Genre: Fantasy/Family
Time: 1h 32mins
Directors: Arthur Rankin, Jr., Jules Bass
Quick Summary: A unicorn finds out that she may be the last surviving species of her kind. She decides to find the other unicorns. A magician and a woman join the unicorn in her mission.
This is unlike most films I've seen, as it is incredibly unique and I will never stop talking about it. To add this the soundtrack is done by America and it is purely fantastic.
This Film doesn't really have a happy ending, but it's incredibly bittersweet and I liked that because it felt realistic and brought realism to this fantasy story. It's mature and emotional, treating its audience like adults showing them emotions such as loss and regret but in a good way, that hopefully, they would learn from it.
Don't even get me started on the animation. It's stunning. After 40 years now, it still comes across as delicate and full of the beautiful background art. Everything is so soft, with thin pastel lines to emphasise how soft this is overall.
What I love about this the most is how it blends realism and Fantasy together. There are many mystical creatures, wizards, and magic, but then there are normal people who can't actually see these creatures or don't believe in magic. I find that fascinating because this honestly makes this world more believable, and to add to that all of the characters are so unique and fully fleshed out, expressing many emotions without being over the top. Everyone seems to be morally grey, even the main character who finds it difficult to understand death or complexities within human emotions, so she comes across as very unemphatic and unaware of life outside of her home.
The themes within this are incredibly complex too. The vilians existing not to be simply "evil" but to actually have layers to them; one being they kill others not because she wants to but because they feel it is their nature to do so; or one being an incredibly unhappy person and choosing to fill that void with mindless entertainment every day and beautiful objects. Even one of our characters is treated this way, with them doing something to save another life but is shamed for it. Although they all agree it was probably for the best, the saved never recover from it fully and creating further emotional events down the line.
The sad thing about this film is the pacing and story go slow and change tone in the middle, which I felt wasn't needed or wasn't done the right way. They try to fit this one subplot into it, and it feels not fully done. It was important to the story, but it didn't hold up to the rest of the film. Probably if they were able to make the film longer, it could have flowed better but it felt very rough and unpolished.
This is a wonderfully magical, and beautiful film. It carries so many themes without being oversaturated, and it has a very good story to it.
9/10
"Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale."
"Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back."
"We are not always what we seem, and hardly ever what we dream."
"I have been mortal, and some part of me is mortal yet. I am full of tears and hunger and the fear of death, although I cannot weep, and I want nothing, and I cannot die. I am not like the others now, for no unicorn was ever born who could regret, but I do. I regret."
"“There are no happy endings because nothing ends.”
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