The Last Unicorn (animation): Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
[[File:TheLastUnicorn.jpg|frame|Of all unicorns, she is the only one who knows what regret is -- [[Cursed
{{quote|
▲{{quote| '''Molly''': ''Then what is magic for? What use is wizardry if it cannot save a [[Unicorn]]?''<br />
'''Schmendrick''': ''That's what [[The Hero|heroes]] are for.'' }}
In a certain lilac wood, the leaves and snow never fall. This eternal springtime is watched over, and caused by, its magical resident--a unicorn. Having never left her forest, the unicorn is surprised to overhear two hunters speaking about the disappearance of the unicorns. In fact, they believe her to be the very last.
Unwilling to accept this, the unicorn leaves the safety of her forest and sets out to find others of her kind, following the information given to her by a philosophical butterfly. Along the way, she learns through bitter experience of human cruelty, ignorance and greed. She is mistaken for a horse (much to her displeasure), captured and placed in a circus sideshow, and pursued by a demonic being--the Red Bull, which, according to local legend, is responsible for the disappearance of the other unicorns. She also meets allies who join her in her journey; the incompetent but sweet-natured wizard Schmendrick and Molly Grue, a middle-aged bandit woman with a purer heart than most virgins.
Their quest takes them to the barren lands of the embittered King Haggard, master of the Red Bull, and his naive foster son Prince Lír. It is here that the unicorn, superior and aloof to all mortals, is [[Humanity Ensues|transformed into a mere human]], taking the name "Lady Amalthea", forced to see and suffer human weakness and emotion firsthand.
One of the overriding themes is the power of memory. The King remembers feeling happy once and tries to recapture it by kidnapping unicorns, the skull remembers wine, Amalthea is in danger of forgetting herself, Molly Grue remembers her lost youth, and the unicorn will forever remember being in love.
The film's script was written by Peter S. Beagle himself. In July 2011, he finally got paid.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The animated version is held in high regard as being faithful to the text, even though significant parts of the book, such as the poetry and songs, were left out.
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: Intentionally, in the same vein as ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', there are references to tacos, trains, magazines, [[Child Ballad|Francis James Child's ballad collection]], etc. in a medieval-Renaissance-Arthurian-whatever age.
* [[Animesque]]: Although always intended for an English-speaking audience, the dirty work of animating the film adaptation was done by a Japanese studio called [[Topcraft]] (members of which became founders of [[Studio Ghibli]], incidentally). The anime influence on the movie is unmistakable.
* [[Anti
* [[Anti
▲* [[Anti Magic]]: Arguably the main power of the Unicorn, which it used several times during the story, in order to destroy magical locks, turn back an enchanted tree to normal, and prevent the use of magic against her.
▲* [[Anti Villain]]: King Haggard, as shown in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP3DhTq8mXg this scene] where he explains ''why'' he {{spoiler|captured the unicorns. Not from greed, or power... but because they're the only thing that makes him ''happy''}}.
▲* [[Barbie Doll Anatomy]]: Amalthea, although the [[Godiva Hair]] might contribute a bit.
* [[Becoming the Mask]]: The danger of the unicorn's human guise.
* [[Berserk Button]]: For the unicorn, {{spoiler|the death of Prince Lír by the Red Bull}}.
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** Alternately, {{spoiler|Lir and Amalthea}} could be seen as a [[Beta Couple]] to {{spoiler|Schmendrick and Molly}}, as they get together sooner and easier, whereas the latter pair doesn't realize they're in love until the very end.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The unicorn saves her people, at the cost of the happy human life she could have known.
* [[Born
* [[Blue Eyes]]: Lír. Lady Amalthea has dark blue eyes that border on purple.
* [[Bowdlerize]]: The 25th anniversary DVD edit out a few well-placed "damn"s, sometimes rather sloppily. Oddly, the bare-breasted Harpy is left completely alone.
* [[Broken Angel]]: Played straight immediately after the transformation, then gradually deconstructed.
