The Last Unicorn (1982) - A charming and somewhat dark, but flawed fantasy film

There was a strange trend in kids movies of the 1980s, a trend that many of us look back on in either joy or confusion. A trend that may have had a hand in shaping the modern animation landscape. Kids movies in the 1980s got darker and more intense. Why this happened I am unsure, but if I could guess, I'd say it was a response to something, to what I would not know. This trend seemed to really begin in 1982, when movies like The Secret of NIMH and The Dark Crystal were released, movies with G and PG ratings with more of an edge to them. The Secret of NIMH is one of the earliest of these movies, but I think The Last Unicorn was also an influence in this trend as well.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by Peter S. Beagle, who also did the screenplay for this movie. It is nice when an author gets some creative control of their property when it gets adapted. I've been meaning to get a copy of the book but I've never gotten around to it, next time I'm at the bookstore I'll pick up a copy. Anyway, the movie follows the titular "Last Unicorn", as she leaves her forest to find others, after she is told of a Red Bull that chased them away. In her travels, she comes across a struggling magician named Schmendrick and a ragged maiden by name of Molly Grue. That covers about the first two-thirds of the movie, the last third has the Unicorn turned into a human, and while at the castle of King Haggard, she begins to become more human than Unicorn. It works, nothing about the plot is wholly special, but it works. Granted I could be missing a lot of subtext, there is a lot that could be said in regards to the book and film being allegory, satire or commentary, but I am not well versed to understand any of it. The other thing of note is that this movie does have a few musical montage transitions in there. I think these mostly serve a nice, pleasant and more calming moments as a breather between darker scenes like the Midnight Carnival or more intense scenes like General Scully.

The music is rather nice I'll say. The music was composed by Jimmy Webb who is most famous for songs like "By The Time I Get to Phoenix" and "MacArthur Park". The music was performed by the band America, most known for the god-awful song "A Horse With No Name", with orchestral work done by the London Symphony Orchestra. Oddly enough, the combination of America and the London Symphony Orchestra lead to some honestly really beautiful tracks. I can see why the title track was covered by Kenny Loggins, Loreena McKennitt, even Ninja Sex Party did a cover of it, and yeah, it's a really beautiful track. I also really like "Man's Road" I think that song is just as good. Unfortunately, we get some singing from the cast, specifically from Mia Farrow and Jeff Bridges. I can at least see someone really liking Mia Farrow as a singer, but to pair her up with Jeff Bridges. I love Jeff Bridges, but he is not a good singer, like, give me Christopher Lee's power metal album instead.

Speaking of the voice talents, this movie has some solid talent behind it, Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Jeff Bridges, Angela Lansbury, Christopher Lee, and as a casual Deep Space 9 fan, a cameo by René Auberjonois is gonna make me happy, and being a Disney Duck nerd, a Paul Frees cameo also makes me happy. Most of the cast do good jobs in their roles, Mia Farrow, Tammy Grimes and the cameos do good jobs, Christopher Lee kind of suffers from the same problem as Orson Wells in the Transformers movie, where I'm not exactly sure if his performance is good or if it's just the voice. Alan Arkin is mixed in this movie, on the one hand he does give a much more flat read than some of the others, but on the other hand, it kinda works, and he does put some flare and actual acting into his reads. Either way, he does a better job than Jeff Bridges. Again, I love Jeff Bridges, but this is probably his weakest performance, it's flat and unconvincing. Some actors just don't translate into the booth very well, which is why a lot of animation fans ask for studios and the big heads to be more respectful to voice actors. Sometimes we get a Hank Azaria or a Patrick Warburton who can do both, but other times, we get performances like this.

I can't say that the animation is bad, it looks nice and has a really nice palette to it. The Red Bull just pops against the darker blues, and the forests look so lush and pretty. Some of the backgrounds look like really nice paintings, and the character design is very interesting. I do think that you could identify these characters if they were in silhouette. However, the character animation is... a bit limited. This was a Rankin/Bass production, and yes, that is the same Rankin/Bass behind those stop motion holiday specials. It looks like the budget for this film was 3.5 Million, which is actually very little in the scope of animated movie budgets, like Disney spent 140 million on Treasure Planet, The Nightmare Before Christmas was made on a 24 million dollar budget, and even Kiki's Delivery Service is estimated to have cost 800 Million Yen, which is over six million USD. So yeah, character animation and lip synch aren't the best, 3.5 Million dollars is less than what Peter Pan was given. That being said, there are way worse animated films out there, and it's really only noticeable if you're actually studying animation, because when I watched this film before taking my animation courses, I had no issues with it at all. Also, how does a skeleton blush when it has no blood to rush to its face? That was a weird animation choice.

