Product: The Last Unicorn [VHS] (1982)
Rating: 4.0
A beautiful DVD . . . but may disappoint some fans
I've been waiting for this DVD release for a LONG time. I had videotaped the movie way back in 1985 from one of the pay moviechannels and had watched it multiple times, but was disapointed that it had been edited for time. I wanted to buy The Last Unicorn on DVD, but it received poor reviews on Amazon, so I waited for a letterbox version. I waited and waited and waited. And finally my wait is over! I felt like bursting into tears just like Molly had when she saw the unicorn . . . because, like many of the fans of the movie, I knew I was viewing the most unusually beautiful, poignant, and truthful animation ever created. It was how I felt at the age of nine, and hasn't changed all these years later.The color is beautiful and crisp and the audio is crystal clear. The little background noises that I hadn't heard in earlier releases come through and both score and songs sound as if they were recently recorded. The volume is also loud enough, as with DVDs the volume can be low. Care has been taken to provide both excellent audio and video and that won't disappoint die hard fans.What WILL disappoint . . . and what might be unforgivable to some . . . is the editing of "damn". It appears three times . . . if my memory serves me right. The first time it is spoken by Ruk("I don't care how many damn spells you put on her! Get rid of that harpy!) Well, on my second viewing last night, lo and behold, I realized it got left in! Maybe the bad guys can say damn. But the good guys obviously can't. They're removed it from both Molly's speech and Lir's exclamation as he asending the steps to meet Amalthea. They very neatly edited it out. You won't notice it if you haven't memorized the script, but for those who have(like me) it ruins one of the most moving speeches in the movie. What does this movie have a G rating anyway? Busty trees, naked ladies and crazed, nipply harpies . . . slap a PG on "The Late Unicorn" and give my "Damn!", damnnit!I'm also disappointed that they used Mia Farrow's singing for "Now that I'm a Woman" when the german soundtrack has a different woman sing the song. I thought they would remove Mia's singing and use the better version.It's a shame that after all this work that went into this release, they changed the one thing that did matter to fans and didn't change the other thing that obviously needed to be changed.I'm not sorry I bought it, however. It's a major improvment on the old DVD.