The Last Unicorn

Despite being one of the most popular mythical creatures, there aren’t too many films centred around unicorns. While they’ve appeared in several fantasy stories, few to no projects solely focused on these legendarily pure creatures get noticed on a large scale, with the only one given a modicum of attention being the 1982 Rankin/Bass animated musical, The Last Unicorn. Based on a novel written in 1968 by Peter S. Beagle (who also wrote the film’s screenplay), the movie didn’t make a splash at the box office but earned a slight cult following for being that random, obscure animated feature not released by a big studio that housed established actors, an entrancing visual style, and a slightly morose atmosphere. Even if it wasn’t a huge hit, it seemed to do enough to leave a lasting impression.

Within an enchanted forest, a unicorn (voiced by Mia Farrow) overhears two hunters saying she may be the last of her kind. Not believing that every other unicorn has suddenly disappeared, she leaves the blissful woods and travels to try and find her kind, whom she learns may be being held captive at the edge of the world by a malevolent spirit known as the Red Bull. Along her journey, she comes across an incompetent magician named Schmendrick (voiced by Alan Arkin) and an impoverished companion of a bandit crew named Molly (voiced by Tammy Grimes) who agree to help her reach the domain of the Red Bull, which turns out to be a castle led by the despondent King Haggard (voiced by Christopher Lee) and his adopted son, Prince Lír (voiced by Jeff Bridges). Needing to pretend to enter King Haggard’s service in order to get close to the Bull, they disguise the unicorn as a human woman, which causes her memory to slowly fade and throws her into a depression after experiencing mortality. With the possibility of losing her true form forever unless the Red Bull is vanquished soon, the imprisoned unicorns will need to be found before the evil spirit catches onto their plan and claims the final one.

The Last Unicorn is an interesting feature that doesn’t quite come together due to overly simplistic writing, a general feeling of aimlessness, and pretty generic characters, but is otherwise still able to contain some level of intrigue thanks to its basic yet gripping premise, talented actors, and a captivating visual style.

Since the film had the original author working on the script, there weren’t going to be major altercations during the writing process, and considering the time it took to get an adaptation off the ground, it wasn’t going to be a simple exchange of allowing full creative freedom. Peter S. Beagle stated that several people wanted to make a film about his story, but none seemed to fully convince him that they were the right choice. The last to come to the table were Arthur Rankin. Jr and Jules Bass (the founders of the New-York based production company responsible for stop motion/animated specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy and Frosty the Snowman) and although initially terrified when he learned that a deal had been made with them, he came to appreciate what they brought to his story. There are some pretty solid ideas and themes present in this story that should lead to a very engaging and even tragic fairy tale, yet whether due to the simplicity of the writing or the genre it’s placed in, it doesn’t truly dissect or address these mature themes and rather tosses them in alongside basic fantasy scenarios and characters. To be fair, it does feel a little more dramatic and heavier than what would be expected from a story about a unicorn trying to find the rest of her species, but for what could’ve been done with this idea and this surprisingly sombre and lived-in atmosphere, it doesn’t live up to its potential.

Having Beagle be the sole person to write the screenplay feels like a mistake, as while it’s fair to believe the author should have some involvement in an adaptation, making them a head writer limits a new voice or perspective being added in, and you can feel his writing style actively conflicting with how a film should be paced and flow. The dialogue can feel repetitive and lacking in character, the pacing is very jumpy and doesn’t allow the dramatic moments to sink in, and there are good topics being mentioned like truth versus fiction, depression, loneliness and the fragility of pureness, but they are never explored beyond surface level, which sums up this film pretty nicely. While it might be easy to blame Rankin/Bass for the slightly shallow presentation as their past films aren’t exactly high art, the book seems to contain these similar problems and, in all honesty, their presentation does give this film more of a distinct personality. The tone, while not super serious, does feel elevated from their usual fair and can be very atmospheric, the animation is strange in certain part, but definitely has effort put behind it and creates some vividly unforgettable imagery, and because the film is only 90 mins long and the premise is fairly explanatory, it’s a very easy and comfortable watch.

