Customer Reviews

Last Unicorn [VHS]

5 star:		(379)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(38)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

Although anime is beginning to change people's minds, far too many Westerners still think of animation as a genre only fit for children. The Last Unicorn ought to be high on the viewing list of anyone who believes animation is just for kids--yes, it's a "cartoon," but it's also beautifully animated, with unique and unforgettable characters, and the storyline is as true to the original source material (book by Peter S. Beagle) as any movie adaptation I've ever seen.

In her unchanging, always-spring forest lives a unicorn (voice of Mia Farrow), ageless, wise and innocent, and without regret--unicorns can feel sorrow, but it's not the same thing. One day, when men come into her forest to hunt, she discovers that she is the last of the unicorns. With snatches of help and hints from a dizzy butterfly, she sets out to find the others. On her way she picks up an incompetent magician named Schmendrick (voice of Alan Arkin), a withered woman named Molly Grue (voice of Tammy Grimes), and eventually finds the kingdom of King Haggard (voice of Christopher Lee) and his son Lir (voice of Jeff Bridges). But in the changing, aging world of humans, can the unicorn even keep track of who she is and how the story should end?

The movie version isn't perfect. There are some awkward scenes, including a terrible duet by Mia Farrow and Jeff Bridges which never should have been included, and some scenes contain material such as mild profanity, bare breasts and depictions of death which might not be suitable for children. But there is an earnestness to this film, a magic in the way ideas are expressed, that's all too rare in modern filmmaking. This quality helps many viewers overlook the film's flaws.

So if The Last Unicorn is that good of a movie, why does it only rate two stars? Because the U.S. DVD release is terrible. This is a full-frame release, ***not widescreen***. The DVD has poor cover art and offers zero special features. The actual transfer is grainy and blurry in spots, with no evidence of any kind of restoration work. The soundtrack has a distinctly tinny quality. In fact, the only reason one would purchase this DVD was if one had only a single copy of the film taped off television some 15 years ago and watched over and over until the VHS tape nearly wore out... rather like me, in fact.

Don't purchase this DVD. I wouldn't have done so if I had known what I know now. Instead, look for the 25th Anniversary edition released in 2006 by Lionsgate Entertainment.

Let me start by saying that The Last Unicorn is my favorite movie of all time. I have loved it since I was very, very young. However, I truly wish I had never bought this DVD.

First off, the movie is full screen and not widescreen--this could easily be forgiven if the DVD didn't have numerous other problems. The picture quality is awful and looks as though they ripped the movie from the old VHS master. There are also some scenes where the contrast seems to be up too high. I know that these are not simply issues with the original movie because I have the German release and its picture is flawless (not to mention widescreen) and beautiful. This release also has one of the worst menus I have ever seen. The DVD says it has special features, but I can't find them!

If you're a hardcore Last Unicorn fan, don't buy this DVD. Your old VHS version is just as good.

Just a note to fans of this film that are on the fence about this new edition.

According to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits:

Quote

The new Blu-ray will offer the film completely uncensored, but it will also include the edited "family friendly" audio track for those who prefer it. Both the censored and uncensored audio tracks will be DTS-MA 5.1. That comes directly from studio sources (and thank you to those sources!), so fans can rest easy.

/Quote

Hope this helps.

For those of you not in the know The Last Unicorn is a really nice fantasy movie based on the popular book by Peter Beagle. As the name implies it's about unicorn who found out she is the last of her kind and sets out to uncover the truth behind that. She soon finds out all of the other unicorns have been captured by a mythical creature, and with the help of an inept magician and a surly maiden they seek out to bring the unicorns back from captivity.

The story is among the best in fairy tale fiction. You have a fair number of mystical creatures and learn interesting tidbits about them throughout the film. You also have a romantic aspect between a prince and maiden (which is required for many who love fairy tales), sword slinging action, wondrous magic, singing (we'll get to that later), and comedy all done up by the voice talents of A-list actors like Allen Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine, Edward Scissorhands), Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby, Hannah and her Sisters), Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars prequels), Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Tron movies), Angela Landsbury (Beauty and the Beast, Murder She Wrote), and a slew of other notable talents.

