Review: 'The Last Unicron' is epic fable

The Last Unicorn    G          

            Peter Beagle's novel comes to the animated screen in this extraordinary and magical classic tale of a lone unicorn who longs to find out if any of her kind remain. Cherished children's fairy tale stars a cast of then relatively unknown people to animation, like Mia Farrow and Alan Arkin, Rene Augjerbonois, Christopher Lee and Jeff Bridges, and also Angela Lansbury, some of whom would later work for Disney animation. The mythical Unicorn lives in an enchanted forest where she is alone, but when a strange butterfly tells her she really is the last, she begins a spellbinding journey to find her lost kind. Along the way she meets an evil witch and her bungling junior wizard, who rescues her, and they go to fight an evil king and his red bull before he uses the magical bovine to drive her away also. Helped that Beagle himself wrote the screenplay and had some creative control. Studio and Beagle (now elderly) were in court about DVD royalties which he deserves, and which they settled in 2011. The movie has virtually no flaws. The animation is good and the story is excellent.    
Review by Adam Browne