Product: The Last Unicorn [VHS] (1982)
Rating: 4.0
Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk...?
...because Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both (badum-ching!). But seriously folks...Suppose you had a revelation. You wake up one morning to the tautological agenda of what has become your everyday routine. As you whiff the caffeinated brew of your first cup of coffee, it occurs to you that life is not as it should be. In the course of doing what's expected of us, you find that little time is left for the imagination; our transcendental self is muted and our creativity suffers. As such, we become averse to trying new things or augmenting our individuality and instead adhere to what is familiar. How do we resolve this predicament? It is done by relearning what was forgotten...that sense of adventure we had when we were children. The mature person cannot nurture without an active imagination or appreciation for fantasy; likewise the constant dreamer is lost without a sense of reality. Only in happy unison, a perfect balance if you will, do we fully benefit from each: intellectualism and mysticism. Peter S. Beagle's "The Last Unicorn" is the perfect allegory for such a principle...well, okay, that and also it's just a great story.The plot is simple enough. A lone unicorn (voiced by Mia Farrow) is in search of others of its kind, and along the way she discovers that a crusty old king had his demonic creature - the Red Bull - drive them into the sea for his own selfish purposes. A wizard transforms her into a woman, and in becoming mortal she accrues mortal feelings, including love and regret. These feelings become her ally in defeating the Red Bull and releasing her fellow unicorns. Why else was she not driven into the sea like the others? It's because she was armored with both human and mystic qualities. As such, we ourselves become stronger when we harbor a blend of rationalism and sensationalism, and know when to use each...to do so, we can conquer our own "Red Bulls." Captain Cully and his entourage were the opposite of the unicorn; they did not possess the open minds needed to accept and utilize mysticism: "Robin Hood is a myth! It is we who are the reality!" And were they not an unhappy lot! Beagle warns against falling victim to this unhealthy mindset...it's his linchpin.The film itself holds true to the book, largely because Beagle contributed to the screenplay. Christopher Lee, who plays King Haggard, has some of the best lines and he delivers them perfectly. Other cast members also turn in strong performances (with the exception of Jeff Bridges, although he was not given the opportunity to develop his character sufficiently), and the Japanese animation style (anime) is a refreshing switch from Disney. The music, which often is criticized as mawkish and jejune, I found to be quite pleasant and complementary to the film. The one exception was Farrow's butchering of the song "Now That I'm A Woman," which almost brings the movie to a screeching halt.Art enthusiasts will be pleased to note that one of the famous Unicorn Tapestries (kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) is the backdrop to the movie's opening credit sequence.