The story opens in
a lovely forest with two mounted hunters.
They soon realize this is a special wood, noting that it doesn’t snow here
in winter and is likely the preserve of the last unicorn. The unicorn overhears the pair and wonders at
this notion of being last. Soon
thereafter a daft butterfly arrives and sings mostly gibberish but likewise
indicates that she is the last unicorn.
Determined to know the truth, the unicorn sets out into the world.
On her journey, she
discovers that she is the last and that unicorns are mostly viewed as a
myth. When people see her, they are
blind to her horn and think she is just a white mare, which she takes as a
great insult. She further learns that a
fiery red bull (no relation to the energy drink) had chased all the unicorns to
the realm of King Haggard. Shmendrick
the Magician, who is able to see her for what she is, offers to lead her there
in search of the missing unicorns. But
disaster strikes. The red bull appears
and chases the unicorn! Shmendrick, who
is a mediocre magician, nonetheless summons the power to polymorph the unicorn
into a human woman. Confused, the red
bull departs.
It was interesting
to watch how the polymorph played out.
Now called Lady
Amalthea, she slowly loses her memory of being a unicorn. As her memory fades, she falls in love with
Prince Lir and dreams of a life with him. Shmendrick cannot restore her until they
determine how to protect her from the red bull.
The solution is somewhat disappointing.
Unicorns are quite
powerful in this setting. The unicorn
has considerable though not explicitly explained powers regarding the woods in
which she lives. Unicorns are immortal,
so becoming human was a shock since she was suddenly dying and felt cloistered
by the mortal body. She was able to
negate a witch’s magic with the touch of her horn. Later, she was able to raise the dead.
The movie is fun
though there are some failings. The
animation is okay. The voice cast is
impressive: Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee, Alan Arkin, Angela Lansbury, and Mia
Farrow as the Unicorn. The pacing is
uneven, with some parts dragging and others are rushed. The bandit incident comes and goes in a
flash. There are also some bizarre
anachronisms. The babbling butterfly
sings a medley of modern songs while another character mentions barbed wire (invented
in the 19th century). King
Haggard commands the red bull but it is never explained how or what exactly the
red bull is. Would the captive unicorns
have been released when King Haggard eventually died of old age? Might everything have resolved itself in a
few more years or would the red bull have stood eternal vigil over the
unicorns?
Though the unicorn’s
quest is a success, it isn’t really a happy ending. That is refreshing. Prince Lir has lost the love of his life and
the Unicorn is an outcast among her kind because she had experienced a mortal
life and now knows love and regret.
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