* [[By the Eyes of
{{quote|
* [[Calling the Old Man Out|Calling The Unicorn Out]]: "Where have you ''been?!''"
* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Well, not entirely, but the kitchen cat at Haggard's castle is a [[Trickster]], and could give more help than he does.
{{quote|
* [[Celebrity Endorsement]]: Folk rock band America provides the soundtrack for the film.
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: The butterfly sings songs, recites poetry, quotes a warning from a matchbox at one point, and ''occasionally'' says something useful. It's at least implied, if not stated outright, that verbatim parroting what he's heard others say before is actually the only way ''any butterfly'' can talk at all. He seems to ''understand'' what the unicorn is after well enough, though.
* [[Counterpoint Duet]]: "Now That I'm a Woman"/"That's All I've Got to Say"--Amalthea's mixed feelings about being human and Lír's song about failed attempts to court her. Becomes a love duet at the end.
* [[Creative Closing Credits|Creative Opening Credits]]: The opening of the movie is drawn to resemble [[Shown Their Work|a series of medieval tapestries come to life]] (and a few images from the Book of Hours)--specifically, [
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]/[[Took a Level
** Schmendrick's magic only works on occasion, and when it does, something usually goes wrong with it. {{spoiler|But by the end of the book, he is able to return the unicorn to her true form.}}
** Lír starts off as a lazy schmuck, but eventually {{spoiler|fights the Red Bull, [[Heroic Sacrifice|lays down his life to save the unicorn,]] and becomes King.}}
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* [[Daydream Believer]]: Molly and all of Captain Cully's crew believe there really is a [[Robin Hood]]. Molly also believes there are unicorns. (She's right.)
* [[Deconstruction]]. ''And how''. All of the characters [[Functional Genre Savvy|know they're in a fairy tale]], and the fairy tale itself mocks, parodies, subverts and plays straight [[Fairy Tale]] tropes. One of the most moving scenes comes from this exchange:
{{quote|
'''Amalthea:''' Yes. That is my wish.
'''Lír:''' No. Lady, I am a hero, and heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned. Unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.
'''Molly Grue:''' ''(quietly to Schmendrick)'' But what if there isn't a happy ending at all?
'''Schmendrick:''' ''(quietly)'' There are no happy endings, because nothing ends. }}
* [[Dem Bones]]: The guardian of the passageway that leads to the Red Bull.
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Molly Grue goes barefoot.
* [[Emergency Transformation]]: Schmendrick to the unicorn when she is in trouble. {{spoiler|He is eventually able to pull off an Emergency Re-Transformation.}}
* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Lady Amalthea, initially.
* [[Famous Last Words]]:
** "The last! I '''knew''' you were the last!"
** Mommy Fortuna's "You couldn't have freed yourself alone! I held you!" Mommy Fortuna is clearly akin to those people who keep venomous snakes as pets.
* [[Feathered Fiend]]: The Harpy
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* [[Functional Magic]]: Wild magic, exclusively. Mostly because Schmendrick sucks majorly at wizarding, though.
* [[Generic Cuteness]]: Averted. Nobody looks good except Lír and Amalthea. Still, Molly looks a lot younger than she ought to.
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Several characters, particularly Lír, who makes a much-quoted speech about the proper order of things during the climax of the story.
* [[Glowing Eyelights of
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Unicorns may be [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|incorruptible]], but they're also ''wild.''
* [[Harping
* [[Hair
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]. King Haggard.
{{quote|
* [[Herald]]
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|
* [[
* [[Humanity Ensues]]: The unicorn is transformed by Schmendrick into a human woman, against her will.
* [[Humanity Is Infectious]]: Amalthea eventually gains enough to the point where she "dies" when Schmendrick changes the unicorn back.
* [["I Am Becoming" Song]]: [[The Mind Is a Plaything of
* [[I Just Want to Be Normal|I Just Want To Stay Normal]]: Amalthea begs Schmendrick not to change her back into a unicorn.
* [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]]: Unicorns, Molly, and Lír.
* [[It Must Be Mine]]: Haggard and "his" unicorns.