Taking a critical look at things can be tough, especially when you're looking at something like The Last Unicorn. It's a good movie, I'd even say a really good movie, but it does have some flaws. However, a solid B average is still a good mark, I don't expect straight A's from every movie I watch, so while I do have issues with the animation and voice acting, on the whole they weren't awful. There are movies where the animation was just horrid, and where the actors were miscast and gave dreadful performances, on its own, this movie does not stick out as anything too bad. It's a charming movie that I think would be a good watch for a slightly older demographic, but maybe you can get away with showing this to younger kids too. Just keep in mind, there are somethings that aren't suitable for children in this movie. I think despite the issues I have with it, I can still give this a recommendation, this is one of those movies I do believe is worth watching, and for what it's worth, I am glad I watched it. Now to read the book.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964) - Yes, this counts as a movie

To get this out of the way, the AFI and BFI do classify the minimum running length of a feature film has to be 40 minutes, so yeah, this counts. Plus, I really do want to look at more older animated movies, so I would have probably stretched my rules anyway for this one.

That being said, since it is the month of winter festivals, most notably Christmas, I figured I had to look at a holiday film this month, and you know what, I'll be damned if I let another Christmas go by without watching this one, this was one of the specials I used to watch a lot as a child, this and Frost the Snowman and of course the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Of course, having become much older, and watching this with a more critical view, how does it hold up?

The plot of the movie is well known, Rudolph is born with a glowing red nose and becomes an outcast amongst other reindeer. Meanwhile, one of Santa's elves named Hermey is also outcasted because he doesn't like to make toys and instead wants to be a dentist. When the two meet, they decide to run away and come across a prospector named Yukon Cornelius. After being chased by the Abominable Snowmonster, the trio find themselves on the island of misfit toys, where they wish to stay. The king of the island however, says they cannot, but allows them to stay one night on the promise that when they return to Christmas Town, they tell Santa about the island so he can find homes for the toys. Rudolph strikes out on his own during the night to avoid getting his friends hurt by the snowmonster, and realizes he can not run from his problems and goes home, to find that his family and friend left to look for him. He finds them, but is attacked by the snowmonster, but they're all saved by Hermey and Cornelius, who then head back to Santa's workshop, they all make-up, and then learn of a bad storm that might cancel Christmas, but then Santa has the bright idea (Pun intended), that Rudolph's glowing nose might help guide them.

Man, the plot is a lot longer than the film made it seem. Overall, I am going to be more lenient towards the plot of this one. While I would typically comment on the use of time skip and narrator, I do have to concede that this is a Television special, and those usually only go up to an hour, and there is only so much you can do in an hour. Even so, while some important things did get rushed, the plot is still mostly solid, and even when something big was glanced over like Rudolph coming to the realization he can't run from his problems, while it would have been nice if it was a scene of cinematic quality, I will concede that, a throw-away, blink and you'll miss it explanation is better than no explanation. So, while the plot is not of cinematic quality, it is still a solid and easy to follow plot, even if my explanation makes it seem complicated.

I do think the characters are charming as well. They aren't exactly complex, but they have a goal and they have their own thoughts. Rudolph doesn't want to put his friends in danger, Yukon Cornelius welcomes others alongside him with joy, again the characters are not of cinematic quality, but they are still identifiable, and charming enough that I never disliked watching them. Even the side characters I kind of liked, I especially like Donner, and how he does realize that he was too hard on his son.

Speaking of which, yeah, this film has garnered a bit of a reputation recently, and not a very positive one. Some say that it says that differences will be mocked until they can be used to serve one's purpose.

Stop that.

If you actually watch the special, you will know that it wasn't the storm that made everyone change their minds about Rudolph, it was the bravery he displayed trying to save his family and friends. Again, something that might have been better explained by the plot being more detailed, but what can we do? We need not forget that Donner went out to find his son way before the storm began. Of course, people also say that the special kind of encourages bullying, but I think that might be an over exaggeration, it's like saying SpongeBob promotes working for exposure. Even if you actually think that, the other reindeer are kind of supposed to be seen as jerks, and we are meant to sympathize with Rudolph.

But now let's talk about the animation. Being a stop motion animator myself, yeah, this special doesn't have great animation. Even for the time I would have to assume it looked choppy and basic. Keep in mind, some of our first filmed animations were stop motion, look up J. Stuart Blackton. On top of that, I noticed a few small errors here and there like mouths not syncing properly and repetitive movements. Despite that, the animation is not actually terrible, scenes like the wind storm blowing things away, that is actually quite impressive and a lot of the movement itself is actually pretty smooth. Yeah, some of it is jerky and some of the models look sparse and cheap, but I never found myself overly critical of the animation or visuals.

And I think there is one reason why, the special is not great on a critical point of view. Characters are simple, the plot glances over important moments and the animation is a bit crude. That being said, it still is a lot better than other hour long films I've seen in all of those aspects. Characters do have a goal they wish to obtain, the plot is simple and flows well and the animation does have it's moments. However, none of that is why this special is well loved, it's well loved because it is just so charming.

It's simple, but that helps many viewers get attached to it. It's cheap, but they still put effort into it. It is a special that I enjoy watching every year, and I am sure that many other do to. It is a charming special, and it has some good elements that keep it from faltering on a critical level. Honestly, I think the only problem I really have with this special, is a small one but still; How cool would it be to have a cowboy that rides an ostrich? Ostriches are cool, why is the cowboy on the ostrich a misfit toy? I would love to have a toy cowboy on an ostrich.

Anyway, this is a classic special and one that you're probably watching every year.