The Last Unicorn - 25th Anniversary Edition

[Hypersmurf]

That's funny, I can't remember any butterfly in at all...

It shows up at the very beginning, singing a lot of anachronistic songs - he's where the unicorn first hears about the others vanishing.

I do remember the final scene on the beach though, and that was what made the film jump up in my estimation...

Hmm. That was another bit that irked me. She's scared, she's scared, she's scared, then her horn starts glowing and it's the bull that's scared?

-Hyp.

 

[Rackhir]

It shows up at the very beginning, singing a lot of anachronistic songs - he's where the unicorn first hears about the others vanishing.

The butterfly is deliberately anachronistic. This is another thing that comes out a bit more in the book, is that there's almost a breaking the 4th wall kind of awareness to some aspects of the story.

Hmm. That was another bit that irked me. She's scared, she's scared, she's scared, then her horn starts glowing and it's the bull that's scared?

-Hyp.

No it's - she's scared, she's scared. The man she loved, the man she was willing to give up being a Unicorn for, the man she was willing to surrender immortality for has just been killed. Then her horn starts glowing and the bull surrenders.

It's about will. The bull had been breaking the wills of the Unicorns and once it killed Prince Lyr, her will wasn't going to be broken and she was going to destroy the Bull if it fought her. So it gave up and the unicorns were now free since the Bull's will had been broken.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The butterfly is deliberately anachronistic. This is another thing that comes out a bit more in the book, is that there's almost a breaking the 4th wall kind of awareness to some aspects of the story.

And that's the problem - if you have a theme in the book that gets reduced to an isolated incident in the movie because all the other unifying elements ended up on the cutting room floor, what you're left with is a jarring moment that no longer fits.

You need to either retain the theme, or smooth out the jagged edges left behind when you rip the theme out. If you rip out the theme but leave the jagged bits untouched, someone's going to end up with a nasty scratch...

The butterfly may have been a brilliant touch in the book, but in the movie, he's out of place. And not having read the book, I've no sentimental attachment to the character to soften the slap to my suspension of disbelief...

... the man she was willing to give up being a Unicorn for, the man she was willing to surrender immortality for...

Hmm... is this another part that's clearer in the book? The impression I got from the movie wasn't that she'd made a decision that Lir was more important to her than immortality... it was that she'd been in human form so long as a result of Schmendrick's spell that she'd forgotten she'd ever been anything else.

I'd have to watch that bit again. How did the lyrics go... "Once, I can't remember, I was long ago, someone strange"?

Other bits that felt rushed, as though things had been chopped roughly from the book to fit into the film:
Molly's reaction to the talking cat. The cat doesn't talk, then the cat does talk, and she doesn't even seem surprised...
The firing of the King's old wizard.
The big-breasted tree. (Eek!)

And, of course:
King: I know you're a unicorn in disguise! But I'm not going to do anything about it.
Later...
Odo: Unicorn! Uuuu-unicorn!
King: What?! Where?! How dare she!

I don't doubt that the book is a lovely story. But the movie, to me, feels disjointed, choppy, and amateurish.

-Hyp.

 

[Rackhir]

And that's the problem - if you have a theme in the book that gets reduced to an isolated incident in the movie because all the other unifying elements ended up on the cutting room floor, what you're left with is a jarring moment that no longer fits.

You need to either retain the theme, or smooth out the jagged edges left behind when you rip the theme out. If you rip out the theme but leave the jagged bits untouched, someone's going to end up with a nasty scratch...

The butterfly may have been a brilliant touch in the book, but in the movie, he's out of place. And not having read the book, I've no sentimental attachment to the character to soften the slap to my suspension of disbelief...

Actually the scene with the butterfly was pretty much verbatim from the book.

Hmm... is this another part that's clearer in the book? The impression I got from the movie wasn't that she'd made a decision that Lir was more important to her than immortality... it was that she'd been in human form so long as a result of Schmendrick's spell that she'd forgotten she'd ever been anything else.

I'd have to watch that bit again. How did the lyrics go... "Once, I can't remember, I was long ago, someone strange"?

Other bits that felt rushed, as though things had been chopped roughly from the book to fit into the film:
Molly's reaction to the talking cat. The cat doesn't talk, then the cat does talk, and she doesn't even seem surprised...
The firing of the King's old wizard.
The big-breasted tree. (Eek!)

And, of course:
King: I know you're a unicorn in disguise! But I'm not going to do anything about it.
Later...
Odo: Unicorn! Uuuu-unicorn!
King: What?! Where?! How dare she!

I don't doubt that the book is a lovely story. But the movie, to me, feels disjointed, choppy, and amateurish.

-Hyp.

Re: Lyr, it was pretty much both.

Actually it sounds like you weren't paying very close attention during the movie. The firing of the old wizard was pretty straightforward and clear. About the only thing that was cut out was that he knew Schmendrick's master, which wasn't really very important and was implied in the scene. Similarly there wasn't much dropped from the other scenes you mentioned.

Basically what it sounds like is you couldn't suspend your disbelief for the movie. A lot of your complaints sound akin to complaining that the fighters in Star Wars manuver like they're in an atmosphere. True, valid, but is kind of missing the point.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Actually the scene with the butterfly was pretty much verbatim from the book.

Sure, but you suggest that the fourth wall shows up in other places in the book; in the movie it doesn't, so it goes from being a theme to being a single out-of-place incident.

The firing of the old wizard was pretty straightforward and clear. About the only thing that was cut out was that he knew Schmendrick's master, which wasn't really very important and was implied in the scene. Similarly there wasn't much dropped from the other scenes you mentioned.

Then perhaps I wouldn't enjoy the book either A scene can be straightforward, and still feel shoehorned into a narrative without being a part of a flow...

-Hyp.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I do remember the final scene on the beach though, and that was what made the film jump up in my estimation (although I was already taken in by the Red Bull. Wouldn't want to meet that in a dungeon!)

I mean the part where the red bull is herding the unicorn into the sea, and the prince says to schmendrick 'help her', and he says 'I can't - that's what heroes are for' or something like that, so the prince bravely attempts to help the unicorn and gets gored, which then fires up the unicorn to resist the red bull.

I'm a sucker for sacrifice.

 

[Rackhir]

Sure, but you suggest that the fourth wall shows up in other places in the book; in the movie it doesn't, so it goes from being a theme to being a single out-of-place incident.

Then perhaps I wouldn't enjoy the book either A scene can be straightforward, and still feel shoehorned into a narrative without being a part of a flow...

-Hyp.

I did not read the book until after I had watched the movie. So I enjoyed the movie in its own right for what it was. The script for the movie was written by the author of the book Peter S Beagle) and while I do wish some of the stuff that was left out of the movie had made it in, it is IMHO an excellent adapatation of the book and I think captures all the important parts of the story and it's themes. But it is not a thick novel and perhaps the prose might make it past your defenses in ways the animation could not.

I think if you talk to fans of the book/movie, I think you'll find that it touched their hearts in ways few stories do. For that reason it will always be something special to me, but it is not a story that survives approaching it with a jaundiced and cynical eye.

 

[Hijinks]

Flight of Dragons...And it's just hit 25 years as well... DVD release, please!

*frown*

I own Flight of Dragons on DVD. I believe I got it on Ebay, but it's been released on DVD at least once. They don't have it at Netflix though.

*sings loudly and off-key* "nowwww that I'mmmmm a womaaaaan..."

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

...Mr. Beagle will get over half the money from the sale.

I wonder if that surprised Old King Haggard?

Money is tight for me right now, but when I get the cash I'm going to get the one that helps Mr. Beagle.