The action scenes are exciting and directing does well with the movement and colors in these scenes. The scenes that involve the romance feel real with characters hitting home the type of emotions a young love can feel. The fun scenes are really fun, but it's more dialog kind of funny. Lots of good one liners come from the script. Not so much in the realm of visual comedy unless you count the scene with the laughing skeleton and maybe one scene with a talking cat. The villain (done by Lee) is pitch perfect in execution as both a bad man and a flawed human being. The voice acting feels just as perfect with maybe an exception to Arkin's Schmendrick, whose lines sometimes feel a little wooden.

The animation is done by the Rankin/Bass team. They are more known for their stop motion holiday specials. However they also have a respectable cartoon portfolio with tv shows like the Thundercats and movies like The Flight of Dragons, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and The Wind and the Willows. The animation is much like their other feature films with the same distinctive look and feel. It actually fits well with this movie. The frame rate isn't on the same rotoscoped level as some Disney classics, but it's not anywhere near as distracting as some Saturday morning cartoons made back then.

Now this being a fairy tale, and much like what Disney made the standard for these types of films, there is a singing interlude in the film. Now this is a duet from actors Jeff Bridges and Mia Farrow, and well... they aren't singers. You can hear the strain from the voices. Originally the plan was to have Katie Irving sing Mia's part, but apparently that never happened in the final theatrical release. If you're a big fan of musical numbers this won't impress you. Now as to the rest of the music like the title theme and about all of the montages have songs from the band America, and they are really good, original songs. I recommend getting the soundtrack if you are a fan of this band.

Now previous video releases of this film had various levels of criticism tied to them for various reasons. The original DVD release was a poor transfer with no special features. The 25th Anniversary Edition had a much better transfer and had extra features, but was an edited version; taking out the occasional PG swear words the film had and even speeding up the film slightly (which made everybody talk in a bit higher pitch). Another bad thing about the 25th Anniversary edition was Beagle didn't get any royalties on the release. Now the Blu-Ray edition coming out should address a number of issues:

1 - Peter Beagle himself has been expressing a lot of enthusiasm for this release, but unfortunately he's still not in the loop for royalties. If you want Peter to get a fair share please get your copy at the Conlan Press website. They are also selling Blu-Rays signed by Beagle himself.

2 - Beagle announced that both the censored 25th Anniversary version and the original uncensored theatrical version will be on the Blu-Ray. Unfortunately the DVD is really just the 25th Anniversary edition so no it's going to have the same issues.

3 - When Beagle saw the Blu-Ray he was blown away with what he saw. Does that mean a true high definition treatment? Sounds like it.

Not a whole lot of definite answers to some pressing questions, but since it's all coming from the man himself I find it encouraging. The Last Unicorn will be presenting in full high definition 1080p with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 for both the censored and uncensored English audio. This combo pack will have the following bonus features, some of which are exclusive to this release:

Audio commentary by Peter Beagle and publisher Connor Cochran - YES!!! Finally a commentary from Beagle.

The Tail of the Last Unicorn - Basically a short retrospective from Beagle.

Making-of The Last Unicorn - A brand new documentary on the making of the movie.

Escape the Red Bull - Pretty much a kid's game made for DVD.

Schmendrick's Magical Gallery - Production stills of the movie. This is a bid expansion from the previous DVD version with more stills than ever before.

Art Contest Gallery - Brand new extra. I think this will be entries from the 2010 Last Unicorn art contest. Beagle selected the winners himself.

Original Theatrical Trailer

So far from what I am hearing this is the release to get excited about. It fixes much of the problems the previous releases had and gives us the extras we deserved to get from the get go. If you love fairy tale fantasy you owe it to yourself to see this film. Any current fan of the film should go ahead and consider taking that double or triple dip for this edition.

This was one of the first movies I can remember watching, and it still haunts me. The book is one I return to year after year, and the movie does what is seldom done in adaptations and remains faithful to the text it was based on.

