I hadn’t watched The Last Unicorn in probably about 20 years. When I was a kid we had it taped from TV, because that was what 90% of our movies were. And I was sooooo scaaaared of it. Of Mommy Fortuna and the harpy and the talking skeleton and the bull.
I read the book in 2011 and loved it. Loved. Five stars. Definitely on the list of things I am going to read to Alice at bedtime when she’s a little older. (This list is almost all fantasy novels, but it’s what I remember my mom reading to us.) So I bought the movie. Give it a grown up view.
I finally got around to watching it tonight. The animation is gorgeous. I didn’t remember that. The people are a little weird? But the scenery and everything else, just beautiful. I think the original version has Molly Grue saying “bitch” at one point, and that it’s been edited out to the ire of Amazon reviewers, but they left in the harpy’s three naked breasts so whatever. The story doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in the movie version, because you just have to accept the existence of magic beings and wizards and an old king and his giant bull who is on fire. The book has a layer of.. I don’t know, like, awareness that it’s a fantasy novel? The movie misses that a bit. It’s a funny, sad, and sweet book, and the movie has a little of each of those things but just not to the same extent.
Liked it though. Will watch again, with a fancy glass of fizzy pink wine.
This was one of my favorite movies when I was very small (it was my pick at the video store for several years during the era when you could rent a VCR as well as VHS tapes). I watched it again in my 20’s, and it held up pretty well except for Mia Farrow’s singing. I’ll have to check out the book.