
Ed Peck	...	Jack Jingley / Cully's Men (voice) (as Edward Peck)

Also Known As:

Das letzte Einhorn (West Germany)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | UK | Japan | West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:Btl (TV rating) | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:6

Company:

Rankin/Bass Productions

Trivia:

The harpy's name is Celaeno, which is a true harpy in Greek Mythology, encountered by Aeneas.

Quotes:

Prince Lir: [singing] I've had time to write a book about the way you act and look, / But I haven't got a paragraph. / Words are always getting in my way. / Anyway, I love you. That's all I have to tell you. / That's all I've got to say. / And now I'd like to make a speech about the love that touches each, / But stumbling I would make you laugh. / I feel as though my tongue were made of clay. Anyway, I love you. That's all I have to tell you...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shrek (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Last Unicorn

Whimsical

I only saw this movie recently and I wondered why I had never seen it before. I haven't read the book, and I only vaguely remembered some of my friends mentioning this movie.

I'm not usually a big fan of classic medieval fantasy, even though I love fantasy in general, but I enjoyed this movie so much. Even though it's a family movie, it doesn't get too cutesy and doesn't sweeten the story and the universe that the characters evolve in. And the characters do evolve, which is another of the good points in it. Even though it's a fairy tale, it's easy to apply some themes of the movie to our world. By example, we can suppose that this is a movie about staying true to yourself. This is no Disney movie. The ending can be seen in a positive as well as in a negative light. You can have many opinions about it, which is one thing I liked so much.

The art and character design is beautiful. You can tell it was made in the 70's or early 80's and it just adds more appeal to it. The style is a mix between anime and occidental cartoon style, but it works very well, specially since this type of collaboration cartoon was so frequent at that time. The atmosphere of the movie is helped by the gentle colors and the music. Yes, the music.. The music wasn't so great, I have to admit, but it really worked well for one reason. They didn't take instrumental music, they didn't try to compose fantasy-themed music for it. They used modern music, and even though it wasn't the best, it added a different and pleasant feeling to it..

In my opinion this is a beautiful movie that deserves a really high mark..