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The Last Unicorn (animation): Difference between revisions
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An animated [[The Film of the Book|Film Of The Book]], based on [[The Last Unicorn (novel)|the novel]] by [[Peter S. Beagle|Peter S Beagle]], and animated by [[Rankin/Bass Productions]].
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.
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{{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.
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* [[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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* [[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|'''Cat:''' No cat out of her first fur has ever given a straight answer to anyone. ''(removes the eye patch to wink at Molly with an '''undamaged, working eye'''.)''}}
* [[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, [[wikipedia:The Hunt of the Unicorn|the Unicorn Tapestries]].
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]/[[Took a Level In Badass]]:
** 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.}}
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'''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 on About Harpies]]
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* [[Herald]]
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|That would be Lír.}} [[Back From the Dead|He gets better.]]
* [[
* [[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 the Body|'Now That I'm]] [[Humanity Ensues|a Woman.']]
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{{quote|'''Schmendrick''': Oh God. I'm engaged to a Douglas Fir.
'''Tree''': Galls and fireblight! She shall not have you. We shall perish together! }}
* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: Prince Lír and the unicorn as Lady Amalthea.
* [[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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* [[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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* [[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|'''Fortuna:''' Oh, she'll kill me one day or another. But she will remember forever that I caught her; that I held her prisoner. So there's ''my'' immortality, eh?}}
** 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.
* [[World's Most Beautiful Woman]]: Not explicitly stated, but when the most beautiful creature in the world [[Humanity Ensues|becomes human]], this seems to be the result. It's worth noting however, that as [[The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body|she becomes more human]] she stays beautiful, but the mystical quality of her beauty fades away.
* [[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|"No cat out of its first fur can ever be deceived by appearances. [[Take That|Unlike humans, who enjoy them]]."}}
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