The animation itself is wonderful, whimsical, and the characters linger in the mind long after the more mainstream looking characters of other movies blur in the mind. Almost twenty years later, the Red Bull still scares me. Schmedrick the magician is a loveable character, a failure as a magician who still keeps trying, and strikes a familiar chord in us all. I think any woman can relate to Molly Grue, still waiting for her unicorn. Even King Haggard is a sympathetic character if only in his selfishness.

This is a definite must have to anyone who loves fantasy and unicorns. Though it might be a little too much for young children (it scared the pants off me the first time I watched it) it is something every child will appreciate. Heck, its something grownups will appreciate too, since I still love to read the book and watch the movie.

"The Last Unicorn" has been a favorite film of mine for a good 20 years; that said, this DVD must be the worst VHS to DVD port that I have ever seen.

This DVD IS more parent friendly than the original VHS, as the release company chose to delete a few instances of the word "damn" and "hell." I can understand how parents might find this preferrable. But it is blatant alteration of a classic. Had I known this movie was edited in any way shape or form from its original form, even to make it "less offensive", there is no way I would have purchased it.

And does it really make it less offensive? To be honest, I have never found this to be much of a children's story. The subject matter is very dark and sad. The ending can hardly be considered happy. The whole theme of the story is the sadness of lost innocence. Yes, it is animated, but in my humble opinion, it never made a good children's movie to begin with. so does it really need to be edited for child friendliness?

It's not just the editing - the DVD is just crappy. I swear that the video and audio quality are even worse than on the VHS. It looks worse, it sounds heinous.

Spare yourself the money - stick with your VHS version, until a good quality DVD release.

DVD - 1 star
Movie - 5 stars

The film is excellent, and I am giving it five stars.

However, I have been informed in an e-mail newsletter:

"Please note - Peter still gets money from Last Unicorn movie sales ONLY through Conlan Press. That goes for this new Blu-ray edition, too. If you buy it anywhere else Peter gets nothing at all. Which really sucks when you consider that 1.8 million Last Unicorn DVDs have been sold in America since 2004, and only around 6,000 of those went through Conlan Press. None of the other copies earned a cent for Peter. So please encourage everyone you know to support him by buying the combo pack through Conlan Press, and nowhere else. Thanks!"

I don't know if this is also true of Amazon sales, but either way Amazon should address the issue directly and clarify this. I am not comfortable putting something like this in an Amazon review - essentially a plug for another supplier - but I think it is important information.

It's a shame that Amazon is just mixing in all the VHS, DVD, and blu-ray reviews into one huge pile. There are over 500 reviews now for this title, and the blu-ray has only been out a couple of days. If I was reviewing the film, THE LAST UNICORN, then I would give it a 5/5. But I'm not, there is the entire blu-ray release experience to consider:

PACKAGING: In a word, poor. This is one of the "Security Device Enclosed" blu-rays. Once you get shrink wrap off, you get the adhesive sticker that closes the case on both the top and bottom. After it's opened, you have the magnetic strip across the inside and you also have the flat RFID circuit sticker. Try to remove them and you are in for a huge mess. I even had the help of adhesive remover and it still damaged the case removing them. You're better off just buying a new case if you want ugly security tags removed. A couple of advertising inserts, one pretty cool, the other junk. Nothing else inside except the two disc, one DVD and one Blu-Ray. Both are stamped with beautiful color artwork.

BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: When you put the disc in, you are exposed to several trailer advertisements before you can get to the movie menu. The title menu is locked out if you try to select it with the remote. You can however click 'next' to skip past each trailer. You must hit 'next' on the remote 5 times, each time waiting for the disc to load the new trailer. This should have been a category in the special features section, not force-fed when the disc is inserted.

The disc will also phone-home as soon as you put it in claiming to "Check for Updates".

As the final credits draw to a close you once anticipated a curtain drawing over the theatre screen. On this blu-ray, however, you are unceremoniously dumped onto an FBI WARNING page using bold red text that threatens to lock you in a cage for 5 years and bankrupt your estate if you even think about copying the movie. It's out of place, changes the mood, and shouldn't be at the end of the credits.

