The Last Unicorn (1982)

Directors:

Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writers:

Peter S. Beagle (novel)
Peter S. Beagle (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 November 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Animation | Fantasy

Tagline:

A Treasured Fantasy Classic of Incomparable Charm!

Plot:

A brave unicorn and a magician fight an evil king who is obsessed with attempting to capture the world's unicorns. |

Plot Keywords:

Unicorn | Bull | Castle | Cat | Dragon

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Alan Arkin	...	Schmendrick (voice)
Jeff Bridges	...	Prince Lir (voice)
Mia Farrow	...	Unicorn / Amalthea (voice)
Tammy Grimes	...	Molly Grue (voice)
Robert Klein	...	The Butterfly (voice)
Angela Lansbury	...	Mommy Fortuna (voice)
Christopher Lee	...	King Haggard (also in german language version) (voice)
Keenan Wynn	...	Captain Cully (voice)
Paul Frees	...	Mabruk (voice)
Rene Auberjonois	...	The Skull (voice)
Brother Theodore	...	Ruhk (voice)
Don Messick	...	The Cat (voice)
Jack Lester	...	(voice)
Nellie Bellflower	...	The Tree (voice)
Ed Peck	...	(voice) (as Edward Peck)
Kenneth Jennings	...	(voice)

Directed by
Jules Bass
Arthur Rankin Jr.

Writing credits
Peter S. Beagle		(novel)
Peter S. Beagle		(screenplay)

Produced by
Jules Bass	....	producer
Arthur Rankin Jr.	....	producer
Martin Starger	....	executive producer
Michael Chase Walker	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Jimmy Webb

Film Editing by
Tomoko Kida

Production Design by
Arthur Rankin Jr.

Production Management
Masaki Îzuka	....	executive in charge of production (as Masaki Iisuka)

Art Department
Don Duga	....	additional storyboard sequences

Sound Department
Tom Clack	....	sound effects
John Curcio	....	sound recording engineer
Dave Iveland	....	sound recording engineer
Donald O. Mitchell	....	sound re-recording mixer
Kiyoshi Ôhira	....	sound effects (as Noriyoshi Ohira)
John Richards	....	sound recording engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Hiroyasu Omoto	....	camera operator

Animation Department
Lester Abrams	....	character designer
Tohru Hara	....	animation coordinator (as Toru Kara)
Mitsuo Iwasaki	....	background artist
Kazuyuki Kobayashi	....	key animator
Kubo	....	continuity animation
Hidemi Kubo	....	key animator
Minoru Nishida	....	background artist
Kiyoshi Sakai	....	assistant animation coordinator
Kayoko Sakano	....	animator
Yoshiko Sasaki	....	animator
Fukuo Suzuki	....	animator
Katsuhisa Yamada	....	animation director
Masahiro Yoshida	....	animator
Tadakatsu Yoshida	....	key animator
Kazusuke Yoshihara	....	background artist

Music Department
Matthew McCauley	....	orchestrator
William McCauley	....	orchestrator
Elton Moser	....	additional orchestrations
Jimmy Webb	....	additional orchestrations

Other crew
Lee Dannacher	....	production coordinator (as Lee Dannacker)
Irra Duga	....	tapestry design
Lew Grade	....	presenter (as Lord Grade)
Katsuhisa Yamada	....	continuity

Production Companies

• Rankin/Bass Productions
• Incorporated Television Company (ITC)

Distributors

• Jensen Farley Pictures (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• Artisan Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Maple Pictures (2007) (Canada) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Letzte Einhorn, Das (West Germany)
Último Unicórnio, O (Portugal) [pt]
Último unicornio, El (Spain) [es]
Dernière licorne, La (France) [fr]
Ostatni jednorozec (Poland) [pl]
Poslední jednorozec (Czechoslovakia: Czech title) [cs]

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA | UK | Japan | West Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Singapore:PG | Canada:F (Ontario) | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:6

Company:

Rankin/Bass Productions

Trivia:

The riddle that befuddles Rook - "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" - is the famous unanswered riddle asked by The Mad Hatter in "Alice In Wonderland", by Lewis Carroll. Carroll wrote the riddle as nonsense; it has no answer. This has not stopped people, despite being repeatedly told that there is not, nor should there be, any answer, from trying to contrive one. Among the suggestions are, "because Edgar Allan Poe wrote on both" and "because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes" (the second of which is very similar to a solution that Lewis Carroll himself wearily suggested when he grew tired of people asking him about it).

Quotes:

Prince Lir: Unicorn, mermaid, sorceress... no name you could give her would surprise OR frighten me. I love whom I love.
Schmendrick: Well, that's a very nice sentiment, but when I change her back into her true self...
Prince Lir: I love whom I love.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shrek (2001)

Soundtrack:

The Last Unicorn

Whimsical

I only saw this movie recently and I wondered why I had never seen it before. I haven't read the book, and I only vaguely remembered some of my friends mentioning this movie.

I'm not usually a big fan of classic medieval fantasy, even though I love fantasy in general, but I enjoyed this movie so much. Even though it's a family movie, it doesn't get too cutesy and doesn't sweeten the story and the universe that the characters evolve in. And the characters do evolve, which is another of the good points in it. Even though it's a fairy tale, it's easy to apply some themes of the movie to our world. By example, we can suppose that this is a movie about staying true to yourself. This is no Disney movie. The ending can be seen in a positive as well as in a negative light. You can have many opinions about it, which is one thing I liked so much.

The art and character design is beautiful. You can tell it was made in the 70's or early 80's and it just adds more appeal to it. The style is a mix between anime and occidental cartoon style, but it works very well, specially since this type of collaboration cartoon was so frequent at that time. The atmosphere of the movie is helped by the gentle colors and the music. Yes, the music.. The music wasn't so great, I have to admit, but it really worked well for one reason. They didn't take instrumental music, they didn't try to compose fantasy-themed music for it. They used modern music, and even though it wasn't the best, it added a different and pleasant feeling to it..

In my opinion this is a beautiful movie that deserves a really high mark..