When the film came out, critics were pretty receptive to it and particularly praised the performances for being dramatic in a way that went above what’d normally be expected from a traditional animated movie. While this wasn’t the first time an animated film contained well-known stars or showcased quality performances, it’s one of the film’s defining praises, and it does make sense when watching. While the film can be criticized for having fairly generic and uninteresting characters, all the actors are giving it their all and add weight to this story even if the writing doesn’t support them. What helps is that a lot of them are seasoned talent who, while having done voice work in the past, were more known for their on-screen library, and it’s great watching these performers treat this fairy tale scenario with a punch that would be befitting of any typical fantasy epic.

Mia Farrow really captures the pained longing and even ambivalent detachment of this unicorn through her slightly floaty tone and dreary delivery, but it’s unfortunate that the character doesn’t have much depth and feels more like an image to market rather than a character who goes through her own trials and struggles. Elements like her becoming a human and simultaneously loving and hating that experience should be interesting, but she comes across as too weak-willed and lacking an identity outside of basic attributes associated with the mythic creature, it’s a shame she doesn’t stand out as strongly as her voice and her design does. Alan Arkin as this magician who goes back and forth between knowing no magic and producing genuinely incredible magic is okay, but Arkin’s delivery can be a little flat and he arguably gets more screentime than he deserves, Molly is also pretty pointless, but Tammy Grimes is doing everything she can to give the role any sense of personality which is admirable, Angela Lansbury is almost unrecognizable as the villainous Mommy Fortuna by bringing a wickedness to her normally gentile and graceful tone of voice, Jeff Bridges is pretty bad as Lír and the character offers nothing of value, Christopher Lee uses his brief time as King Haggard to great use by effectively conveying the depressed nature of the character without just voicing him in a dull tone, and people like Robert Klein, Keenan Wynn, Paul Frees and René Auberjonois manage to bring a lot of personality to the strange characters encountered along this journey.

Even though Rankin/Bass were the ones to purchase the rights, directed the feature, and provided the dialogue and story, they weren’t the ones responsible for animating it, with that privilege going to Topcraft, a Tokyo-based animation studio created by former Toei Animation employee, Toru Hara, which had worked with Rankin/Bass in the past on projects like Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, The Stingiest Man in Town and their rendition of J. R. R. Tolkien stories, The Hobbit and The Return of the King. What’s also interesting is that the studio would later work with famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki on one of his first features, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and many of Topcraft’s top members would go on to help form Studio Ghibli, so it’s fun watching this film and seeing how these animators would evolve and eventually get to a point where they can produce what many consider some of the greatest cinematic artistry put to film.

While the visuals can be a little odd at times with lip movements that don’t always match the voices, things in the foreground that don’t always match up with the backgrounds, and human designs that look a little malformed, the imagery is strangely hypnotic and does give the film a unique identity that it probably wouldn’t have gotten if it were animated by a more well-known studio like Warner Brothers or Disney. The cooler color palette really enriches the atmosphere and effectively captures a story book-esque stylization, the design on the creatures (particularly the unicorn) works much better with this specific drawing method and are pretty memorable as a result, and the backgrounds are truly glorious to spectate, it’s a jumbled but otherwise effective art style. The music by Jimmy Webb and the songs performed by the British-American rock band, America, can feel a bit out of place, and the ones performed by the characters don’t sound the best, but the folk-ish manner that they’re sung in gives off the impression of listening to a tragic tale of old, which makes them at least a little tolerable and beneficial to the film as a whole.

The Last Unicorn doesn’t reach its purest form thanks to some debilitating scripting, wonky pacing and basic characters, but much like other underground animated features that are appreciated for their strengths rather than reprimanded for their imperfections, it’s not surprising this movie earned a following. There are good scenes, strong performances, inviting visuals, and even though unicorns don’t lead as many movies as they arguably could, they still remain relevant to pop culture and to the world as a whole even to this day (they’re literally Scotland’s national animal symbol) and the premise behind this movie shows there is plenty of potential to take advantage of still. Might be hard to track down and won’t blow you away by any means but most certainly stands out as being one of a kind.