The special features are nice. There is a short "making of" documentary that was shot in 1080p. Some of the people interviewed are recorded over the telephone, but this doesn't distract very much. There is another section that resembles more of a "CD-ROM" type experience where you use the remote next buttons to click through the pages. This section reveals the history of the author in quite a bit of depth. I found this section equally interesting. Another section features artwork from a recent contest that is a nice bonus.

THE MOVIE (no spoilers): 5/5 stars. Everything comes together to create a melancholic and nostalgic quest through some truly spectacular artwork. Each frame of this movie was hand drawn on film and then shot with a camera. There are ZERO digital effects in this film. EVERYTHING is done by hand. And it makes a considerable difference. In fact, I don't think you will ever see this type of film made again. This technique is too expensive and time consuming for contemporary film-making and the temptation of digital shortcuts is certainly irresistible to those funding the project. Couple this in with an emotional musical score by "America" and you have something that is truly unique and it will not, cannot, be reproduced again.

The film is often grainy, but I'm ok with this. I prefer as pure a transfer as possible and I sense that purity was a goal in this blu-ray transfer. It looks crisp and sharp. There are imperfections and sudden color shifts occasionally in certain frames, but it is not distracting. The artwork in this film is so powerful that any small blemishes or imperfections are easily overlooked.

SUMMARY: Marketing greed and anti-theft zealously scuff up an otherwise competent blu-ray experience. The bonus features are solid but the real reason you're buying this blu-ray is the movie itself. And it's worth it.

This is a very good film that has yet had a decent video release here in the US. This DVD release is a disaster.

This particular print has several major defects. First this movie suffers more than most when cutting it from widescreen to full screen. But the pan-and-scan job (the technique used to make a widescreen film fit on a regular television) was also totally botched leaving many scenes showing only half a face or character.

There is also many color problems. The print is biased to red. Dark scenes, of which there are many, show a red tint. Related to this is that the greens are subdued. Many objects that should be green show as blue.

The print is also grainy showing more video noise than normal.

The soundtrack is extremely harsh sounding making it dificult to listen to.

I'd recommend you seek out the widescreen version which has none of these problems.

Loved this film when I was a kid, loved it again as a young adult. I am now the proud owner of a brand new copy. Along with Flight of Dragons, the Last Unicorn has got to be one of the most underappreciated animated masterpieces ever (but not for much longer, I hope). While Flight of Dragons was more intellectual, the Last Unicorn was more poignant and emotional. A wonderful fairy tale with heart and soul for people of all ages.

The animation is simple yet graceful and elegant, filled with rich beautiful basic colors. It has a surreal and dreamlike quality (even more so than Flight of Dragons). The character designs for the most part were excellent, particularly Lady Amalthea whose exotic beauty is breathtaking. I especially love the way her long beautiful, willowy hair flows in the wind...

The music is quite memorable, although the singing voices for Lady Amalthea and Prince Lir were a bit warbly at times (though the songs themselves were rather nice). The background music fits and complements the scenes perfectly.

And who can ever forget the voice acting. God, such absolute pure star quality!!! You can almost imagine as if these were real live flesh and blood people (especially Molly Grue).

The story is one of the most original I have ever come across. Based on the classic novel by Peter S. Beagle (who also did the screenplay), a lonely immortal unicorn goes out in search for others of her kind, meets some very interesting humans (some good, some bad, and some in between) along the way. She is later unwittingly given a taste of mortality and love in a way she could have never imagined when she is accidently transformed into a beautiful human maiden by a bungling magician. This is a fairy tale with dramatic and emotional depth of Shakespearean proportions. Deeply moving, moody, and atmosperic. They just don't make such powerful, thoughtful stuff like this anymore.

Now that they are in the process of developing a live action version of this film with several of the original voice actors participating in it (some even reprising their roles), it's more important than ever to own this beautiful masterpiece for your collection. I give the Last Unicorn my highest recommendation.