{{quote|
* [[
* [[Jumped At the Call]]: Both Schmendrick and Molly are willing to travel with the unicorn within hours of meeting her.
* [[Just Like Robin Hood]]: Captain Cully and his outlaw gang certainly aspire to be, but instead are quite the opposite. They rob the poor because they can't fight back, and pay off the rich to turn a blind eye.
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* [[Loss of Identity]]: After being transformed into an human, she gradually forgets who she was, to the point she doesn't know anymore who (and what) she is.
* [[Love Martyr]]: ''Oh, Lír.''
* [[Magikarp Power]]: Schmendrick's magic. Similarly, see also [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]].
* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: When Schmendrick accidentally converts the tree he's tied to into a living entity, he finds himself in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvEL41kIQg this.]
{{quote|
'''Tree''': Galls and fireblight! She shall not have you. We shall perish together! }}
* [[Mayfly
* [[Meaningful Name]]:
** The unicorn's alias, "Amalthea," is a reference to the nanny goat who nursed Zeus. The original Amalthea had lost a horn, which became the Cornucopia, effectively making her a unicorn.
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** "Schmendrick" is a Yiddish word meaning someone who is foolish, clueless, or hopelessly out of his depth: a boy sent to do a man's job.
** The Harpy is called "Celaeno" because she is the dark and twisted yang to the Unicorn's light and pure yin.
* [[The Mind Is a Plaything of
* [[Motive Rant]]: King Haggard has one when he wistfully tells Lady Amalthea why he holds all the unicorns prisoner in the sea.
* [[Multi Boobage]]: The Harpy has not two, but three breasts.
* [[Naked
* [[No Name Given]]: The unicorn. "Amalthea" is just an alias used when in human form.
* [[One
* [[The Power of Love]]: Turns Lír from a lazy coward into a [[Genre Savvy]] hero.
* [[Princess Classic]]: Amalthea, especially as her humanity becomes more evident, acts like this, and nearly became an actual princess.
* [[Punny Name]]: As well as being a Yiddish word (see above), "Schmendrick the Magician" is also a pun on "[[Mandrake the Magician]]."
* [[Quest for
* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Lady Amalthea.
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: The Skull displays such eyes when he recognizes the eponymous character for what she truly is. See also [[Glowing Eyelights of
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: The unicorn herself and all her forest companions.
* [[Robin Hood]]: Summoned by Schmendrick's magic to show his power to Captain Cully, a "real life" [[Robin Hood]] in the story.
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* [[Through a Face Full of Fur|Through A Face Without Flesh]]: The Skull turns rosy-cheeked as it empties a bottle of "wine."
* [[Transformation Trauma]]: Turning the unicorn into a human practically lobotomizes her.
{{quote|
* [[Unicorn]]: One of the most famous.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: A few.
{{quote|
** The book explains that she meant either "gizzard" or "weasand" (an archaic term for the throat), and amalgamated the two.
* [[What Measure Is a Non Unique]]
* [[What Happened to
** If you look very closely in Schmendrick and Molly's final scene (when she's about to get on the horse after saying she will go with him), the cat is on the back of her horse.
** Four men-at-arms are mentioned (very minor characters in the book), but they never make an appearance.
* [[Wild Wilderness]]
* [[White
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]:
** A major theme in the story is that immortal beings cannot appreciate mortality.
** Mommy Fortuna had a twisted view of immortality in regards to the Harpy:
{{quote|
** Also Schmendrick comments at the end that Lir will achieve immortality through the unicorn's memory of loving him.
* [[The Wise Prince]]: Lír grows into this.
* [[
* [[You Can See Me?]]: Mommy Fortuna, Schmendrick, Molly, and (terrifyingly) the Red Bull all know the unicorn when they see her. Most ordinary people mistake the unicorn for a white horse, and Mommy Fortuna has to put a fake horn on the unicorn to exhibit her to the public. The cat is also able to see her, because:
{{quote|
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Fantasy Animated Films]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:The Last Unicorn]]
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Unicorn (animation), The}}
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