Peter S. Beagle = Genius

So I made the mistake last night of watching the animated movie The Last Unicorn with the girlfriend.

Now I’ve seen this movie before, and often. But it was when I was a lot younger, and I think probably the last time I watched it was when I was 15 or something. High School anyway. Over the years I’ve learned a few interesting things about it. Like the fact that even though it was produced by an American company (The “Stick More Songs In It Than You Can Shake A Stick At Rankin-Bass JR.) it was actually animated by… wait for it… STUDIO GHIBLI! Well, they weren’t called Studio Gimli back then, but yes, the same guys that brought us MY Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and my personal favorite Nausicaa And The Valley Of The Wind we also the ones who were responsbile for completely nailing the sadness and fraility in the eyes of the Unicorn/Amalthea.

Summary O’ Plot

Originally a novel written by Peter S. Beagle (Who then went on to adapt it for both stage and screen) The Last Unicorn, at least the animated version, is kind similar in its dialogue/acting choices to The Princess Bride in that even though it’s clearly a period fantasy setting, the dialogue often comes out as very modern with modern references sprinkled throughout (IE, a butterfly singing I’ll Be Home On The A-Train).

The story concerns one of the immortal unicorns, living her immortal life in the forest of her choosing and generally being blissful and ignorant of the occurrences in the outside world, until she overhears the conversation of a pair of hunters. One of the hunters proclaims that she is the last of the unicorns, all the others having disappeared mysteriously, and shouts out into the forest before they depart that he advises her to stay there and keep the forest perptually green and enchanted.

This of course, gets her attention and like most people who are told not to do something, she goes ahead and does it, seeking an answer to whether or not she truly is the last unicorn left.

I won’t go into much detail of the rest of the plot since this is one of those timeles stories that everyone should experience for themselves. But I will say that this is one of those few stories that is close to, if not completely, perfect.

I’m not talking about the animation which was done in the 80’s and so quite primitive by today’s standards. Or the obvious cuts that were made throughout the film, so obvious in fact that you can even hear the music jump where the cut was made. But the story and characters themselves are ones that I think lovers of story can respect, and all writers should take lessons from.

What struck me the most about it on this viewing was how multi-layered it was. While concessions such as comedy relief, some minor slapstick and the usual action sequences have been thrown in to keep younger viewers enthralled, there’s also an amazing amount of intelligence and heart in this story and these characters. No one is really stupid in this story, all of them drop at least one one-liner nugget of wisdom about life that can be endlessly quoted and thought upon, and all of them have very complex motivations that can be either understood and respected, or understood and pitied.

The acting is also completely amazing. Christopher Lee as King Haggard brings an authority and resonance to his character that makes it difficult not to fear him. Angela Lansbury puts in an amazing (And totally unrecognizable performance) as Mommy Fortuna, a deranged witch who comes off as a true psycopatch, Alan Arkin as Schmendrik gives an intelligent and melancholy turn to the character that perfectly nails his sad eyes.

But the two most outstanding performances in the story have to go Mia Farrow as the Unicorn, for the delicate turn of phrase that is both unearthly and achingly frail, and Tammy Grimes as the broken scullery maid who was content in her having lost hope until she saw the unicorn and realized perhaps she’d given up hope too soon.

Watching all these elements weave together in a cartoon of all things really made me wonder at how surprising art can be sometimes. I know many will disagree but for me this little animated feature made in the 80’s says some of the most important and significant things about life, ambition, love, imagination and desire that we often forget. From Schmendrik’s desire to become a true wizard, to Haggard’s obsession with keeping only things that make him happy around him, to Lear’s innocent love for Amalthea and Molly’s tragic rediscovery of hope when it is almost too late for her… All of them have moments where they say something about human nature that everyone would be a lot better remembering from time to time.

And of course the ending is the killer, and one that I’ve tried aping in my own writing. A happy ending of sorts, that comes at great cost to the people involved, and often does more harm to the heroes in exchange for doing the greater good for many.

So I got kind of kicked in the head again last night after watching it. And of course the girlfriend was monumentally depressed afterwards and could only say “It’s so sad. It’s so, SO SAD…” because this move was another one of those key influential moments on her emotional life, and she can’t watching it too often without becoming pyschologically damaged…