Beautiful, ethereal, poignant – The Last Unicorn is an 80s classic that I’ve wanted to dust off for years, and finally sat down with my daughters to relive the magic. For those who haven’t seen this film (spoiler free), Peter Beagle’s The Last Unicorn was an animated fairy tale about a female unicorn who learns she is the last of her kind, setting out from the safety of her forest to find the terrifying Red Bull of King Haggard, who together have captured her brethren.
The film was voiced by a surprising array of A-list talent, including Mia Farrow, Christopher Lee and Jeff Bridges, set to music performed by rock legends America. Most people of my generation remember the beautiful hand-drawn animation, but I’ve only just learnt that this was composed by Japanese studio Topcraft, who went on to work for an early Studio Ghibli.
So how does the story stack up, after all these years? The pacing is good, the narrative gets rolling from the first conversation, and there are very few scenes which don’t play some plot or thematic purpose. The worldbuilding is very sparse, with only a few conversations between characters setting up the state of the now-unicornless land. There’s magic, but no indication whatsoever as to how it works and what it means in this world. However, this movie is a folk tale, a fairy story where – as children – we don’t need to know. The characters are simple, practically one note. The evil king is the evil king. The struggling magician is the struggling magician. The worldly, honest woman is the worldly, honest woman.
As for the Unicorn? Well, this is where things get interesting. The Unicorn’s journey starts with her character powerful, peaceful and complete. She’s an ageless being disturbed to find that the world has changed around her. Yet as the plot progresses, the immortal perfection becomes progressively weak, scared and alone. The final conflict therefore takes place when our heroine is at her lowest point – which makes the moment all the more dramatic.
The ongoing theme of this film is immortality, and the different meanings it has. From the witch who will gain immortality in the memory of an eternal being, the bandit chief who comes up short against the image of his mythical archetype, that scene (my favourite!) with the talking skeleton guarding the broken clock – the film drips with beautiful symbolism. The ending of the film is… not unsatisfying, but a far cry from the neatly tied-up plot celebrations we enjoy in finales these days. Thematically, though, it makes a kind of sense.
So, if you are after a beautiful slice of 80s goodness, find your copy of The Last Unicorn or look it up online, sit back and enjoy the magic!
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