The Last Unicorn

[drhoz]

Watched The Last Unicorn the other night - unfortunately the DVD in question was clearly based on an Nth generation TV cut, which lead to characters facing off from just off the edges of the screen. That said, I'm glad I saw it. Beagle's novel is very highly regarded, and while I haven't read it I'm aware of how influential it's been. I really

Comments

[ruthling]

the book is magnificent. I'd send you mine but the shipping is more than the book is worth.

[drhoz]

I'm sure I can track down a copy, but thanks :)

[leecetheartist]

I have the DVD. The book is a fine thing.

[drhoz]

:)

[ungulata]

A while back I had an excellent Youtube link to the entire movie in great quality and no cuts! It had the full harpy and the weird tree scene. It's gone now.

I really wanted to like the movie but the animation, the bad voice acting and the music was just so horrid.

[drhoz]

I quite liked the title song and Man's Road, but the rest wasn't good. And in some scenes it drowned out the dialogue.

But I did appreciate the tree's fear when, after going on about how long-lasting a tree's love is, it's approached by an ACTUAL immortal.

[ungulata]

I liked the background art, I like unicorns and I got misty eyed when the red bull backed into the waves and all the unicorns broke free. That was about it in the plus column for this movie. I'd buy a Last Unicorn figurine.

This movie was released in 1982, the same year The Secret of NIMH kicked animated features out of its downward spiral into decrepitude. Rankin/Bass's The last Unicorn is a notable example of the dregs of that spiral, as is Bakshi's Lord of the Rings.

[drhoz]

I seriously have to dig out a copy of the book...

[dreamer_easy]

I enjoyed the film, but the book is vastly superior. The harpy has a voice like "honey and gunpowder". Unicorns have grace that "horses have never had, that deer have only in a shy, thin imitation and goats in dancing mockery." omg.

[drhoz]

You have to admire the characters' self-awareness too. They recognise their personality flaws, or bias, and the things they're incapable of. True, most of them don't do anything to correct them, but it's a start.

[myrystyr]

And now I need to reread the book again... I've been holding off buying the DVD as apparently Beagle got the rights to the movie back, and might be doing a remake soon - and, in all perfect honesty, the peg-leg cat and the talking skull are the inspiration for some of the more long-lived NPCs of my campaign world of oh-so-long ago.

[drhoz]

:)

[myrystyr]

Interesting point: Beagle has stated that Haggard is the character most like himself.

[drhoz]

interesting - he's written stories about depressed academics going nuts too