March
8, 2005
There's
a great moment that takes place halfway through The Last Unicorn,
when Molly Grue, a sharp-tongued woman of middle age, discovers
The Unicorn hiding in the forest. At first, she is stunned into
silence; face-to-face with the mythical creature that all girls
dream about. But then something remarkable happens. Her awe is turned
into anger, and she starts shouting.
"Damn
you! Where have you been?! Where were you twenty years ago? Ten
years ago? Where were you when I was new? When I was one of those
innocent young maidens you always come to? How dare you? How dare
you come to me now, when I am this!"
This
is a remarkable moment, and a little unsettling, too. We aren't
accustomed to having real life intrude upon fairy tales. Yet it
is such honest lyricism that gives the story its strength.
Faithful
readers of Peter S. Beagle have been enthralled by The Last
Unicorn since its publication in 1968, and they need no more
proddings. They'll be more than happy to share their own experiences
reading the novel. It's a story that has a very devoted following,
and after watching the 1982 animated film, I think I can understand
why.
The
plot itself is fairly standard: an unnamed Unicorn leaves the comfort
of her enchanted forest to venture the outside world in search of
others like her. Along the way, she encounters friends who wish
to help her, including a decidedly Semitic-looking apprentice wizard
named Schmendrick, the aforementioned Molly Grue, and a noble prince
named Lir (ahem).
I
have never really been a fan of fantasy novels, and yet here I am,
thouroughly engrossed with this picture. Beagle takes a conventional
form and punches it with a poetic flair. I can't think of any truly
inspired writing from any Disney fairy tale, but The Last Unicorn
is blessed with dialog that floats and dances. It's truly inspired.
The
key is that Beagle wrote the screenplay for the film version, and
kept as close to the original novel as possible. Clearly, his emphasis
is on the text above all else; most American animation treats the
writing as an afterthought. To Rankin-Bass, this is a labor of love.
That
love extends to the voice actors as well. There's the great antecdote
regarding Christopher Lee, who arrived at the recording sessions,
book in hand, with key passages highlighted. The man simply would
not allow the directors to cut out his favorite parts. You can hear
that dedication in his role of Haggard, an embittered old king who
has imprisoned the world's unicorns under the sea. Lazy as I am,
I want to make the obvious comparison to his role in Lord of
the Rings, but I think Lee is better here. He's more emotionally
involved.
Alan
Arkin, Tammy Grimes, Angela Lansbury, Rene Aberjonois - all deliver
more genuine conviction and emotion than almost any animated picture
made in America. Having such wonderful dialog brings the best out
of them. Arkin's Schmendrick and Grimes' Molly get all the best
wisecracks; their banter alone is worth the price of admission.
Mia
Farrow is very good in the title role, and she's perfect at projecting
wonder, curiosity, and anguish. The less said of her singing in
the film's second half, however, the better. We'll just use her
song number as a chance to run for the fridge.
Also,
the less said of the songs from America, an old soft-pop group,
the better. I know many of you love the songs, and I don't want
to take that away from you. I'll just politely disagree and wonder
we just couldn't have more dialog. What is it with American animation
and song numbers, anyway?
The
Last Unicorn is a very haunting, meloncholy picture; not "darker"
as in voilent or nihilistic, but sadder. Beagle wisely plays against
the conventions of fantasy, as the characters point out the cliches.
Everyone, including The Unicorn, must learn to deal with loss and
regret. Is there really a quote, unquote "happy" ending
to this picture? Probably not, if you think about it. Real life,
again, intrudes.
The
artwork of this film is remarkable, based firmly in the Japanese
style of wonderfully detailed, painterly backgrounds with simpler,
more iconic characters. The unicorns have a lean, slightly feminine
look to them; the sequences where they are chased by the marauding
Red Bull (again, ahem) should capture the heart of every
girl under 12. It's already captured the hearts of their parents'
generation.
Post-Mortem:
More than a few observers have made comparisons between this film
and those by Hayao Miyazaki. They're more right than they know.
The Last Unicorn was animated in Japan by a studio named
Topcraft. Rankin-Bass had used Topcraft for their earlier television
productions of The Hobbit and The Return of the King, and this was
their most ambitious collaboration. After this movie, Topcraft's
next project was with Miyazaki, who was directing the film version
of Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind.
You may have heard of it.
In
1985, Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki founded Studio
Ghibli, and brought over the senior staff from Topcraft. You may
also have heard of Ghibli. They made a couple movies here and there.
|
